Not too long ago, Houston Texans All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins had to catch passes from Matt Schaub, Case Keenum, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, T.J Yates, Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage.
All, during Hopkins’ start of his career, were regarded as subpar answers to the position. Despite that, he was a second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler; proving that his skill set doesn’t hinge on who is throwing him passes.
Then the Texans made the franchise-altering move to select Deshaun Watson in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. For Hopkins, that was the happiest moment of his NFL career.
“When we got Deshaun, that’s one of the happiest moments I have playing football,” Hopkins said in a feature interview with GQ.
He calls that “sad,” considering the constant rotation of shot-callers before Watson’s arrival.
“I never even worked out the whole off-season with a quarterback. Just because it’s in and out,” said Hopkins. “Cut. One year. Cut.”
Though Hopkins never took his issues with the quarterback situation public, he wasn’t happy about it. Raising questions about the position to the public just isn’t who he is.
“You don’t understand what I’ve been through. Nobody understands, and I keep it to myself,” Hopkins said. “I don’t bash people in the media, like other people. Before Deshaun, I used to be frustrated … all the time, just saying, ‘How am I in this position?'”
Hopkins has yet to reach a Super Bowl; in large part because, though talented, he didn’t play with a star quarterback until 2017.
“You got all the receivers going to the Super Bowl who are not even close to as good as me,” said Hopkins, who mentioned they had far superior quarterbacks.
Now that he has that quarterback in Watson, the Super Bowl is in his sights.
“We got everything now. [The ceiling is] the Super Bowl,” Hopkins said. “We got the pieces in the puzzles. We got one of the best defenses, with J.J. Watt. One of the best quarterbacks, Deshaun.”
It appears as if Hopkins won’t have to deal with a sad state of quarterbacks anytime soon. He’ll be contending for the Super Bowl with Watson; the man who changed his NFL career arch.
