The DeAndre Hopkins Effect
The impact of having an elite receiver should not be understated. For the Cardinals, their Week 1 outing against the 49ers put this notion on full display.
Of the 230 passing yards Kyler Murray provided the Cardinals, Hopkins accounted for 151 of them. Additionally, Arizona recorded 26 pass completions and 14 of those catches were recorded by Hopkins.
The next leading receiver for the Cardinals was Larry Fitzgerald and he provided just 4 receptions and 34 yards. Such a substantial disparity between Hopkins and the rest of Arizona’s receiving options is quite telling.
Against an elite defense like the 49ers, it’s vital to have individual talents that can transcend difficult matchups. Now, the Cardinals have one and it took just a single outing for that to come to fruition.