Very few players ever live up to the kind of hype they get in training camp. DeAndre Hopkins did, and now that Andre Johnson's gone, the spotlight's on Nuk to lead the Texans offense.
There was some major hype around Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins as we headed into training camp last season, and he didn't disappoint those that predicted a breakout season. A year later, after seeing Hopkins blow up for Houston's offense, he projects as their No. 1 receiver, with a shot to launch himself into the superstar discussion. Does he have tools to make that jump, or will he regress without a receiver like Andre Johnson lined up opposite? Let's take a look.
Blast off to superstardom in Houston?
Despite a shaky situation that saw Hopkins catch passes from four different quarterbacks (Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, Tom Savage, and Case Keenum), he emerged as arguably the team's top receiver, grabbing 76 passes for 1,210 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He joined Andre Johnson as the only Texan ever to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark, and set the franchise record with his 15.9 yards per catch. His six scores paced the 9-7 Texans, and his 127 targets were second only to Johnson. He became a focal point for a run-heavy attack in his second season.
I watched every Hopkins target from last year and a few things stood out. He's a physical player -- he plays to his 6'1, 218-pound frame -- and his hands are very good. I saw him drop a couple passes that he should've caught, but overall he was very consistent catching the ball. His hands technique was fundamental; he always framed the ball well, focusing in on it through the catch, and displayed the ability to go up high or crouch low.
These are two consecutive targets on separate 3rd and 4's for Hopkins, in Week 13's matchup against Tennessee. Both were extremely low, inaccurate passes, and he came up with both.
It wasn't surprising when I saw Pro Football Focus pointed out that over the last three seasons, no receiver has had better hands than Hopkins, who has grabbed 97 percent (128/132) of his catchable passes.
He had one catch vs. the Giants that, had it counted, could've...