Titans star WR reminds critics how wrong they were

Less than a year ago, the Tennessee Titans were in a bad spot at wide receiver.

At that point, Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and Kyle Philips were supposed to be the starting trio. That meant that the tight ends and running backs were going to have to be big factors in the passing game just for the Titans to field a functional offense.

Then they were blessed when a future Hall of Fame receiver fell right into their laps in the form of DeAndre Hopkins.

Ran Carthon and Mike Vrabel got Hopkins in town, took him to a concert, and rolled out the red carpet for him. A little while later, Hopkins signed a two-year deal and the Titans had their WR1 for 2023. Since Hopkins was being looked at as a hot commodity before signing with the Titans, surely this was going to be viewed as a home run addition by the front office, right?

That wasn't exactly the national narrative, and as soon as Hopkins went to the Titans instead of a flashy team like the Kansas City Chiefs or Buffalo Bills, he had to pay the "Titans tax." After that, there were plenty of talking heads who decided that he was washed up at that point and dismissed him as another Julio Jones in the making.

At that time, Hopkins had had a suspension and an injury that had prematurely ended his 2021 and 2022 campaigns. Because he hadn't been putting up stellar numbers annually, some people just decided that he wasn't going to get back to that level again, especially in Tennessee's low-volume passing game.

Hopkins proved them wrong when he went on to have a 1,000-yard season, leading the Titans in all statistical categories while showing that he could still be a dominant "X" receiver in the NFL.

While many people have forgotten the narrative floated around by those critics last summer, Hopkins certainly hasn't and he shoved their noses in it with a post on Thursday where quoted a two-minute highlight reel from Ian Hartitz saying, "Remember the articles from so called top executives saying I cant play anymore. In Ran [Carthon] We trust."

Despite being the only consistent threat on a team that couldn't protect the quarterback for more than a second, there are plenty of clips on that highlight reel that are there to remind everyone that Hopkins is still a dangerous man on the football field.

The good news is, the offensive line is much better this season and the Titans brought in reinforcements at wide receiver. One of those reinforcements also took to social media on Thursday to highlight a clip that the Tennessee Titans posted where he made a crazy catch during OTAs earlier this summer.

The Titans' wide receiver room was a mess 11 months ago, but now they have Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, and Tyler Boyd. That group is getting Titans fans very excited as we speed towards the 2024 season, and they only fan the flames when they post clips like these on social media.