Mike Vrabel, Treylon Burks dish on DeAndre Hopkins' Titans visit

The Tennessee Titans need a wide receiver and DeAndre Hopkins just happens to looking for a new team.

So, it makes sense that Hopkins first free-agent visit will be to the Titans on Sunday, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

It’s easy to connect the dots on Hopkins to the Titans. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel spent four seasons with Hopkins and the Houston Texans from 2014-17 and Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly was Hopkins’ OC in Houston in 2019. And while there is history there, Vrabel made it clear he’s not going to be giving Hopkins any sort of recruiting pitch to come to Tennessee.

“DeAndre will be somebody that we bring in at the end of this week and go through the same visit that we go through with everybody and start that process,” Vrabel said, via Teresa Walker of the Associated Press. “I’m past the recruiting, I did that in college. We really just want people that want to be here, and if that works out, then you go onto the next step. This will be pretty much it until we either sign or don’t sign the next player.”

In his lone year in Kelly’s offense, Hopkins put up 104 receptions on 150 targets for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns and was named to the Pro Bowl and was a First Team All-Pro selection.

Adding the 31-year-old to the mix would not only make Tennessee’s offense less one-dimensional and reliant on running back Derrick Henry, it would also immediately legitimize the Titans receiver room, which frankly lacks depth and talent behind 2022 first-round pick Treylon Burks. 

Signing Hopkins would not only salvage the team’s woeful offseason, it would also create a formidable 1-2 punch at the WR position and give Burks a running mate with five All-Pro selections and five Pro Bowls to learn from.

“He would be a great mentor,” Burks said. “I’ve watched [Hopkins] since I was younger and he’s one of my favorite players. He just carries himself the right way and his game on the field speaks for itself.”

The biggest potential roadblock standing in Tennessee’s way of signing Hopkins is cap space. The Titans only have approximately $7.9M in available cap space, per Over the Cap, and with Hopkins reportedly seeking Odell Beckham Jr. money ($18M), the team would presumably have to restructure someone’s contract. 

Tennessee can free up more than $10M by restructuring linebacker Harold Landry’s contract, which would add nearly $3.5M to the salary cap each of the next three seasons.