Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins Has Blunt Admission About Final Days With Titans

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Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins Has Blunt Admission About Final Days With Titans

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Levi Dombro | Last updated Feb 7, 2025 8:23 PM ET

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is preparing to play in his first Super Bowl on Sunday where he will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in a 2022 championship rematch. Hopkins, of course, was not on the Chiefs when the first matchup occurred, but rather, he was on the Arizona Cardinals.

In the interim, however, Hopkins played nearly a season and a half with the Tennessee Titans. He had a healthy year in 2023, which seemingly gave his career a bit of new life, but if you ask Hopkins, his time in Tennessee was one of the lowest points in his NFL career.

"It meant a lot for the Titans to trade me to the Chiefs," said Hopkins during his Super Bowl media availability. "That's the first time in my career where I was like, man, I don't belong out here on this field right now ... so I took myself out of the game."

For a well-respected veteran player like Hopkins to essentially quit on his team, things must have been bad for the Tennessee Titans in 2024. Hopkins had not enjoyed much team success up to that point in his NFL career, but it sounds like he reached his breaking point with the Titans.

"The next day I went up to (former Titans general manager Ran Carthan's) office and I was like, man, you know I'm almost losing love for this game being in this situation," Hopkins continued. "[Carthon] understands me and he was like, man, I can see it in your eyes ... this isn't a place that you might wanna be."

The next day, Hopkins was shipped off to Kansas City in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. From that point, the Titans won only two more games and finished with the worst record in the league, whereas the Chiefs are now on the cusp of their third straight Super Bowl victory.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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