DeAndre Hopkins demonstrated on Sunday that he has a lot to offer in the NFL, even though he got off to a slow start this season. That was on his mind after the game, where he channeled another NFL player.
Hopkins caught four passes for 128 yards, three of them for touchdowns, in Sunday’s 28-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. The performance was easily his best as a member of the Titans, as he came into the game with just 376 yards and no touchdowns on the season.
After the game, Hopkins compared himself to Geno Smith in how the league wrote him off.
"They wrote me off. I feel like Geno." – @DeAndreHopkins pic.twitter.com/eyaJT0Y1mh
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
“One, two, three,” Hopkins said, counting his touchdown catches. “They wrote me off. I feel like Geno.”
Hopkins is referencing Smith’s now-famous quote about how the league wrote him off before becoming the starting quarterback in Seattle, but that he hadn’t written back.
Hopkins’ comeback story is not quite as dramatic as Smith’s, but he did struggle to command widespread interest in free agency and had even popped up in trade rumors in recent days. This was clearly a statement performance for him.