The Kansas City Chiefs may be 6-0, but they were well aware that they were not playing the brand of football we’ve all grown accustomed to since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback. Fueled by a truly special defense, Kansas City has been able to get to six wins, but the offense has left a ton to be desired.
Mahomes is in the midst of the worst season of his career, while Travis Kelce appears to have taken a step back as a receiving threat. With key injuries to the likes of Isiah Pacheco, and Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown being lost for the season, the team needed to make a move. And they did so, acquiring veteran wideout DeAndre Hopkins from the Tennessee Titans. Although he’s 32 now, Hopkins can still demand targets and snag passes as he has always done.
Andy Reid reveals DeAndre Hopkins’ role with Chiefs
Hopkins has traditionally been primarily a boundary receiver, eating up cornerbacks outside the numbers or on in-breaking routes. Over the past three seasons, Hopkins’ highest rate of snaps in the slot has been 19.3%. But that seems to set to change in Kansas City.
DeAndre Hopkins set to play a lot of slot in Kansas City
Andy Reid spoke about the acquisition of Hopkins on Thursday and was quite candid about what type of role Hopkins will play. The head coach says Nuk will “work in those spots that JuJu [Smith-Schuster] and Rashee [Rice] did“.
Rice had a 43.1% slot snap rate before getting injured this season, and was at 45.4% in 2023. Smith-Schuster was at nearly 40%. JuJu is currently out for Week 8 with a hamstring injury, but could be back for Week 9.
While Smith-Schuster is out, Hopkins is set to take on a lot of the slot work. And if he develops quick chemistry in that area of the field with Mahomes, he will likely take most of Smith-Schuster’s work there.
