DeAndre Hopkins has honest take on being underutilized by Ravens

DeAndre Hopkins felt like he had much more to offer the Baltimore Ravens last season, but just didn’t get the chance.

The Ravens took a flier on Hopkins in the offseason on a one-year deal, and it seemed to pay off early. The 33-year-old scored a touchdown in each of his first two games with Baltimore. Those two TDs ended up being the only ones he would score for the rest of the season.

On a recent appearance on the “Up & Adams” show, Hopkins shared that he felt like he was underutilized by Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken for the rest of the season.

“Obviously Lamar and I had a great connection. I think when he came to me, you know, l might have been top 10 … productive receivers in the NFL, and that’s just when the ball came my way,” Hopkins said.

“But of course I love Baltimore, and you know, me being a competitor, I would have loved to have been used more even though we had Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman on the field and Isaiah Likely, I’m always gonna have that mindset that I want to be in the game every third down, every big down. So, as long as I’m playing, that would never change.”

Hopkins added that despite his frustrations over his lack of targets, he never felt like he was becoming a “bad teammate.” He still cheered on his fellow wide receivers who were playing ahead of him.

Zay Flowers was far and away the Ravens’ No. 1 option among the team’s wide receivers with 86 catches for 1,211 yards and 5 touchdowns. While Flowers was targeted 118 times, none of Hopkins, Bateman, and Flowers had more than 40 passes thrown their way.

Hopkins finished with 39 targets for 330 receiving yards — both second on the team. But his usage dropped significantly during the second half of the season. He finished without a catch in three of the Ravens’ last five regular-season games.