Before the Tennessee Titans’ season opener against the The Chicago Bears On Sunday, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins went into more detail about his knee injury and it should have fans concerned about his prospects in 2024.
According to Titans beat writer Paul KuharskyHopkins admitted he suffered a torn medial collateral ligament during practice on July 31.
While he’ll try to play regardless, the veteran receiver said the injury itself takes a full year to heal and he’ll have to deal with the pain.
“I tore my lumbar collateral ligament about four and a half, five weeks ago. The problem with those things is they take a whole year to heal,” he said. “Obviously, at that point, it’s painful.”
Hopkins has not had knee surgery and was not interested in discussing such a scenario.
“I don’t like to talk like that, I’ll let you talk like that,” Hopkins told Kuharsky.
As for his Week 1 status, Hopkins seemed optimistic about being on the field, but didn’t give a definitive answer.
“Right now, the way I feel, I hope I can come out Sunday and perform,” DHop said.
This isn’t Hopkins’ first rodeo with a torn ACL. suffered a grade 3 hemorrhage during the 2021 campaign with the Arizona Cardinalsand that led to him missing the last six games after undergoing surgery.
Obviously, Hopkins’ most recent medial collateral ligament tear isn’t as severe as that one, but one can’t help but fear that it’s a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.
Hopkins enters the 2024 campaign as the team’s No. 1 option in the passing attack thanks to his success with quarterback Will Levis in 2023.
Fortunately, the Titans bolstered their receiving corps with the signings of Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd, but that would only soften the blow somewhat if Hopkins were forced to miss some time.
Treylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine should step up in this scenario, but both would obviously represent significant upgrades from Hopkins.
