The Tennessee Titans desperately needed help at wide receiver ahead of 2023 after the unit was arguably the worst in the NFL last season, and after the team seemingly neglected the position all offseason long.
Well, the Titans did that in a big way with the signing of DeAndre Hopkins, who instantly becomes the most prolific receiver on the Titans and, more specifically for the purposes of this article, the most prolific when it comes to scoring touchdowns through the air, surpassing head coach Mike Vrabel.
Yes, that’s right, Mike Vrabel.
As we wrote earlier this month, Vrabes had more career receiving scores (10 in regular season, two in playoffs, 12 total) than any of the Titans’ receivers before Hopkins arrived, whether you want to include playoffs or not (Chris Moore was the closest with eight).
Taking it a step further, his 12 career touchdowns were just four fewer than all of Tennessee’s receivers combined. Bear in mind, not only was Vrabel a linebacker, he posted that many scores in just 16 career targets.
Mike Vrabel (who played LB) had the most career receiving TDs on the #Titans roster until they added DeAndre Hopkins on Sunday.
This is a fantastic graphic from @GetUpESPN this morning: pic.twitter.com/HvvBwWLbaS
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 17, 2023
Hopkins enters Nashville with a total of 72 career scores, which is more than Vrabel and the rest of the receivers combined, and by a wide margin.
How about another cool stat: Tennessee’s returning wide receivers tallied 69 catches for 962 yards and four touchdowns last season. Hopkins has topped those numbers himself in six of his 10 seasons in the NFL, as Nashville Post’s John Glennon pointed out.
A sign of just how much Hopkins revamps #Titans WR room:
–Team’s returning WRs combined for 69 catches, 962 yards and 4 TDs last year.
–Hopkins has topped all 3 numbers by himself in 6 of 10 seasons.— John Glennon (@glennonsports) July 16, 2023
Now, if you put the receptions aside and just include Moore’s 548 yards and two scores while with the Houston Texans in 2022, the total comes out to 1,510 yards and six scores, numbers Hopkins has topped by himself twice.
Needless to say, the addition of Hopkins is a total game-changer for the Titans’ offense. Our Shaun Calderon went into more detail on how he improves Tennessee’s offense, which you can check out here.
