Why Mike Vrabel isn't afraid Titans signing DeAndre Hopkins will turn out like Julio Jones
The Tennessee Titans have been burned by veteran receivers in the back halves of their careers, but Titans coach Mike Vrabel doesn't think history will repeat itself with DeAndre Hopkins.
The Titans are expected to sign Hopkins this week, adding a No. 1 receiver to the roster just before the start of training camp. They have made similar moves before, bringing in superstar receivers in their twilight years, including Randy Moss in 2010, Andre Johnson in 2016 and Julio Jones in 2021.
Speaking on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast hosted by former Titans Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, Vrabel said Tuesday he doesn't feel a need to compare Hopkins' situation to anyone else's.
"I don’t think whatever happened in the past with another player is going to apply to this particular player," he said. "We wouldn’t have signed him if we weren’t confident that he’ll help us."
Moss, Johnson and Jones were all busts with the Titans. Moss caught six passes in eight games; Johnson caught nine passes in eight games; and Jones battled injuries on the way to 31 catches in 10 games. None of the three lasted more than one season with the team.
It's unfair from the start to compare Hopkins to Moss or Johnson. Moss was 33 years old and in his 13th year in the NFL when he joined the Titans in the middle of the 2010 season. Johnson was 35 and in his 14th NFL season.
Hopkins is heading into Year 11, and he just turned 31 in June. Moss and Johnson, by comparison, were both 1,000-yard receivers at age 31.
Jones is a little more analogous. He was 32 when the Titans traded for him, heading into his 11th year. Like Hopkins, he played only nine games the year before coming to Nashville. But Jones missed all of his games because of a hamstring injury; Hopkins missed just two games to injury, the other six while serving a suspension for violating the NFL's performance enhancing drugs policy.
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The other crucial difference is Hopkins' history with the Titans' coaching staff. Vrabel, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly and pass game coordinator Charles London all coached Hopkins when he was with the Houston Texans, and that built-in familiarity makes it easier to know what to expect.
"Any time in free agency you have to have a working knowledge of the player in the building," Vrabel said. "Whether one of your coaches coached him or you knew him. Just for the million reasons we talked about with culture and what’s it going to be like and what the expectations are. Sometimes free agency is great and sometimes it’s not. You have to be careful."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mike Vrabel: DeAndre Hopkins isn't Julio Jones for Tennessee Titans
