A Super Bowl run is all that is missing from DeAndre Hopkins' storied career

The Kansas City Chiefs are counting down the days before their first playoff game this season. For many on the team this is familiar territory. The Chiefs are coming off of back to back Super Bowl wins and have played in four of the last five Super Bowls. In fact, the Chiefs are poised to make all kinds of history with another successful playoff run. While this may be old hat for KC's future Hall of Famers like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones, there is one future Hall of Famer that should be extra motivated to play and win his first Super Bowl. That player is DeAndre Hopkins.

DeAndre Hopkins could retire today and walk into the Hall of Fame. He's a five time Pro Bowler, and three time 1st team All Pro, and a two time 2nd team All Pro. In the pass heavy modern era of the NFL, he's been one of the most prolific receivers of his generation. He's been successful with good and terrible quarterbacks and is known for his remarkable hands and reliability.

DeAndre Hopkins already has Hall of Fame numbers

This is Hopkins 12th NFL season and in that time he has racked up some truly remarkable numbers. Here are his totals and where those numbers rank all-time in NFL history.

984 receptions (16th)

12,965 receiving yards (21st)

83 receiving touchdowns (26th)

With just 16 more receptions he will become just the 16th player in NFL history to total 1,000 career receptions (Travis Kelce joined that club just a few weeks ago). He only needs 81 more yards and 2 more receiving touchdowns to make the top 20 all-time in all three of the categories above. He hasn't just earned those stats through years and years of average play either. His 72.8 career receiving yards per game is tied with Terrell Owens and just ahead of Randy Moss.

Basically, DeAndre Hopkins has all the regular season production that he needs. The only thing missing from his list of accomplishments is a Super Bowl win. We saw Travis Kelce look rejuvenated and hungry in the playoffs last year and at this point it would be surprising if DeAndre Hopkins didn't look the same way for the Chiefs during this playoff run.

It's not like Hopkins hasn't been productive in the playoffs when given the chance. He has six career playoff games, all with the Houston Texans between 2015-2019. In those six games he averaged 6.2 receptions for 74.3 yards and has one touchdown. Those may not be record breaking numbers, but they are good solid numbers for a guy that was the focal point for opposing defenses in those years.

There's one last interesting note on DeAndre Hopkins' playoff career that feels relevant to mention. Hopkins' last playoff game was the Texans' 51-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at the end of the 2019 season. That was the game where the Texans jumped out to a huge early lead only to see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs catch fire and dominate the rest of the game before going on to win their first Super Bowl of this dynasty.

After that game the paths of the Chiefs and DeAndre Hopkins were very, VERY different, until now. Now Hopkins finds himself as a part of the dynasty and he has to be incredibly motivated to help them write another chapter and get himself that allusive Super Bowl ring.

The Chiefs traded for Hopkins because they wanted another reliable target for Patrick Mahomes when their receiver group was decimated by injuries. However, they didn't overuse Hopkins. Maybe that was to keep his snap count below 50% so they could lock in a lower draft compensation, or maybe it was to make sure he wasn't too run down for a procutive run through the playoffs.

Yes, the return of Marquise "Hollywood" Brown and the emergence of Xavier Worthy have been the more noteworthy talking points at wide receiver as the regular season was winding down, but there is only one receiver on the roster with multiple All Pro seasons and a Hall of Fame resumé and his name is DeAndre Hopkins. Don't be surprised if he reminds the rest of the league of those things when this playoff run begins.