Best Ball Guy said drafters should scoop DeAndre Hopkins whenever he slips to the 180s. He reminded viewers that they were happy to pay a seventh-round price for Hopkins on the Titans last summer, so a 15th-round tag on a Ravens weapon is a bargain. His reasoning: Baltimore scores a ton of points, and the depth chart is anything but settled—Rashod Bateman has an injury history, Zay Flowers hurt his knee last year, and Isaiah Likely is already sidelined. Given that teams do not sign established veterans just to let them rot on the bench, Hopkins should see immediate snaps and red-zone work even if he is merely the WR2/3 in the pecking order. At pick 182 you need only the occasional spike week, making Hopkins a low-risk upside play in Best Ball rooms that have been slow to react.

Rich Cooling warned that selecting DeAndre Hopkins in the double-digit rounds of a startup—after you have already pushed all your chips in on older producers—actually hurts the win-now plan. Hopkins is a 32-year-old wideout entering a new system with target competition from Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews, making a 25-percent target share extremely unlikely. Cooling noted that if Hopkins fails to crack your starting lineup this season, he instantly becomes a droppable roster clogger with zero trade market next summer. Those late picks should instead be pointed at rookie swing types who can either appreciate in value or slide into lineup spots during the stretch run. Hopkins offers neither upside nor liquidity, so Cooling recommends passing unless you are getting him for literal throw-in value during the season when bye-weeks force start/sit desperation on another manager.

Greg Brainos projected roughly eight touchdowns for DeAndre Hopkins after Baltimore’s staff publicly labeled him a full-time starter. OC Todd Monken contrasted Hopkins with last year’s No. 3 Nelson Agholor, while John Harbaugh called the veteran a "big-bodied contested-catch receiver" who will be featured near the goal line. Brainos expects Hopkins to run alongside Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman in the Ravens’ primary three-receiver sets, giving Lamar Jackson a physical target the current depth chart lacks. That combination of starting-snap share plus proven red-zone skills makes Hopkins a late-round spike-week option Brainos wants in Best Ball tournaments.

When his roster needed what he called a “grown-man wide receiver,” Davis Mattek snapped up DeAndre Hopkins without hesitation. He labeled Hopkins “a grown ass man—no ifs, ands, or buts” and joked that teams can run every MRI and X-ray imaginable because the only test that matters is the EKG showing Hopkins’ competitive heart. Mattek’s core argument: even if the veteran has lost a step, his physical play style, contested-catch prowess and proven target-hog history give best-ball drafters a bankable weekly floor plus occasional 20-point spikes. That reliability is especially valuable in the mid-rounds, where many receivers depend on big-play variance rather than sheer alpha volume to post usable scores.

Pat Moore doubled down on his Hopkins bullishness, declaring the veteran will have 12 touchdowns "by November." Moore argued that Baltimore finished sixth in red-zone pass rate under Todd Monken and that Hopkins’ career 61 percent contested-catch success makes him the obvious jump-ball option for Lamar Jackson. He dismissed concerns about target competition, saying Zay Flowers is a "space" receiver and Mark Andrews commands attention between the hashes, leaving perimeter and end-zone looks for Hopkins. Moore also noted Hopkins finally gets a full offseason to master the playbook after last year’s mid-season transition to Kansas City. With Hopkins routinely going in the final round, Moore views him as a near-free bet on double-digit TD upside in a top-five offense.

Pat Moore pitched DeAndre Hopkins as a smash last-round pick, saying drafters are treating him like "dust" even though Baltimore lacks a true alpha wideout. Moore reminded listeners that Hopkins has averaged 9.3 targets per game across his career despite playing with what he called "a bunch of dustballs" at quarterback. Sliding into a Todd Monken offense that finished 6th in red-zone pass rate, Moore sees an 8–12 target ceiling for Hopkins while defenses key on Zay Flowers deep and Mark Andrews inside. If beat writers report strong Lamar-to-Hopkins chemistry in camp, Pat expects the current ADP to rocket up multiple rounds, making now the last chance to bank 500-700 yards and six-plus TDs at a floor price.

Sullivan urged season-long and best-ball drafters to view DeAndre Hopkins as a volatile WR3 despite his move to Baltimore. He flagged multiple red flags: Hopkins turns 33 during the season, has missed chunks of two of the last three campaigns, and managed little on-field impact even while catching passes from Patrick Mahomes. Although Lamar Jackson is elite, the Ravens’ low-volume passing scheme plus Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman siphon targets. Sullivan concluded that drafting Hopkins expecting consistent WR2 numbers is a mistake; he is a spike-week bench piece at best.