DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson

Prospect: DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson
By Clint Clearwater
NFL Draft Director and Senior Writer
February 14, 2013
Ht: 6-1 Wt: 200 40: 4.56

Strengths: Pretty good size.  Has long arms.  Very good hands; reliable.  Not afraid to go across the middle and can catch the ball in traffic.  Dangerous and elusive after the catch.  Shows good agility.  Has  great awareness; knows where the defenders are even with his back turned to them; looks like natural ability.  Also does a good job of finding the holes in the coverage.  Makes very quick and clean cuts.  Runs pretty good routes; I was impressed.  Also shows good footwork. Very physical WR, able to beat press coverage and break tackles.  Good jumping ability; gets ball at its highest point.  Offensive playmaker; clutch.  Shows tremendous focus throughout the game.

Weaknesses:  Overall speed is not elite.  Even though I was really impressed with his hands, there were times where he caught the ball with his body.  I would like to see him blocking more on running plays.

Summary:  DeAndre Hopkins really has some impressive game tape.  I really enjoyed watching Clemson’s bowl game this year; especially on that last drive where they kept going to Hopkins over and over again and the defense still couldn’t stop him.  Hopkins really has a lot to offer NFL teams and he certainly looks like a potential number 1 receiver at the next level.  He’s got pretty good size and strength; runs great routes and has very reliable hands.  Teams will be concerned with his speed but when you watch the tape, I think he’s plenty fast enough.  I believe he will be drafted in the first 25 picks.

Draft Projection: 1^st Round