JJ Watt is excited to see what former teammate can do with Patrick Mahomes as his QB

Everything about the marriage between the Kansas City Chiefs and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins feels pretty special these days.

The Chiefs landed Hopkins less than two weeks ago in a trade with the Tennessee Titans as part of a strategy to shore up the offense, which had lost numerous pass catchers to injuries in the first half of the season. And while most fans likely expected a positive return on the deal given the weight of the need, few could have predicted how good Hopkins would look in KC.

Even from his first catch in his first game, which delivered a nice first loss for the Chiefs in Week 8, Hopkins looked to be the playmaker for KC. However, it was his incredibly strong performance in all areas of Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that wowed the crowd, especially considering his chemistry and trust in Patrick Mahomes, as exemplified by two touchdowns.

For the Chiefs, Hopkins’ arrival was a breath of fresh air in a season in which names like Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice were sidelined for the long haul. But it turns out Kansas City has been good to Hopkins, too. After years and years with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals, playing for Andy Reid and associates is a great new chapter in his career.

On a recent episode of our Stacking the Box podcast, our friend Sterling Holmes spoke with legendary pass rusher JJ Watt, who was Hopkins’ longtime teammates at Texas. He spoke to Holmes about what both sides have to offer each other in what is a true win-win scenario for both parties.

“I mean, he has one of the best catch radiuses in all of football,” Watt said. “He’s got some of the best hands in all of football. I’m so happy for D-Hop just because he’s been on some teams for a number of years. He’s been on some teams and caught balls from a lot of quarterbacks. No disrespect.” to anyone else he’s caught balls from, but he’s never caught balls from someone like Patrick Mahomes.

“So I’m really happy for him that he now gets to play with one of the best quarterbacks of all time on one of the best teams of all time,” he continued. “Hopefully he gets the chance to do something really special.”