According to reports, the Tennessee Titans and free agent WR DeAndre Hopkins are putting the final touches on a 2 year deal.
While the framework of the deal is reportedly in place, there are still physicals which need to be completed before the team confirms the signing. The 31 year old wideout will receive a base salary of $12M in year 1, with incentives which could tack on an additional $3M.
In total, the contract is reported to be worth $26M, with a ceiling of $32M with incentives over a two year period.
Hopkins joins a paper thin WR room in Tennessee which includes 2nd year receiver Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Kyle Philips, Chris Moore, and Racey McMath amongst others. The addition of the veteran pass catcher instantly vaults him to the top of the depth chart, and adds some life into an anaemic passing attack from 2022.
Prior to the deal, head coach Mike Vrabel, who was a longtime linebacker with the New England Patriots, had more career receiving touchdowns (10) than any receiver under contract with the Titans.
Hopkins had met with several teams over the course of the offseason. However, reports suggested that he had narrowed his list down to either the Patriots or Titans in recent weeks. With Tennessee set to open training camp on the 25th, the deal will give both Hopkins and the front office time to finalize the contract, and get him onto the field to join his new teammates.
Despite sitting out the first six games of 2022 due suspension, Hopkins still managed to put up 717yds and 3TDs with the Cardinals across 9 games. That total would have made him the team leader in receiving yards by nearly 200 yards on the Titans last season, despite playing in 8 fewer games than 2022 leader Robert Woods.
However, with Arizona entering a full scale rebuild, and Hopkins’ contract counting for $30.75M against the cap, the writing was on the wall that the 5x Pro Bowler wouldn’t be back in the desert this year.
The signing with Tennessee raises more questions about the direction of the team this year. With Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry both set to become UFA’s at season’s end, evidently the front office is hoping to have one last playoff push with their current core.
The team selected 6’4” QB Will Levis out of Kentucky 33rd overall in this spring’s NFL Draft. They also chose former Liberty QB Malik Willis in the 3rd round of the 2022 draft, making for an interesting quarterback room heading into training camp.
Should the wheels begin to come off this season, the club could hand the keys to the offense over to one of their young signal callers. If the club remains competitive in the wide open AFC South though, Tannehill and company could have one last push for the postseason in Nashville.
Regardless of what ultimately happens, there’ll be no shortage of storylines surrounding the Titans from the preseason until the final week of the year.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.