A new DeAndre Hopkins trade partner may have emerged for Titans after Sunday's NFL slate
The whispers around the Tennessee Titans potentially trading DeAndre Hopkins are growing louder by the day, and a new suitor may have emerged in Week 7. The San Francisco 49ers are perennial Super Bowl contenders in the NFC, but their receiver room took a massive hit on Sunday. Star Brandon Aiyuk left the game against […]
The whispers around the Tennessee Titans potentially trading DeAndre Hopkins are growing louder by the day, and a new suitor may have emerged in Week 7.
The San Francisco 49ers are perennial Super Bowl contenders in the NFC, but their receiver room took a massive hit on Sunday. Star Brandon Aiyuk left the game against the Chiefs with a knee injury, and the fear is that he may have torn his ACL.
Aiyuk just got paid after a long offseason holdout, so the timing of this injury is as brutal as it can be. He was playing nearly 100% of the 49ers offensive snaps before going down, and now the team has to replace all of those snaps with somebody else.
49ers Wide Receiver Depth
The other star receiver in San Francisco is Deebo Samuel, but he has been in and out of the lineup this year already. Samuel missed Week 3 with an injury and Week 7 with an illness that he unsuccessfully tried to play through. Samuel has missed time due to injury 3 times in the past calendar year.
Further down the depth chart is Jauan Jennings, who has been playing around a 50% snap share this season. He's stepped up for the Niners before when needed, but is he WR1 or WR2 material on a true Super Bowl contender?
And then there's rookie Ricky Pearsall, whose first season has so far been derailed by a scary preseason attempted-mugging in which he was shot in the abdomen. Pearsall has thankfully made a full recovery and returned to play against the Chiefs on Sunday. He had 3 catches for 21 yards in his debut. I liked Pearsall as a draft prospect, but is a rookie recovering from a gunshot wound WR2 or WR3 material on a true Super Bowl contender?
And so the question suddenly emerges: could the 49ers consider trading for DeAndre Hopkins before the deadline to reinforce their receiving corps?
Precedent and Connections
The first and most obvious connection here is Titans GM Ran Carthon. He was hired away from San Francisco by the Titans after 6 years in their front office. His familiarity with the Niners executives is perhaps second to none amongst NFL GMs (Adam Peters would want a word). If there's a trade to be had here, Carthon and his friends in the Bay Area would get it done.
We've also seen the 49ers take a big midseason swing before. Of course, most recently they sent a large package for RB Christian McCaffrey who has been a revelation for them. He too, though, has missed this 2024 campaign so far with a bad case of Achilles Tendonitis. His return seems somewhat imminent, but there's been nothing concrete. Yet another massive weapon the Niners have been trying to play without.
The Verdict
Do the 49ers need to make a splash like acquiring Hopkins to remain competitive this season? Probably not, though it depends on how you define competitive. Week to week? This team can play with anybody. To be a serious Super Bowl contender in the NFC? Well, perhaps they do!
After losing to the Chiefs on Sunday, SF fell to 3-4. That puts them in 2nd place in the AFC West and 11th in the NFC playoff picture. The season is still very young, but this is a team used to winning their division and competing for the #1 seed in December. Are they going to be able to do that without their best outside receiver and a somewhat shaky group of weapons behind him?
Hopkins wouldn't be a perfect 1-for-1 replacement for Aiyuk, in fact maybe not even close. They're both X receivers (Hopkins has lined up as the boundary WR 78% of the time this season), but Aiyuk is a strong separator. Hopkins doesn't separate much at all at this point in his career, and hasn't for some time.
But he doesn't need to separate to win, he's proven this time and again. He has some of the best hands in the NFL and is as savvy a vet as you'll find. He's got that elite old man game mastered. He's a game-changing player who has demanded volume targets at every stop of his career. The Niners need volume snaps and targets replaced somehow, and Hopkins could provide that. He's also a "QBs best friend" type who would pair nicely with Brock Purdy.
The 49ers have more than enough cap space to burn, and Hopkins isn't on a contract that breaks the bank. He's also on an expiring contract, so there's no long-term commitment.
I understand that this team has a lot of great weapons besides Brandon Aiyuk. I understand they just spent a 1st round pick on a young cost-controlled receiver. I understand Hopkins isn't a 1-for-1 replacement for Aiyuk. But if the Niners want to be as serious a Super Bowl contender this year as they've been the past couple, it may be time to look for a piece to put them over the top.
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