With Andre Johnson leaving in the offseason and Arian Foster not 100% to this point, DeAndre Hopkins, a third year WR out of Clemson, has been the Houston Texans’ only real weapon so far this year, and he has stepped up to the task in the team’s first five games. Going in to Thursday night of Week 6, he was leading the league in receiving yards and was second in receptions, just one behind Julio Jones. Jones is now first in both of those categories, but Hopkins is still second and also still has more targets than Jones does, so it’s clear he’s being relied on heavily by the Texans. In fact, at his current pace, he would break the single season record for targets. At 6’1″ and 214, Hopkins isn’t the biggest receiver out there, but he wins with great speed, solid route running, and immense physicality at the catch point. He does an excellent job of adjusting to the ball, and has a very large catch radius, which is necessary considering the Texans’ current situation at quarterback.

Against the Colts in Week 5, Hopkins got on national TV for the first time this year, and he really made an impression with 11 catches and 169 yards. Outside of two Jalen Strong TDs, he seemed to be the thing the Texans had going for them on offense. This article will cover all of Hopkins’ targets from that game.

2-6-HST 49 (Q1, 11:30) R.Mallett pass short right to D.Hopkins to IND 41 for 10 yards (G.Toler).

2-9-IND 40 (Q1, 10:28) R.Mallett pass short right to D.Hopkins to IND 33 for 7 yards (G.Toler).

This play is a really strong display of Hopkins’ route running skills, as he basically yanks Greg Toler, the man covering him, around until the ball is thrown his way. The first thing to note is that Hopkins is the X receiver on this play, and that while Toler is clearly playing man coverage, he is not in press technique. This gives Hopkins a choice of whether he wants to release to the outside or inside. Hopkins chooses to release outside, then at four yards (after Toler has his hips turned), punches Toler’s inside shoulder and rips his way towards the inside. To Toler, this looks like a slant, and Hopkins has beaten him so badly that he needs to scramble to recover. Now with the clear advantage, Hopkins begins to run upfield, and Toler has to try to chase and recover. Then, at 12 yards depth (just when Toler has gotten into his stride upfield) Hopkins pulls up to hitch just when Mallett is about to throw. Toler actually did a reasonably good job recognizing the hitch part of the route and turning to the throw, but he lost so early in the route that he was not able to recover. This kept the chains moving for the Texans early in the game.

3-10-HST 20 (Q1, 5:41) (Shotgun) R.Mallett pass short right to D.Hopkins pushed ob at HST 34 for 14 yards (G.Toler).

Here, Hopkins is at the bottom of the screen in a 2 WR bunch. The stack helps create natural separation because it usually forces DBs to play off coverage, so it gives the Texans space to work with underneath route combinations. They run the same combo on both sides of the field, which is the pretty popular curl/flat combo (it’s actually speed outs instead of flat routes but it attacks the same area). Hopkins does an excellent job finding space in between the defenders here, and just sits for Mallett to deliver the throw. Because Toler had to play off at the snap, he was unable to prevent the catch but was able to stop yardage after the catch.

1-10-HST 20 (Q2, 7:37) R.Mallett pass incomplete deep right to D.Hopkins.

Here once again the Texans have a tight split on both sides of the field. This isn’t great for vertical routes, because it generally puts your receivers closer to the safety help, but it creates a lot of room for you to run out-breaking routes, which is what Houston does on this play. The key to winning most deeper routes is selling the vertical component, which Hopkins kind of does on this play, but I don’t think he completes it to be honest. When selling a route that you want the DB to think is vertical, you need to keep your head down and drive upfield. Hopkins does this initially, but he pulls his head up pretty quickly, and I’d like to see him hold that for a step or two longer. Regardless, he does a good enough job to get Toler to play it safe, and he’s able to get a solid cushion for his out route. Another small criticism for Hopkins is that he drifts a bit too far back on his break. You want WRs to keep the break as flat as possible, and you see Hopkins actually reach the 35 before coming back and catching the ball at the 34. He absolutely should be commended on the play, though, because he made a difficult adjustment to make a catch on a ball that was thrown behind him. This was also a third down play, and Hopkins’ work allowed the Texans to move the sticks and keep the drive alive.

