The Ravens see the same DeAndre Hopkins on the field they faced for years, but now he has to prove it to the rest of the league. Now 33 and in his 13th season, how much does he have left in the tank? If you ask HC John Harbaugh, he’ll tell you, it’s quite a lot yet, which is why they signed him.
“It’s just the skillset”, he said, via the Ravens’ website, when asked about what he has seen from Hopkins. “He’s the same guy, [and he] does the same things really, really well”. Harbaugh compared him to Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason, two other former Ravens who found their way to Baltimore via free agency.
A former first-round pick, DeAndrew Hopkins is a five-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, twice a finalist for Offensive Player of the Year. He is closing on 1,000 career receptions and 13,000 yards, currently at 83 touchdowns. But he is also coming off a fairly pedestrian season.
In 16 games in 2024, Hopkins caught 56 passes on 80 targets for 610 yards and 5 touchdowns. He played six games for the Titans before being traded to the Chiefs, logging another 10. His production lagged in Tennessee, but he scored four touchdowns in Kansas City. During their postseason run, he caught only three passes, but one for a touchdown.
Even if he his past his prime, DeAndre Hopkins is still a physical specimen. Fellow Clemson alumn, CB Nate Wiggins, found that out the hard way recently, as Harbaugh recounted. The young corner came up to his coach and asked him what he could have done differently.
“’Honestly, Nate, there’s nothing you could have done better’”, Harbaugh said of how he advised Wiggins about covering Hopkins. “That was a great throw and a great catch by probably arguably one of the best who’s ever done it’”.
The Ravens already have Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman at wide receiver. Even DeAndre Hopkins sees the talent they have—but he also told them he saw a piece missing. And he wondered if he might not be that piece, the addition that puts them over the top.
Baltimore has been unable to get over the top in over a decade. Since drafting Lamar Jackson in 2018, the Ravens have only reached the conference finals once, never the Super Bowl. That’s a fair shout closer than the Steelers have come, granted. As for Hopkins, he never even got that far until the advanced to the Super Bowl last season with the Chiefs, though they ultimately lost to the Eagles. That’s all the more incentive for him to make sure he fills in that missing piece, no matter the shape.
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