30 Fantasy Football Bold Predictions for the 2017 Season
DeAndre Hopkins Will Have Fewer Than Three Top-10 Performances
Why This Is Bold: You'd expect a second-round fantasy selection -- which DeAndre Hopkins is -- to put together more than just a pair of top-10 weekly performances.
Why This Will Happen: To be brutally honest, the way we view Hopkins in fantasy football is sort of based on an 11-game stretch in 2015. That year, when the Texans started 2-5, Hopkins was averaging 14.43 targets per game. He was pacing to break the targets record. Houston also had a 1.78 drop-back-to-run ratio, which was the fifth-highest in football.
When the defense clicked and the team started winning, everything changed. They ended the year 9-7, their drop-back-to-run ratio fell to 1.08 over the 7-2 stretch, and Hopkins went from 14.43 targets per game to fewer than 10.
Since Week 11 of 2015, Hopkins has produced just two top-12 weekly performances (excludes the fantasy irrelevant Week 17). That's fewer than Brandon LaFell's total. Hopkins averaged 9.33 targets per game last year in a more run-heavy Texans' offense, and that very easily could happen again in 2017. In fact, we should almost expect the Texans to be run-first given their quarterback situation.