FAULTY CONNECTION
Hopkins’ receptions are down this season, but several contributing factors are to blame
INDIANAPOLIS — The football was delivered with an accurate spiral, and it ricocheted off of DeAndre Hopkins’ outstretched fingertips at snowy Lambeau Field one week ago.
It was a rare miscue from one of the most sure-handed and gifted wide receivers in the league. The occurrence happened twice during the Texans’ 21-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, but it largely can be regarded as an aberration by an athlete with a history of overcoming tough circumstances.
Hopkins changed gloves on the sideline and later caught a seasonlong 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Osweiler in the fourth quarter.
Hopkins’ skills haven’t been the issue that triggered an extreme downward spiral of production one year removed from a breakthrough season. Last year, Hopkins routinely dominated cornerbacks through his combination of size, route-running skills and ambidextrous ability to make slick catches.
Hopkins’ numbers have dipped considerably this season while playing a high-profile game of catch with Osweiler, the Texans’ $72 million man who has failed to regularly connect with his top downfield target. Eight of Osweiler’s 13 interceptions have happened when he has thrown in Hopkins’ direction.
“I don’t see any regression at all from Hopkins,” said an NFL personnel director, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He’s still Hopkins — very athletic, very talented, good routes, great hands. He can sell a route, create separation, run after the catch, muscle corners out of his way, make contested catches. I like him a lot. Yes, he’s getting a lot of extra attention. Everybody knows you have to account for him on every single play.
“What I’m seeing from him is he’s still adjusting to and getting on the same page with a new quarterback because that’s the only thing that’s really changed. The system is the same and Hopkins hasn’t changed. No one can blame him for what’s happened. Trust me, a lot of teams would love to have that guy as their No. 1 wide receiver. He’s a special player you build your offense around.”
High praise indeed
A muscular 6-1, 218-pound former first-round draft pick from Clemson with long arms, Hopkins prides himself on competing for the football.
This season, Hopkins has had less space to operate and regularly faces double-coverage and bracket techniques where cornerbacks and safeties attempt to squeeze the field on himwith coverage applied in front of and behind him. It’s not often the Texans don’t contend with two-deep looks with both safeties deployed over the middle, a nod to Hopkins’ explosiveness.
Between those defensive schemes and how Osweiler has struggled so mightily, it has been a much different story for Hopkins after being named to his first Pro Bowl last season, during which he caught passes from four quarterbacks in Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden.
During that stellar season, Hopkins caught a career-high 111 passes for 1,521 yards and set a franchise record with 11 touchdown catches. He was targeted 192 times and dropped just three passes.
Adozen games into this season entering Sunday’s pivotal AFC South divisional clash with the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, Hopkins has caught just 58 passes for 668 yards and four touchdowns while being targeted 112 times.
Hopkins’ numbers are hardly Pro Bowl caliber. With four games remaining in the regular season for the 6-6 Texans, who are tied for first place in the division despite being mired in a three-game losing streak, Hopkins is on pace to finish the season with 77 catches for 890 yards and five scores.
Standing inside the Texans’ locker room, Hopkins regularly gives a variation of the same answer when asked about his individual season. His next complaint about anything, including Osweiler, would be his first. He has emphasized the importance of not pointing fingers, of focusing on team goals instead of his performance.
“Statistically, it’s been challenging, but I don’t really go off statistics,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins has flatly denied experiencing any frustration about his numbers.
“No, it hasn’t,” Hopkins said when asked if this season had been difficult on him. “My team is where — what are we? No. 1 in our division? So, no, definitely not.”
Hopkins became the first player in NFL history last season to generate 100-yard games with four quarterbacks. At 24, he’s the third-youngest player in NFL history to reach 200 career receptions and 3,000 receiving yards, ranking behind only Larry Fitzgerald and David Boston.
Before the season, Hopkins drew heavy praise from arguably the greatest wide receivers in NFL history: Jerry Rice.
