After signing a two-year $26 million dollar deal with the Tennessee Titans after playing for the Arizona Cardinals, DeAndre Hopkins looks to be set up for failure as he joins the Titans offense.
However, we have seen this trend before where Tennessee signs a veteran wide receiver without providing a good passing offense and a good quarterback.
The evidence in this is Randy Moss, Andre Johnson, and Julio Jones. Three players who are all likely Hall-of-Famers.
Moss played with Tennessee in the 2010 NFL season, where his stats trajectory towards retirement was sped up expontentially.
Moss’s stats with Tennessee were the lowest amongst the three teams he played for that season despite eight games with the Titans whereas Minnesota and New England each got four.
Andre Johnson played with the Titans in 2016 where his stats were some of his career lows after having good seasons with other teams. He played in eight games, where he only had nine receptions, 85 receiving yards, and only had 10.6 yards per game.
In the 2008 season, where he played with the Houston Texans he led the league in 115 receptions, 1575 receiving yards and in the next season also with Houston, he led the league with 1569 receiving yards and led in yards per game with 98.1.
Once Johnson was sent to the Titans it was game over.
Julio Jones is the most recent Titan on this list as he played with the Titans in 2021 where the same issue had occurred. Similar to Johnson, in his prior seasons, he was among the league leaders in most receiving statistics.
Once again, when Jones was sent to the Titans his stats drastically dropped and he was never the same.
Now as we examine Hopkins playing with the Titans, he may be destined to follow along into the same curse. He joins a Titans team that features an old Ryan Tannehill and two unproven players (Willis and Levis). Unless something miraculous occurs with Willis or Levis and the Titans suddenly throw more, Hopkins career is destined to falter before it can get back up despite being in the twilight of his career.