Saturday: Chiefs’ trade for Hopkins makes them AFC favorite (0:55)
Jeff Saturday breaks down why the Kansas City Chiefs’ trade for DeAndre Hopkins makes them the AFC favorites again. (0:55)
ESPN News Services
Oct 23, 2024, 06:55 AM ET
The Titans and Chiefs are working to finalize a trade that would send wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Kansas City, league sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Titans will receive a 2025 fifth-round pick that becomes a fourth-rounder if the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl and Hopkins plays 60% of the snaps with Kansas City, sources said. Tennessee also will pick up $2.5 million of Hopkins’ remaining $8 million salary this season, sources said. The trade is expected to be completed Wednesday.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid declined to acknowledge the trade before practice Wednesday, saying only that general manager Brett Veach was “dealing with all of that.” When pressed about the trade, Reid said with a slight smile: “I know nothing.”
The Chiefs have had a need at wide receiver since Rashee Rice suffered a right knee injury in Week 4 that required season-ending surgery. The team lost Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to a shoulder injury in the preseason, and JuJu Smith-Schuster suffered a hamstring injury last week that has already ruled him out for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Hopkins, a 12-year veteran, is in the final season of a two-year deal he signed with the Titans in July 2023. He suffered a torn MCL during the offseason but recovered in time for the season opener.
He has 15 receptions for 173 yards and a touchdown in six games in 2024. The five-time Pro Bowler has also played for the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals.
The addition gives quarterback Patrick Mahomes another target. Mahomes said last week that he had “extreme confidence” in the Chiefs’ receiving corps following the trades of two marquee receivers: Davante Adams (who was dealt to the Jets) and Amari Cooper (acquired by the Bills).
But Kansas City’s top remaining healthy wideouts, rookie Xavier Worthy and Justin Watsonhave a combined 22 receptions through Week 7.
“I think the biggest thing is just getting with the coaches. The coaches do a great job of getting guys up to speed, and you’ve seen that already this year,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “I just try to be on the same page as the guys that are in there.”
Acquiring a wide receiver before the trade deadline has yielded results for the Chiefs in each of the past two seasons. They dealt with the New York Giants for Kadarius Toney in 2022, and Toney scored one touchdown and set up another with a 65-yard punt return in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs traded with the New York Jets for Mecole Hardman last year. Hardman caught the winning touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers.
For the 1-5 Titans, who also traded linebacker Ernest Jones IV to the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday for linebacker Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick, the moves represent a change in plans, coach Brian Callahan acknowledged.
“It’s the reality of the NFL business, and when you’re in a spot that we’re in, one that we didn’t want to be in,” Callahan said. “When you get to these juncture points in the season, things like this happen. That’s just the cycle, how it works. And we’re in a spot right now trying to find a way to dig out.”
ESPN’s Adam Teicher and Turron Davenport and The Associated Press contributed to this report.