ESPN’s Seth Walder complimentary of Ravens’ signing of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins
The Baltimore Ravens added big-name, big-body wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and it’s been lauded by most. That is, other than an unnamed NFL executive in an article from The Athletic’s Mike Sando, who said his addition “doesn’t do anything for me,” but ESPN’s Seth Walder says otherwise.
“There are some signs of Hopkins’ demise being premature,” Walder wrote. “He still posted a 70 open score in ESPN’s receiver scores last season. Granted, it came with career-low (at least dating to 2017) catch and YAC scores. But the open score shows he still has something.”
Adding Hopkins has largely been viewed as high-end depth signing to pair with wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers. And in doing so, they’re adding a player who outpaced quite a few star receivers from last season.
“Though his playing time dropped off, the 32-year-old Hopkins also recorded 1.8 yards per route run last season between Tennessee and Kansas City,” Walder wrote. “You could do a lot worse than that. Here are some receivers who had a lower yards per route run last year — Jordan Addison, Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle, Garrett Wilson, Deebo Samuel Sr., DJ Moore and Joshua Palmer.”
Also to the Ravens’ credit, Walder notes the value of Hopkins’ contract.
“Some of those are stars with high volume, but the much-younger Palmer just got $12 million per year from the Bills,” Walder wrote. “Either way, I’m more than good with rolling the dice on Hopkins as a depth receiver for Lamar Jackson for this little money.”