This offseason, the Baltimore Ravens made one major retention on offense and one major addition -- and the player they retained is very excited about the player they added. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who re-signed on a three-year, $60 million contract, is fired up about the addition of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
"I mean I had a huge smile on my face when we signed D-Hop," Stanley said, via ProFootballTalk. "You know what you're getting with that guy. I think he's a Hall of Fame-caliber wide receiver, and I still think he has a lot of good reps, years, seasons in him. And he's a physical player, he's a competitive player and I think he's going to fit into our team really well."
Hopkins is certainly a Hall of Fame-caliber receiver. In his 12-year NFL career, Hopkins has caught 984 passes fort 12,965 yards, 678 first downs and 83 touchdowns -- figures that rank second, first, first and third, respectively, among all players since he entered the league. He's going to walk right into Canton with a gold jacket soon after he's eligible to be inducted.
Whether he still has a lot of good reps, years, seasons in him is up for debate. Hopkins will be 33 years old in June, and he's certainly slowed down in recent years -- and especially last year.
He played in 16 games for the Titans and Chiefs last season, but totaled just 56 catches for 610 yards and five scores. His 38.1 yards-per-game average was by far the lowest of his career. Some of that was obviously due to the fact that he switched teams midseason, but he also was unable to get on the field consistently down the stretch of the year -- even after he had been in Kansas City for an extended stretch. Hopkins played just 51% of all possible snaps with the Chiefs, and he didn't top 37.5% in any of the team's three playoff games, according to Pro-Football-Reference. He had three grabs for 29 yards on his eight postseason targets.
His size and physicality likely make him an asset on contested catches and in the red zone, but the idea that he's going to be the player he once was is pretty farfetched. Still, that type of player is one the Ravens haven't had in recent seasons, so it makes sense for Stanley to be excited that they now have him on board.
