You didn't realize it because you chose to view the stats to fit the outcome you wanted.
Doc quoted Yards per Target of 7.8, not Yards per catch
He DID have more than 800 yards 1165 actually (don't short change the guy).
Yards per catch was 11.2 for 1165 yards
In case your wondering (who else would you consider big-play receivers?)
Player | Receptions | Targets | Yards per Catch | Yards per Target | Catch % | |
DeAndre Hopkins | 104 | 150 | 11.2 | 7.8 | 69.3 | |
Julio Jones | 99 | 157 | 14.1 | 839 | 63.1 | |
Stefon Diggs | 63 | 94 | 17.9 | 12 | 67 | |
Tyreek Hill | 58 | 89 | 14.8 | 9.7 | 65.2 | *only 12 games |
| | | | | | |
Hopkins Career | 1048 | 632 | 13.6 | 8.2 | 60.3 | |
2019 was a down year for Hop both in yards per catch and yards per target - for his career (including 2019) he has been comparable to Jones and Hill.
Diggs - I don't watch much of Minn. but guy balled last year - can easily see why he was valued high and landed the trade value he did.
Hops per catch yards are lower than most, but so are his per target yards - pretty sure Hop isn't choosing which routes to run - that's a little thing called the playbook.
Only trying to point out, you can agree with the trade - love it / hate it ect. - but we have moved into 'eh Hopkins was just a guy' territory and his talent shouldn't be a question.
I would provide links to where I got the data... but no