DeAndre

Hopkins

Hopkins had a few nice catches, but has evolved into a touchdown-or-bust option over the last month-and-a-half. Since Week 10 he has cleared the 60-yard mark once despite some solid target totals. If Hollywood Brown eats further into his snap share (Hopkins had 30, second-most amongst wideouts) it will be hard to recommend starting Hopkins going forward. Against the Steelers in Week 17, Hopkins probably belongs in a lineup only in deeper leagues.

Brown practiced in full throughout the week and will now make his Chiefs debut on Saturday versus the Texans. The Chiefs will ease Brown back into the lineup, keeping him off the fantasy radar for Week 16. However, his return makes already thin bets in Xavier Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins that much worse for fantasy purposes. Hopkins has been a part-time player since joining the Chiefs and now there’s even more of a threat to his routes. Xavier Worthy, on the other hand, runs all of the routes but rarely sees WR1 usage. His 11-target outing in Week 15 will keep him in the WR3 ranks for Saturday’s matchup with Houston.

Hopkins’ 36 yards were actually his second most of the past five weeks, which tells you where he’s been at in fantasy of late. Hopkins has had the decency to furnish a 4-5 catch floor, but it’s coming with zero ceiling. That briefly appeared to change Sunday when Hopkins seemed to have a 40-plus yard grab to get the Chiefs inside the Browns’ five-yard line early in the third quarter, but replay review quickly revealed the ball hitting the ground. Now the question becomes Patrick Mahomes’ (ankle) status for Week 16. Mahomes seems like he could play if it were a must-win game, but the Chiefs feel unlikely to view it that way. Either way, Hopkins will be struggling to crack the top 36 for the fantasy semifinals.

Hopkins caught a second quarter touchdown to send the Chiefs into the break up 13-0. The Chargers then mounted a spirited comeback in the third frame when they scored 14 unanswered points, eventually resulting in traded field goals in the fourth. Hopkins could have had a much bigger fantasy outing had he come down with any of the three deep targets on the evening, most notably failing to haul in a deep pass from Patrick Mahomes on the team’s final drive that was in his hands but dislodged by a vicious hit down the left sideline. Even so, Hopkins continues to lead an unconcentrated pass-catching corps that could catch fire down the stretch as they prepare for the postseason. Up next for Hopkins and the Chiefs are the Browns in Week 15.

He added two long DPI penalties for a total of 46 yards you probably were not compensated for in fantasy. Hopkins’ only real sin in this game was dropping a wide-open catch over the middle of the field on a Patrick Mahomes miracle-scramble. He also one-handed a would-be touchdown out of the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter. Hopkins has not exactly been a league-winner for the Chiefs, being held under 60 yards in his three previous games. He’ll be a bottom-tier WR3 option or good FLEX against the Chargers in Week 14.

Hopkins caught one of Patrick Mahomes’ three touchdown passes but was otherwise quiet against Carolina. Targets were once again spread around among KC pass catchers, with Travis Kelce leading the bunch with just eight looks. Hopkins could be a big beneficiary if the Chiefs continue to lean on the pass after an uncharacteristically run-heavy first half of the season. He’ll be a top-30 fantasy option in Week 13 against a Raiders defense giving up the NFL’s fourth highest drop back success rate.

After going for 8-86-2 in his second game with the Chiefs, Hopkins has totaled just seven receptions for 85 scoreless yards in his last two games. Hopkins’ four targets tied with Travis Kelce and Samaje Perine for the second-most on the team, while Xavier Worthy and Noah Gray tied for the team lead with five targets. The splash games will be sporadic for Hopkins in this offense, which makes him difficult to profile as anything more than a WR3 in Week 12 against the Panthers.

Patrick Surtain blanketed him all day, to the point where an illegal use of hands to the face penalty showed the two of them tussling each other out of bounds. Hopkins still got his, including a 31-yarder on an all-out blitz on third-and-13 that the Chiefs ran with for the go-ahead field goal. It wasn’t a great fantasy day, but Hopkins was easily No. 2 in the pecking order and will remain on the WR3 line even with a tough matchup against the Bills due in Week 11.

Hopkins scored the first and last touchdown for the Chiefs in regulation in his second game with the team, clearly operating in a more robust role after playing a modest 23 offensive snaps in Week 8. His nine targets finished second on the team behind tight end Travis Kelce’s 16 but the two scores were more than enough to propel him to his best fantasy finish of the season. Hopkins could find the sledding tougher against the suffocating Broncos secondary in Week 10.

Hopkins only had 23 snaps in his Chiefs debut last week. Against the Bucs on Monday night, Hopkins should get more targets, perhaps enough to take him up as high as a WR2 given Tampa’s defensive struggles and inability to stay out of shootouts. It’s worth remembering that the Chiefs offense has not been a fantasy moneypot this year though, and Hopkins may normally just be a WR3 once he starts taking the full snap complement.