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Turron Davenport, ESPN
CHICAGO — Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will play in Sunday’s season opener against the Chicago Bears, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Hopkins suffered a torn MCL on July 31 that kept him out until he returned to practice Wednesday.
The Titans listed Hopkins as a limited practice participant on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He was designated as questionable on the injury report.
Hopkins said “it felt great” getting back on the field after practice Thursday. Hopkins traveled to California to start his recovery process before returning to Nashville last week.
“To my knowledge, I think everything is healed though, so far, the way it’s supposed to,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said Friday. “I don’t think there’s any fear of any more injury than it was initially.”
Hopkins wore a sleeve on his left leg Thursday but practiced without any extra support Friday. After monitoring Hopkins during a team walkthrough Saturday, the Titans will keep close track of Hopkins on Sunday during pregame warmups.
The Titans will go with six wide receivers including Hopkins since they didn’t elevate any wideouts from the practice squad this week. It’s highly unlikely Hopkins plays the full game against Chicago.
“Any player that’s coming off an injury or extended missed period of time, you’re smart,” and Callahan said. “To ask a guy to go in there and play an entire game, every snap is a tough ask. You try to be at least –have some sort of plan in place to rotate him enough.”