The fantasy implications of the Chiefs acquiring DeAndre Hopkins

On Wednesday morning, the Kansas City Chiefs finally relented and traded for a receiver. JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hamstring injury seemed to be the final straw for a team that spent part of Sunday’s win over the 49ers on a three-set win over Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson and Skyy Moore. Their leading receiver in the game was Noah Gray – the only player to have more than 22 receiving yards – and Mecole Hardman was heavily involved as well. Enough was enough.

The question, foreshadowed a bit by The Athletic’s Nate Taylor yesterday in one piecewas who the recipient would be. We got the answer when the Chiefs brought in reliable veteran DeAndre Hopkins, who put aside some of Sunday’s loss to the Colts with “pain in the lower leg‘, which looks like things will clear up before the Chiefs take on the Raiders. They only gave up a fifth-round pick, which can be converted into a fourth-round pick if certain conditions are met. It sounds like they wanted to buy but didn’t want to play in the big kiddie pool.

Will DeAndre Hopkins immediately become Kansas City’s No. 1 receiver?

Well, probably not. You’d have to think the history of playing with Travis Kelce gives him a fantasy advantage over Hopkins. Hopkins, who spent most of training camp dealing with an MCL injury, finally started to look good in Week 3 when he caught 6 of 7 targets for 73 yards and a score. Hopkins, now 32, isn’t going to give the Chiefs anything they didn’t already have in Kelce. If anything, he will replicate those skills and largely replace Smith-Schuster. That’s not a bad thing for Hopkins — Smith-Schuster just scored 7/130 in his last healthy start against the Saints on Monday night — but it does mean there will likely be days where the flow makes it a Kelce game as well as days where it’s a Hopkins game.

It definitely puts Hopkins on the fantasy radar, to be clear, he’s another WR3/FLEX option. But it’s probably a bit rich to believe that he’ll suddenly be more than that at his age, even though I think the Will Levis/Brian Callahan offense has absolutely raised any possibility of him looking good this year in its small sample size.

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How quickly can Hopkins get used to playing with Patrick Mahomes?

This is the most important question. Last week’s Davante Adams trade involved a player who had contact with his former teammate. Mahomes and Hopkins may have worked together at a Pro Bowl in 2018, but they don’t have innate chemistry built into them. That’s not to say it can’t come together quickly, Hopkins is as sharp as they come and he’s bounced between different offenses over the last four years. Andy Reid and Matt Nagy may have more short deception than most teams, but it probably won’t be that different from Bill O’Brien/Kliff Kingsbury asking Hopkins to be a fish out of water.

My guess? It’ll be a week or two before we see what Hopkins can really do in this offense. I wouldn’t rush him against the Raiders. But I do think he’s a nice anchor and a valuable use of a bench spot this week.

The fantasy losers from this trade: Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce

The thing about Xavier Worthy, and the reason he hasn’t turned this opportunity into real fantasy points yet, is that he simply can’t beat the press coverage at the moment. I actually think this trade helps him a bit in the sense that he will be less of a focus for the defense. But we also have to admit that it completely negates any kind of “lights come on, he’s the main receiver and no one can stop him” kind of thing. He’s still employable, but more of a WR4 until we see continued huge target shares.

Kelce, this trade is a direct attack on his route tree and the general area of ​​the field. Hopkins can win outside, but he is most dangerous when breaking in over the middle, just like Kelce. He’s still a TE1 in this country where there are no real TE1s outside of PPR programs, but it’s a less exciting proposition.

Skyy Moore would be a loser in this trade if I thought there was a chance he could have done something to help, but I’ve watched Skyy Moore a lot over the last three years, and so have the Chiefs.

The fantasy winners of this trade: Well, probably just DeAndre Hopkins

The Tennessee target vacuum that Hopkins leaves isn’t high-end fantasy targets at this point. Calvin Ridley will likely remain on the fantasy radar just because of the sheer number of targets he gets. Maybe this is a small bump, but he has converted his last 17 targets into three catches for 42 yards. That’s what we’re dealing with here. Tyler Boyd and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine should be the other two receivers in Tennessee’s three-wide. If you’re excited about Tyler Boyd’s prospects without DeAndre Hopkins, let me tell you that I hope your 20-team, 3-FLEX league goes well for you.

Maybe Will Levis’ AC joint sprain will heal sooner or later, and maybe that will ultimately yield Ridley goals that are better than places of worship. Until we see one of these things happen, it’s hard to believe anyone other than Hopkins is a fantasy winner in this business.