The Kansas City Chiefs, dealing with injuries to the wide receiver room, made a splash on Wednesday morning.
The Chiefs have traded for three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, according to multiple reports. ESPN's Adam Schefter was first to report the deal.
The Chiefs will send a conditional fifth-round draft pick that can become a fourth rounder based on playing time, as well as Kansas City's potential third straight Super Bowl win. Tennessee will reportedly also be paying some of Hopkins's salary in the deal, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The deal comes just several weeks after Kansas City lost leading receiver Rashee Rice to a season-ending PCL injury in the first quarter of a Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Just this past week, 2018 Pro Bowl selection JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was filling in for the injured Rice, aggravated a hamstring injury that he was dealing with heading into Week 7, and was promptly ruled out for Week 8.
On the first play of the club's first preseason game in August, former first-round pick Marquise Brown, who in March signed a one-year contract worth $11 million with Kansas City in the offseason, suffered a dislocation of the sternoclavicular joint in his shoulder. The Chiefs placed Brown on Injured Reserve in September, meaning he would miss at least four games. But Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters that Brown would miss "months" and "not weeks", meaning the club will be without his services for the remainder of the regular season.
The injuries whittled Kansas City's wide receiver room down to '24 first rounder Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson, Mecole Hardman, '23 first rounder Skyy Moore and the injured Smith-Schuster.
Enter Hopkins, a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro who was linked to the Chiefs as a free agent in the '23 offseason. Kansas City, named as a potential trade suitor for Los Angeles Rams star wideout Cooper Kupp, instead brought in Hopkins, who has seven 1000-yard campaigns in 12 NFL seasons.
Hopkins, 32, emerged as one of the league's best wideouts while catching passes from 12 different quarterbacks during his tenure with the Houston Texans. He then went on to enjoy success with former Pro Bowl selection Deshaun Watson in Houston, then again with Arizona Cardinals star Kyler Murray. But now, he'll be working with three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, clearly the best signal-caller he'll have ever played with in his career.
Hopkins has hauled in 943 receptions for 12,528 receiving yards and 79 touchdowns in his decorated NFL career. He ranks second on the league's active career receiving yards list.
Hopkins has a $5.05 million base salary for '24. The Titans are expected to pay about half his salary.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chiefs Trade for Titans' Star Receiver DeAndre Hopkins, per Reports.
