After a 2018 campaign featuring All-Pro nod, a 99 overall rating in Madden 20, and a third Pro-Bowl appearance, Houston Texans wideout DeAndre Hopkins is widely thought of a part of the upper echelon of NFL wide receivers. The receiver dubbed Nuk cemented that legacy in 2018, and Pro Football Focus reaffirms it.
PFF recently tweeted a telling statistic on Hopkins’ 2018 season. In his second season catching passes from Deshaun Watson, Hopkins had a 115.2 passer rating when targeted, as he caught 115 passes (70.6% catch rate) for 1,572 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Hopkins shattered his previous passer rating when targeted record from 2017 — the year in which he led the league in touchdowns. In 2017, he had 96 receptions (55.2% catch rate) for 1,387 yards and 13 touchdowns. That 18.1 point bump up in passer rating from 2017-18 stems from an increased catch rate (zero drops in 2018) and quarterback play as interceptions are factored into the statistic.
As indicated via PFF, Hopkins has had an 80-plus passer rating in each season of his career but one; the year in which Brock Osweiler was his quarterback. In that very season, Osweiler proved two things (1) he’s the only signal-caller that can fail to get one of the league’s best the ball (78/954/4 Hopkins stat line in 2016) and (2) — subsequently — wasn’t going to be the face of the Texans much longer.
Luckily, for both Hopkins and the franchise, he wasn’t. In one of the best moves of his tenure as Texans general manager, Rick Smith swiftly moved on from the 6-7 quarterback in favor of a National Championship winner hailing from Clemson.
The rest was history.
