DeAndre Hopkins Fantasy Outlook & Injury Update 2022 (Is His Suspension a Concern?)

DeAndre Hopkins' second season with the Arizona Cardinals didn't go as planned. The talented wide receiver was hampered by a hamstring injury throughout the year before a torn MCL ended his campaign in Week 14, leaving him as the WR46 across PPR fantasy football leagues.

Hopkins has had many months to heal, leaving fans with high expectations surrounding him ahead of the 2022 NFL campaign. With him also being suspended for six games for violating the league's PED policy, is the 30-year-old still worth the roster spot this fantasy season?

DeAndre Hopkins Fantasy Football Outlook

A five-time Pro-Bowler, there's no denying that Hopkins has been one of the best wideouts over the last decade. Having said that, injuries clearly caused him to have one of his worst performances last year, forcing him to finish with 42 catches, 572 yards and eight touchdowns in 10 games.

Nevertheless, Hopkins is still one of quarterback Kyler Murray's favorite targets. The former Clemson WR was targeted 160 times when he was fully healthy in 2020, so there's clearly a connection there. The unfortunate thing is that managers won't get to see it until Week 7.

Hopkins' suspension limits his fantasy upside. You never want to have one of your top WRs miss the first six games of the year because that can really put managers in a hole. While he can be a useful contributor down the stretch, you must keep his six-game absence in mind.

DeAndre Hopkins Injury Update

MCL injuries are always concerning, but all reports indicate that Hopkins has made a full recovery. He hasn't been limited during training camp and has been a full-go in team activities since June's minicamps.

Assuming that he makes it through the rest of the preseason without issue, it's safe to say that last season's MCL injury shouldn't cause any issues this fall.

DeAndre Hopkins Projections

Projections from the NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook are quite low on Hopkins. An example of that is his having +10000 odds (T-No. 44) to lead the league in receiving yards. He also has +10000 odds to be the 2022 NFL receiving TDs leader, tied for 49th among his peers.

Is DeAndre Hopkins a Good Fantasy Football Pick?

In past years, Hopkins was one of the few no-brainer picks when it came to WRs. However, it's tough to recommend him when he's missing over a third of the fantasy season and there's no telling how long it'll take him to get back to his old self (if that even happens).

The Duel is ranking Hopkins as the WR34 when it comes to PPR rankings. He currently owns an average draft position of 75.3 on Fantasy Pros, making him someone that'll likely be off the board by the end of Round 7 in 12-team leagues.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't recommend drafting Hopkins unless you already have two other wideouts that you can trust. He has the potential to be a late-season hero, but you can't put all your chips on him when there's so much uncertainty.

If you've drafted Hopkins, then check out the best DeAndre Hopkins fantasy football team names for your squad.

New users earn an instant FREE entry when you sign up for FanDuel DFS! Sign Up Now!

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.