What does the signing of DeAndre Hopkins mean, and how does it affect other teams? For the Titans it affects the wide receiver room greatly. Outside of hoping Treylon Burks can have a breakout season and become a true number one receiver, there’s not much to be excited about. I mean sure we would all love Kyle Phillips to be able to stay healthy and show us more of the play like in the Giants game. On the more realistic side of things we maybe had the worst wide receiver room in the league. Now though, with Hopkins we have our clear number one, Burks doesn’t have to bear that pressure anymore, which will give him even more of a chance for a breakout season.
Also, now this offense is starting to remind me of the 2019-2020 Titans offense. Then we had Jonnu Smith, Corey Davis, A.J. Brown and of course Henry and Tannehill. Brown’s stats over that period was 25 games with 122 receptions 2,126 yards and 19 touchdowns. Corey Davis had 23 games with 108 receptions 1,585 yards and 7 touchdowns. I believe Burks will be better than Davis, and Hopkins is already ranked higher than Brown, even though he might be better in the long run. Chigoziem Okonkwo has already out produced Smith in his rookie season, so no reason to think he wouldn’t be able to do that again or better. The King will do what he always does. He will be top 5 rushing yards and touchdowns as per usual.
I know, some of you reading this will be thinking our line was better. Well not really in 2019 our offensive line was ranked 24th by PFF. Which improved to 15th overall in 2020. However, this offensive line was geared better for run blocking not pass blocking. In 2020 not one offensive lineman had a better pass blocking grade than a run blocking grade according to PFF. In 2020 the Titans offensive line was ranked 28th in pass blocking. Our current offensive line has question marks for sure lots of new faces. However, if you look at the skillsets of these linemen you quickly see they were targeted because of their pass blocking skills. Which will keep Tannehill upright and on the field longer hopefully. In 2019 and 2020 Tannehill was playing at the top of his game. He played in 28 games with 516 completions 6,561 yards and 55 touchdowns. His completion percentages were 70.3 and 65.5 and he had quarterback ratings of 117.5 and 106.5 respectively. As we saw last year his absence is detrimental to our win percentage.
Another aspect of the signing is how it affects other teams, and not just teams in the AFC south. First of all the Bills and the Chiefs both were trying to get deals done before or during the draft. Both were very close to getting a deal done, but contract specifics got in the way for both of them. Getting a playmaker of his talent level, while making us better in the AFC than other teams we will be competing with if we make it to the playoffs, will make them easier to beat. The obvious teams it hurts the most are teams in the AFC south. Because now the Titans are real contenders for the division.
