The Kansas City Chiefs will look to improve to 8-0 on Monday night when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It will mark the team’s second game with All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who they acquired in a trade prior to Week 8. With Hopkins now practicing with the team for over a week, coach Andy Reid is expecting him to take on a bigger role against Tampa Bay.
“He’s really handled things the right way,” remarked Reid. “I’ve been really conscientious about studying, asking questions, staying late, arriving early, and everything else there. This week, his role will continue to grow. I believe he is at ease with that, and we are as well.” Quarterback Patrick Mahomes discussed Hopkins’ contribution to the Chiefs’ offensive opening up.
“Yeah, I think whenever you’re able to put him in there, obviously we’re going to be able to hit some throws down the field,” Mahomes replied. “I think hitting him kind of over that medium to long range is going to open up other guys down the field and take pressure off other guys as far as eyes and coverage.”
“Whenever you’ve got, really, two guys when you talk about DeAndre and Trav [Kelce] that are all kind of working in that medium-type range in the football field, it opens up the deeper throws because teams have to account for that,” Mahomes continued. Hopkins ended with two catches for 29 yards in his first Kansas City start against the Las Vegas Raiders.