The Chiefs receiver DeAndre Hopkins made his way to the Kansas City locker room and greeted his new teammates. Traded from the Titans,  who are 1-5 and seem to be having another disappointing season, the player was lucky to end up with the Chiefs—a team that could return to the Super Bowl for a three-peat. Hopkins was thankful to this old team for their wise decision. “I’ve got to thank (Titans general manager) Ran (Carthon) and his staff for trading me to a contender, first of all, because those guys could’ve traded me anywhere.”

With his entry in the Chiefs, he has already created some noise as he chose the No. 8 jersey. However, the number already belonged to the 24-year-old receiver Justyn Ross. As a result, Ross had to switch to No.82, and this left fans a bit annoyed. But No.8 is an interesting decision for Hopkins, though. In his 12-year career, where he has played with three different teams, he only wore number 10, but that number in KCC is taken by running back Isiah Pacheco. So then, what pushed Hopkins to choose No. 8?

“Kobe Bryant, one of my favorite athletes of all time. So I knew if I ever got the chance to wear No. 8,” he stated. “Just like when I picked No.10 Lionel Messi was my favorite soccer player, underdog. Felt like me at the time, coming out of college.”

“And you know Kobe was number 8. It is a very special number,” he shared in the latest press conference, as reported by CBS Sport. Bryant started his NBA career with No.8 before switching to 24. He won three NBA championship titles as No. 8 and his final two wearing No. 24 and Hopkins seems to be honoring the NBA legend.

Now, Hopkins is new to the Chiefs after his trade from the Titans and is quite happy with how his future looks. “When I got the news, obviously I was excited and ready to get to work. It means a lot. It takes your game to a different level. Your focus, your drive, knowing that you’re playing for something. It takes your game to a different level. I haven’t played meaningful football in a couple of years.”

Well, the Titans, who currently find themselves at the bottom of the AFC South, are nowhere near qualifying for the playoffs. And from there, joining reigning Super Bowl contenders is something that players dream about. But what do the Chiefs have in mind for the new player? Well, Rashee Rice is out for the season owing to a knee injury and JuJu Smith-Schuster is dealing with a hamstring injury. So Head coach Andy Reid hopes Hopkins will be the solution to Kansas City’s top two injured wide receivers.

In fact, back in 2023, the team looked interested in signing Hopkins before he signed a two-year deal with the Titans and now, the Chiefs finally got the receiver they had been looking at! While the Chiefs will benefit from Hopkins’ addition, fans aren’t happy that the athlete took away Ross’ No. 8. What did they say?

Taking someone else number mid-season is not familiar to the Chiefs franchise, but they did it anyway. However, this led to them facing the heat of their fans, who expressed their disappointment on seeing Justyn Ross ripped apart from his jersey number:

• “Dhop done took my boy Justyn Ross’s jersey.”
• “How is Dhop able to take Justyn Ross’ number midseason?”

Hey, let us not forget that Ross is a part of the practice squad and on the 53-man active roster.

A fan provided a solution: Hopkins could have taken No. 24, which can also be used to pay homage to Bryant. After all, it was his high school number. But there’s a problem with that. #24 in the Chiefs is occupied by Skyy Moore, who scored his first NFL touchdown during Super Bowl LVII in the fourth quarter, which put his team in a 35-27 lead over the Eagles.

• “Thats the GOAT Justyn Ross number man let Hopkins get #24 that’ll look fire on him.”

While all this was going on, some fans had differing opinions too about Ross and Hopkins.

• “Feel like Justyn Ross should embrace this move to learn from DHop. Feel like Ross has some similar traits to Hopkins and could learn a lot from playing/practicing together.”

With 12 years of experience, Hopkins is a veteran. Houston Texans drafted him in the first round in 2013 and he played for them for seven seasons, before hopping to the Arizona Cardinals, then the Titans, and now, the Chiefs.

• “DeAndre Hopkins with no 8 wow.”

Well, what’s done is done. But what does Patrick Mahomes think about Hopkins’s addition to the team?

What does Patrick Mahomes have in mind for DeAndre Hopkins?

Of course, Patrick Mahomes will be elated. Days ago, when the media spoke to Reid before the trade had been officially filed, he refused to give details about Hopkins. But then, the media spoke to Mahomes in hypotheticals and tried their luck. Speaking about a pass-catcher potentially being ready in four days’ time (their next game is against the Las Vegas Raiders on 10/27), Mahomes said:

“I think our coaches do a great job of getting guys up to speed. You’ve seen that throughout this year already: bringing in guys, getting them up to speed fast and then letting them go out there [to] make an impact and do what they’re great at. And so that’s stuff that I think the coaches really do well. Then me as a quarterback? I just try to be on the same page with the guys that are in there whenever I’m taking a snap.”

On the same note, if the team were to add a wide receiver who is great at handling contested catches, what would Mahomes’s comfort level be with such a player?

Answering this, the QB stated, “Yeah, I think in my time, we’ve had receivers that can make some of those contested catches, and once you build that relationship and build that trust, you put him up there and let guys go out there and make plays.”

“I think that’s what’s special about coach Reid’s offense: it adapts to whoever’s in there. He has different ways he can utilize your strengths. And then it’s my job to go out there and put guys in chances, give them chances to go out there and make plays.”

Here’s the thing: The team is familiar with bringing in a wide receiver mid-season. For instance, they traded with the Giants for Kadarius Toney, and last year, they traded with the Jets for Mecole Hardman. So Hopkins might have a good chance of adjusting to the offense quickly.

“I think the biggest thing for me is just whenever a new guy gets into the building, it’s just getting on that same page as quickly as possible. Even with guys like Kareem [Hunt] in the running back position. Just being able to talk with him throughout the protection calls, talk with him kind of throughout the plays, making sure he knows what his job is to do, and then letting him go out and execute it,” Mahomes further stated.

Well, it will be interesting to see what happens further. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.