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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs have a knack for getting midseason trades for wide receivers right.
In 2022, they sent a couple of draft picks to the New York Giants for Kadarius Toney, who in the fourth quarter of that season’s Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles scored one touchdown and set up another with a long punt return.
Last season the acquisition was Mecole Hardman from the New York Jets. Hardman caught the touchdown pass in overtime to send the Chiefs to a Super Bowl LVIII victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
These trades have a way of working out the way the Chiefs intend, which is why they tried it again this year by dealing with the Tennessee Titans for DeAndre Hopkins, who they acquired for a conditional fourth-round pick.
It’s going to take even more from Hopkins, 32, who unlike Toney or Hardman is an established if aging star, to make this trade work in the Chiefs’ favor. The Toney deal was aimed more at the future, to help bolster a receiving group in the wake of the Tyreek Hill trade. That part didn’t work out so well for the Chiefs, who released Toney at the end of training camp this year.
Hardman was acquired for depth. The Chiefs need Hopkins to be their No. 1 wide receiver, by the playoffs if not sooner.
The initial candidates to be the top wideout, Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown, are out with injuries. Rice is done for the season with a right knee injury. Brown, who suffered a sternoclavicular injury during the preseason, could return by the postseason.
Before the Hopkins trade, the Chiefs were left at wide receiver with Xavier Worthy, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Justin Watson, Hardman and Skyy Moore. At this point of their careers, at least, there isn’t a No. 1 wide receiver in the bunch.
Worthy, the Chiefs’ first-round draft pick, may eventually get to that point but for now he’s a 21-year-old rookie. He’s been what the Chiefs expected at this stage of his career, which is a high-impact but low-volume receiver. He has 15 receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 13.2 yards per catch.
Smith-Schuster has a hamstring injury that popped up in practice last week and knocked him out in the first quarter last week against the 49ers. The Chiefs have said he won’t play on Sunday in Las Vegas against the Raiders. He will be back at some point later in the season, but the Chiefs didn’t bring him back with the expectation of being their No. 1 wideout. Despite his recent big game against the New Orleans Saints, he’s more of a complementary player.
Watson and Hardman also fit into the complementary category. Moore has produced little since joining the Chiefs in 2022.
So Hopkins can’t be a gadget piece unveiled on special plays tailored for him, as Toney was. He can’t be a backup who on the final play of last year’s Super Bowl was in the right place at the right time, as Hardman was. He has to produce in big numbers, which he has in the past. Hopkins has had 1,000 or more yards receiving in seven of his 11 seasons in the league including last season with the Titans. He is also a five-time first- or second-team All-Pro.
The Chiefs made it to 6-0 with this group of receivers, but giving it a more critical eye, as general manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid are paid to do, did they have enough to beat a series of top quality opponents in the postseason?
The Chiefs by making the Hopkins trade made their statement on that question loud and clear. Whether the Chiefs eventually look back on this trade as they do now the Toney and Hardman trades and more importantly whether they win an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl championship depends on Hopkins and what they can get from him.