DeAndre Hopkins will remind everyone how good he really is

In 2015, DeAndre Hopkins had a career-best season and established himself as one of the premier wide receivers in football. Despite having an endless parade of mediocre quarterbacks throwing him the ball, Hopkins still put up 111 catches, 1,521 yards, and 11 touchdowns, earning his first Pro Bowl bid. With Hopkins’ rookie contract set to expire after 2016, picking up his fifth-year option was an easy call for the Houston Texans.

Unfortunately, things weren’t quite as rosy in 2016. Brock Osweiler ended up being much worse than anyone could’ve expected, and Hopkins’ production suffered as a result. He finished with a sharp drop in numbers.

Despite the down year, there is every reason to expect Hopkins will go back to dominating opposing defenses. The Texans got rid of Osweiler and have two options for their 2017 starting quarterback. They drafted Deshaun Watson (who happens to be from Clemson, just like Hopkins) in the first round, and they still have Tom Savage, whom Hopkins praised this offseason.

“I like his leadership,” said, Hopkins, via ESPN. “Now that he’s in that role, it’s no surprise to anybody on this field that he deserves that role. He has earned it, not just from playing, but from the chemistry he has built in the locker room with everybody.”

There’s still some uncertainty under center, so Hopkins might have to do some heavy lifting again. But he’s proven in the past that he can already do this.

While Hopkins has certain athletic gifts, he wasn’t touted as a physical specimen coming out of college. At the 2013 combine, he measured in at 6’1, 214 pounds and ran a 4.57 40, pretty average numbers for an NFL wide receiver. Hopkins was the second receiver off the draft board that year, but he slipped to the back half of the first round at No. 27.

However, where Hopkins excels isn’t necessarily his ability to outrun defenders or fly past them. Hopkins wins in all the mental aspects of football — an exceptionally crisp route runner with sticky hands and an impeccable sense of timing. Hopkins’ biggest talent is using his hand-eye coordination to track the ball and grab it at exactly the right time.

Although Hopkins’ game is more cerebral than physical, you only need to watch some highlight clips to see how deadly he is in that part. He’s one of the best in football at using his entire body to locate the ball and make plays.

Hopkins became the Texans’ new No. 1 receiver after Andre Johnson left for the Indianapolis Colts in 2015. He enjoyed that breakout season even with the constant turnover at quarterback. Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates, and Brandon Weeden all started games for the Texans that year. It’s a huge credit to Hopkins’ talent level that he still had the year he did.

Then 2016 came around. And with Osweiler coming to town, the prevailing thought was, “hey, maybe Hopkins would finally have a good quarterback to work with. Who knows what heights he could yet achieve with Osweiler?”

Well, about that ...

I don’t think we should dwell on Osweiler any longer than we have to. Long story short — he was bad, the Texans’ offense went in the tank with him under center, and Hopkins never came close to his 2015 stat line. He recorded only 78 catches and 954 yards, along with just four touchdowns. His targets went down from 192 to 151, and his catch rate plummeted from 57.8 percent to 51.7. Normally a receiver’s catch rate falling that far is cause for alarm, but Osweiler’s scattershot accuracy played a fairly big role in that.

Despite the wildly inconsistent year, Hopkins closed out 2016 strong. He went off for seven catches and 123 yards in Week 17, helping the Texans clinch the AFC South, then scored a touchdown in the Wild Card win over the Oakland Raiders. Often, Hopkins will still get his, even when the offense around him can’t do anything.

After shipping Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns and drafting Watson, the Texans should have renewed optimism for the offense. Bill O’Brien finally has a worthy young quarterback he can develop in his image, while Hopkins gets a fresh slate, whether Savage or Watson earns the job.

Still only 25 years old, Hopkins will be a free agent next year, unless the Texans hammer out an extension before training camp. If they don’t, he’ll have several million reasons to replicate his 2015 numbers, so he won’t be lacking for motivation at all. He also has yet to miss a single game in four seasons. If Hopkins doesn’t get back to the 100-catch mark, then something went wrong along the way.

Who doesn’t enjoy watching athletically gifted wide receivers? I like Julio Jones. I like Odell Beckham Jr. I like Mike Evans. Those guys all use their freakish, God-given talents to separate themselves from the rest of the league.

Hopkins’ pure athletic gifts don’t pop like those men, but he succeeds in a different way. It’s not that he’s a stiff on the field — far from it — but there’s a certain crispness to his game that makes him so fun to watch. He’s not the fastest or the strongest or the tallest guy out there, but everything Hopkins does just feels right. He runs routes right, he beats man coverage right, he knows where the ball is going and how to get there right. He doesn’t have to outrun you, because he’ll just outsmart you instead.

Put simply, Nuk is unique, and that helps him stand out in the NFL and highlight a special talent who deserves more time in the limelight. Here’s to many more years of him being the Texans’ most exciting offensive player.