DeAndre Hopkins enters the 14th year of his career but remains an unrestricted free agent. When appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Hopkins said he still has a lot left in the tank and understands that he’s more of a third-down specialist at this stage of his career.
“As I go into my 14th year, of course, I love playing the game, I still love football… I still got a lot of ball left, but it’s not a situation that I’m sitting here trying to force, or be the regular season superstar, because that’s for the young guys, that’s for the people that they want to develop, and get those contracts to look at the future,” he said. “So, I know in my position, I’m a utility guy. I’m a special situation kind of guy. I can go out there and beat anybody one-on-one. As of lately, I’ve been a third-down guy. I wasn’t using the red zone last year, but third down, they can come to me, I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon.”
Hopkins added he’s hoping to land with a contender this upcoming season and he’s willing to be patient for the right opportunity.
“Obviously going to year 14, I would love to play for a competitor if that time came. I’m not in a rush to go out regular season and be a regular-season superstar, because I’m not getting a contract extension,” Hopkins said.
We recently took a look at potential landing spots for Hopkins.
Hopkins, 33, is a former first-round pick of the Texans back in 2013 out of Clemson. Houston later traded Hopkins to the Cardinals ahead of the 2020 season in return for RB David Johnson and draft picks.
Hopkins was in the third year of his five-year, $81 million extension that included $49 million guaranteed when he agreed to a two-year, $54.5 million extension with the Cardinals.
He was owed base salaries of $19,450,000 and $14,915,000 over the final two years of the agreement when the Cardinals opted to release him. Hopkins eventually signed a two-year, $26 million contract with the Titans.
Tennessee ended up trading him to the Chiefs in October of the 2024 season. After playing out the rest of his deal, Hopkins signed a one-year deal with the Ravens.
In 2025, Hopkins appeared in all 17 games for the Ravens and caught 22 passes on 39 targets for 330 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.
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