On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated their AFC West rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders, extending their undefeated record to 7-0. The defending champions also debuted their latest wide receiver acquisition in the victory.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes praised the performance of DeAndre Hopkins during his post-game press conference about his first game since the trade.
“I thought he did a great job. It was third down, and he had the big catch early in the game, and then he had a couple of other big plays,” said Mahomes. “I missed him on the one corner route early but still got open. And then, as I looked back at the tablet, there were a couple of times where, in man coverage, he was just really working and winning. Even the touchdown to Trav (Travis Kelce) I threw, if you look back on his side, he’s open too for a touchdown there. Now that you see that, I know the type of player he is – but you see that on the field, it shows that if they’re going to play man coverage against him, he’s going to get open. I have to give him chances to go out there and make plays.”
Hopkins was targeted three times in the victory, finishing with two catches for 29 yards in brief stints on the field. Mahomes is confident the five-time All-Pro can figure out the offense quickly.
“Honestly, it’s high-level stuff, just because it was zone coverage, they were in the right spot, he pulled up in the right window, stuff you see Trav do a lot, you see JuJu (Smith-Schuster) do a lot,” said Mahomes. “I was able to throw the ball, and I’ve talked about it a little bit; he has good body language when he runs routes, so you can tell what he’s going to do before he does it. We had only practiced that play, I think, once, maybe twice. For third down in that situation, for him to run it and be in the right position, it shows that he’s going to fit in perfectly in this offense.”
The Chiefs’ next play at home for Week 9 on Monday Night Football gives Hopkins more time to master the entire playbook.