2-10-HST 42 (Q2, 6:13) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass incomplete short right to D.Hopkins.

The Colts are very clearly showing their respect for Hopkins on this play, as although they only have a single deep safety he is shaded heavily in Hopkins’ direction. Despite being bracketed by two defenders, Hopkins almost makes a catch on this play. He doesn’t do anything spectacular from a route running perspective, but he simply outruns Toler and finds a hole before the deep safety has a chance to get over. Mallett’s throw, however, is just a bit too high. Hopkins has to jump to make a play on the ball, and his momentum carries him out of bounds before he can get both feet down.

3-10-HST 42 (Q2, 6:08) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass deep right to D.Hopkins pushed ob at IND 34 for 24 yards (G.Toler).

Hopkins does not do the best job on this play. He has a relatively tough assignment, as the Texans are running a slant/flat combo to his side, and he has to run a slant against Toler, who has inside leverage. Earlier in the first play, we saw Hopkins do a good job of this, setting Toler up outside and then ripping inside to the slant. He obviously did something different after that, but it’s important to note because it’s one of two ways you can approach it. Essentially, the goal there is to get the CB to bite on an outside release and then rip back inside. Here, Hopkins chooses a more straightforward approach and attempts to muscle through Toler. This is the approach more physical guys take (Calvin Johnson will destroy even very physical corners on these routes) and Hopkins can be a physical guy, but it simply doesn’t work here. Hopkins never gets separation and Toler stays with him step for step, resulting in an incompletion because Hopkins could not reach the spot Hoyer threw to.

3-6-IND 30 (Q2, 4:45) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass short right to D.Hopkins to IND 19 for 11 yards (G.Toler).

On this play, Hopkins had a mismatch that was almost certainly identified presnap and exploited by the Texans. He’s being covered by rookie safety Clayton Geathers, which is not the matchup you want if you’re the Colts. Hopkins simply burns him here. Geathers tries to get grabby and give Hopkins a bunch at about 5 yards past the line of scrimmage, which is a rookie mistake that’s ineffective and allows Hopkins to blow right by him. Hopkins runs an out, and the Texans also have the widest receiver run a vertical route to clear out potential safety help. DeAndre ends up very open and makes an easy catch. I like how he finishes the play as well, as he turns up the field and gets physical with Toler to pick up six yards after the catch. Some guys wouldn’t do that and would just run out of bounds after picking up a big gain, but Hopkins clearly shows that he wants more. It should also be noted that this helped the Texans pick up a conversion on third and long.

3-21-IND 30 (Q2, 2:59) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass short middle to D.Hopkins to IND 18 for 12 yards (M.Adams).

The Texans come out with a trio formation to the top of the screen, with Hopkins as the outmost receiver. He runs a curl here. There’s nothing special about the route, and Toler does a decent job defending it. The throw comes in a bit high, and it gives Hopkins the chance to show off what makes him a special receiver: his ability to make contested catches. He goes up and snags the ball, then is able to hold onto it while getting coming to the ground. This play also converted a first down, which is a big positive on third down.

3-10-HST 36 (Q2, :25) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass deep left to D.Hopkins ran ob at IND 47 for 17 yards.

After a penalty backed them up, the Texans went conservative here on third and long. They throw to Hopkins on an underneath crosser, and hope he can makes something special happen after the catch (or at least give them an easier field goal attempt). Hopkins is solid after the catch, but he’s not as dynamic as some other receivers. Here, he’s tackled by the first man and ends up well short of the first down, so it’s a failed completion, but it did help out Nick Novak.

Sorry for the choppiness on this play. With less than half a minute to go in the half, the Texans need to move the ball downfield quickly and get out of bounds. On this play, they run a very similar concept to what we saw before, where the outside receiver runs a vertical route to clear the DBs and Hopkins runs an out underneath that. It works even better on this play, as the vertical receiver takes out both DBs in the area, and Hopkins gets wide open. Once again we get to see Hopkins show off his strong catch radius by going up and getting it and also getting his two feet down before going out of bounds. He once again converted a third down here, so that’s big too.