“DeAndre reminds me of me in the sense that he has football speed and will run by you,” Rice said. “That was always the knock on me. They said, ‘He doesn’t have exceptional speed,’ but you would see me blowing by people. He has football speed where he can step on the toes of the defensive back and blow by him.
“I like him. I like the way he runs his routes. He has confidence. He’s hungry. With Brock Osweiler, he has a quarterback he can build around and develop great chemistry and put up incredible numbers together.”
That last part of Rice’s answer hasn’t developed yet, raising questions about why the connection and chemistry between the passing tandem hasn’t been better. Supportive of Osweiler
Osweiler has struggled with his accuracy. Passes thrown in Hopkins’ direction regularly arrive late and are poorly timed. The jump-balls and fade passes to Hopkins that the four quarterbacks experienced regular success with last year aren’t Osweiler’s forte. He often waits too long to make a decision and release the football, and that causes Hopkins to lose the window of opportunity that he’d built with a crisp route.
Hopkins has been supportive of Osweiler throughout the season.
“Anytime we lose a game, you can’t point the fingers at the guy that everybody wants to point the finger at, because it’s not just him,” Hopkins said. “It’s 10 other guys on the football field that need to help him out, including myself. One thing I can say about him, he doesn’t let that get to him, what goes on outside of this locker room or the field. He’s the same guy every day. I couldn’t tell that people were talking bad about him the way he carries himself.”
All of the attention paid to Hopkins has led to increased production from his teammates. Especially tight ends C.J. Fiedorowicz and Ryan Griffin on shorter to intermediate patterns.
Ideally, it would be Hopkins as the focal point of the attack after how he established himself last season as one of the most impactful threats in the game.
“My numbers aren’t where they need to be,” Hopkins acknowledged earlier this season. “But if you look at the film, you’ll see that I’m helping my team out in a major way by drawing double teams, by drawing extra coverage from the secondary, leaving other players one-on-one to win their matchup.”
Hopkins is averaging just 4.83 catches and 55.6 yards per contest. He has only six catches of 20 yards or longer. He’s averaging 11.5 yards per reception.
“I honestly don’t judge myself personally,” Hopkins said. “I judge everything based off of my team, what my team is doing.”
The manner in which Hopkins has handled the adversity of the season hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Texans’ organization.
Hopkins staged a one-day holdout at the start of training camp to illustrate his displeasure with the Texans’ stance that they wouldn’t negotiate a new contract for him this year. The Texans are under no obligation to negotiate a new deal for Hopkins after this season as they’ve already secured his services for the 2017 season by exercising a $7.915 million fifth-year option. Conceivably, the Texans could delay doing a long-term contract extension for Hopkins and even make him their franchise player in 2018 if no new deal can be reached.
The hope for the Texans and Hopkins is that something can be hammered out this offseason. Texans owner Bob McNair and general manager Rick Smith have said they want Hopkins with the AFC South franchise under a long-term deal, noting their history of taking care of players who have proven themselves under their original rookie contract. ‘I control what I can control’
For now, the focus isn’t on business off the field. It’s about Hopkins and the Texans doing whatever they can to salvage a once-promising season and repeat as division champions for the second year in a row.
“DeAndre is a pro, that’s what he is,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “He’s a pro’s pro. He’s a guy that shows up every day and works hard. Great teammate. Been very key for us on third down. He’ s made some big catches for us in games. Maybe he doesn’t have the amount of catches that he would like or that we would like right now, but he has made (catches). All of his catches have been very, very important. They’ve been catches that, you know, move the chains and have been important. So, I think the guy has done everything we’ve asked him to do this year.”
There have been a few glimpses this season of how capable Hopkins can be of breaking a game open. Against the Colts at NRG Stadium during a dramatic overtime victory at NRG Stadium, Hopkins caught a season-high nine passes on 15 targets for 71 yards.
“It’s really out of my hands,” Hopkins said when asked why the offense hasn’t performed that way all the time. “I just go out there and do myjob. I control what I can control. I’m not perfect. Nobody on this team is perfect, so just comein to work every day. Guys are going to make mistakes. But that’s probably one of my better couple minutes of football that we’ve played.”