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    DeAndre Hopkins Fantasy Hub: Divisional Round Injury Update, DFS Guidance, Start/Sit Advice, Projections, and More

    Here's the latest DeAndre Hopkins fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups, including injury status, start-sit advice, trade insight, and more.

    The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding WR DeAndre Hopkins.

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    Is DeAndre Hopkins Playing vs. the Texans?

    Hopkins was not listed on the injury report this week. Barring any last-minute setbacks, he will play this weekend.

    We’ll continue to monitor the Chiefs’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.

    Should You Start or Sit DeAndre Hopkins in the Divisional Round?

    The Chiefs have yet to really extend DeAndre Hopkins (he’s topped out at a 63.1% snap share and has been held under 50% in three straight before resting in Week 18). Are they saving him or are they picking their spots?

    For the longest time, I thought the former, but I’m coming around to the latter, and that has me passing on him. From Mike Williams to Amari Cooper, we’ve seen mid-season WR trades net little in terms of on-field production (don’t get me started on Diontae Johnson); while Hopkins is more involved than those two, the theme of the deadline seems to have been more spot performers than game-changers.

    Xavier Worthy’s role is expanding every week and Hollywood Brown has been earning opportunities at an elite rate since returning to action. I think there’s a good chance this game is reasonably close, but we do have to take into account the possibility for the Chiefs to control things. NFL teams this season dropped back to pass 51.7% of the time when leading compared to 65.8% when trailing.

    Patrick Mahomes has averaged 40 pass attempts per game since Thanksgiving, and that level of volume hasn’t been enough to support Hopkins. Sportsbooks have his number posted at 37.5 passes this weekend — why would we expect his production to spike now?

    Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Divisional Round Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.

    DeAndre Hopkins’ Fantasy Points Projection in the Divisional Round

    As of Saturday, Hopkins is projected to score 8.2 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 2.9 receptions for 35.9 yards and 0.3 touchdowns.

    Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.

    PFN Insight on the Bills' Defense

    After finishing as a top-seven defense in each of the last three seasons, the Bills finished 18th during the regular season. That's not the biggest surprise given that this was largely billed as a rebuilding season for this unit.

    Buffalo was a boom-or-bust defense in the Divisional Round vs. Baltimore, and there were just enough highs to escape with the win. In addition to the three takeaways, the Bills also generated their second-highest non-blitz pressure rate (42.9%) this season. The only higher rate was in the Wild Card win over the Broncos (50%).

    This wasn't a particularly efficient defensive performance, as reflected in the final Defense+ grade of 69.9 (D+). Despite some run stuffs, the Bills had their worst rushing defense success rate all season (44%) and were fortunate the game script didn't allow the Ravens to lean more heavily on their run game.

    Still, the Bills' offense is operating at such a high level that the bar to clear for the defense is lower than it would be on nearly any other team. Buffalo met that threshold with a few big plays against the Ravens. Those could be tougher to generate against a Chiefs offense that has gone eight straight games without a turnover, but it may be all the Bills need to finally conquer Kansas City.

    For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis

    DeAndre Hopkins’ Fantasy Ranking

    Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25. 

    Conference Championship WR PPR Rankings

    1) A.J. Brown | PHI (vs. WAS)
    2) Terry McLaurin | WAS (at PHI)
    3) DeVonta Smith | PHI (vs. WAS)
    4) Khalil Shakir | BUF (at KC)
    5) Xavier Worthy | KC (vs. BUF)
    6) Hollywood Brown | KC (vs. BUF)
    7) DeAndre Hopkins | KC (vs. BUF)
    8) Keon Coleman | BUF (at KC)
    9) Dyami Brown | WAS (at PHI)
    10) Mack Hollins | BUF (at KC)
    11) Amari Cooper | BUF (at KC)
    12) Curtis Samuel | BUF (at KC)
    13) Olamide Zaccheaus | WAS (at PHI)
    14) JuJu Smith-Schuster | KC (vs. BUF)
    15) Jahan Dotson | PHI (vs. WAS)
    16) Jamison Crowder | WAS (at PHI)
    17) Luke McCaffrey | WAS (at PHI)
    18) Justin Watson | KC (vs. BUF)
    19) Johnny Wilson | PHI (vs. WAS)
    20) Parris Campbell | PHI (vs. WAS)
    21) Nikko Remigio | KC (vs. BUF)
    22) Ainias Smith | PHI (vs. WAS)

    Bills at Chiefs Trends and Insights

    Buffalo Bills

    Team: The Bills lost four road games during the regular season — only four Super Bowl champions in the 2000s have done that (2018 Patriots, 2012 Ravens, 2010 Packers, and 2006 Colts).

    QB: Five times has a QB had four games in a season (playoffs included) with multiple rush touchdowns and 20 pass attempts.

    No player has had five such games in a season.

    Offense: The Bills have scored on at least 55% of their possessions six times this season, four of which have come against playoff teams.

    Defense: Buffalo allowed Baltimore to pick up 70% of their third downs. That’s the fourth-highest rate the Bills have allowed in the 2000s and is their highest in a winning effort.

    Fantasy: Allen has completed over 72% of his passes in both playoff wins – he had three such games during the regular season.

    Betting: Overs are 5-2 in Buffalo’s past seven games, cashing last week by half a point with Baltimore's final touchdown.

    Kansas City Chiefs

    Team: Christmas Day 2023 was the date of Kansas City’s last home loss – each of their past six Arrowhead games have been decided by a single possession.

    QB: Patrick Mahomes has thrown a total of three touchdown passes in his last two Championship games (3.7% of his attempts) after throwing three in each of his first four appearances (8.4%).

    Offense: Saturday was the 10th time this season in which the Chiefs scored on at least half of their possessions (five-of-nine against Houston).

    Defense: Opponents have picked up at least half of their third downs in four straight games against the Chiefs (Texans: 10-of-17).

    Fantasy: In the last two games in which their starters have been extended, the Chiefs have managed to turn 42 carries into just 119 yards (2.83 yards per carry).

    Betting: By taking an intentional safety at the end of their win over the Texans, the Chiefs snapped their six-game playoff cover streak.

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