Chiefs, Titans working on DeAndre Hopkins trade, per sources: Why it makes sense for Kansas City

By Dianna Russini, Nate Taylor and Joe Rexrode

The Kansas City Chiefs are working to acquire wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins from the Tennessee Titans, league sources said Wednesday, a move that would bolster the defending Super Bowl champions’ injury-plagued receiving corps with a five-time Pro Bowler.

Tennessee would receive a conditional draft pick — a fifth-rounder that could become a fourth — in the deal. The trade had not been finalized as of Wednesday morning.

While the teams iron out details of the trade, the Chiefs expect Hopkins to land in Kansas City later Wednesday and hope to get him ready to play Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, league sources said.

The Chiefs, who aim to be the first three-peat champion in NFL history, are off to a 6-0 start and are the league’s last undefeated team. But the vaunted passing attack led by two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes could use the help at wide receiver. Mahomes is averaging a career-low 231.5 passing yards per game and has six touchdowns to eight interceptions. Injuries have sidelined their top three wide receivers — Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. In Sunday’s 28-18 win over the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City’s wide receivers combined for just five receptions on 12 targets.

The Chiefs also discussed star receiver Cooper Kupp with the Los Angeles Rams, team sources said, but Kansas City needed to trade with a team that was willing to take on a large chunk of the player’s salary and didn’t want to give up high picks. Tennessee was the team willing to play ball. Hopkins, 32, is in the final season of a two-year, $26 million deal.

Hopkins could strengthen Kansas City’s wide receiving corps and shake off a slow start to his season at the same time. He has just 15 receptions for 173 yards and one touchdown in six games. After suffering a sprained knee in the preseason, Hopkins had his snap count limited early in the season. He played less than half of the Titans’ offensive snaps in their first four games, but that number increased to 71 percent and 60 percent the past two weeks. Still, as Tennessee’s offense sputtered, he caught one pass for minus-2 yards in Sunday’s 34-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Titans, at 1-5, have just a 1 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to The Athletic’s Austin Mock.

Hopkins has seven 1,000-yard seasons in his 12-year NFL career, including four in a row from 2017 to 2020.

What Hopkins brings to the Chiefs

The Chiefs had to make this move, which will create more margin of error for their offense ahead of the postseason.

The Chiefs don’t need a superstar receiver. Mahomes has proved he can win championships without one. Mahomes does, however, need another motivated, viable and reliable receiver to help him sustain the Chiefs offense. Hopkins can be that receiver based on his route-running ability and success in creating yards after the catch.

Without Hopkins, the Chiefs were going to enter this week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders with a group of receivers —  Justin Watson, Mecole Hardman, Skyy Moore and rookie Xavier Worthy — who have combined to generate 27 receptions for 343 yards and two touchdowns. — Nate Taylor, Chiefs writer

The Titans are acknowledging a rebuild after an offseason of big spending

Titans general manager Ran Carthon operated in the offseason like a guy who believed he could put together a competitive team in 2024, signing Calvin Ridley to a long-term deal to pair with Hopkins, trading for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, signing center Lloyd Cushenberry and running back Tony Pollard to help the offense and adding cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, linebacker Kenneth Murray and linebacker Ernest Jones IV to help the defense.

Well, the Titans have a shot at the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, and a selloff has begun.

Much of this can be explained by the struggles of second-year quarterback Will Levis. But not all of it. The Titans appear aimless and are 7-21 since GM Jon Robinson was fired midway through the 2022 season. — Joe Rexrode, senior writer

Hopkins bucked the Titans’ underwhelming veteran receiver history

Randy Moss, Andre Johnson and Julio Jones are three all-time greats at receiver who were well past their best by the time they got to Nashville, so there was skepticism when the Titans went where no one else would go with Hopkins — two years, $26 million — in the 2023 offseason. But Hopkins bucked history with 75 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns in a bad offense last season. He had strong chemistry immediately with Levis.

A knee injury cost Hopkins much of camp and the Titans eased him into this season, but it was surprising to see no apparent carryover of that chemistry with Levis once Hopkins was healthy enough to play full games. — Rexrode

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(Photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)