Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Houston Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins have had six intense battles on the NFL level and they’ve all been very interesting encounters. Those battles have also helped the two garner a lot of respect for each other, which both displayed this week in their respective meeting with the media.
On Thursday, both players spoke highly of each other exchanging compliments with Ramsey calling Hopkins virtually “unguardable” and Hopkins calling Ramsey his favorite corner to play against due to his ability to trail the All-Pro throughout his career.
In their first battle of last season, Hopkins was held to just three catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, but in the last one, he exploded with 12 receptions for just under 150 yards. Both games are pretty much telling of how back and forth the battles between Hopkins and Ramsey have been although the Jags were blown out in both 2018 meetings.
Both the Jags and Texans will come into Week 2 with 0-1 records, so the battle between Ramsey and Hopkins will be more crucial than ever. Of course, Ramsey will need some help from the Jags’ pass-rush who will be up against an offensive line that gave up six sacks Week 1, even with the addition of Laremy Tunsil. If they can get home or put some heat on quarterback Deshaun Watson, that should make Hopkins a little more guardable and tip the battle on the outside in Ramsey’s favor. However, if they let Watson get hot, it could be another long day for the Jags and quite possibly another 140-plus yard day for Hopkins.
