Week after week, DeAndre Hopkins makes acrobatic, one-handed catches that land immediately on every national highlight reel.
But one award eluded Hopkins, until now. On Friday, Hopkins was named to the Associated Press NFL All-Pro First-Team.
"I feel like that's something that all receivers, especially my caliber who consider themselves number one receivers, to be All-Pro, that's something that you work on as a player and that's just something that you play this game to get the accolades that you work for," Hopkins said Nov. 30.
Hopkins earned Pro Bowl honors after scoring more touchdowns than any other wide receiver in the NFL in 2017, despite missing Week 17 with a calf injury. In 2015, Hopkins was named to his first Pro Bowl and Second-Team All-Pro after he posted a single-season career-high 1,521 yards receiving with 11 touchdowns.
"I only got Second-Team All-Pro, so first-team, it's the best of the best," Hopkins said.
In 2017, Hopkins recorded 96 receptions for 1,378 yards and a franchise-best 13 touchdowns in 15 games. He did it all with three different starting quarterbacks, finishing the year with five 100-yard receiving games. Hopkins caught a touchdown in an NFL-high and franchise-record 10 different games this season and logged a team-high six touchdown receptions of 20-or-more yards, which tied for second-most in the NFL in 2017.
"Just his third-down production relative to all the other catches he makes, I think he's the best receiver in the league," head coach Bill O'Brien said Dec. 18. "He's big, he's strong, he's got great ability on the sideline, he's such a great competitor on Sundays, he wants the ball, he wants the ball thrown to him. There's no doubt that I think he should be whatever that is. I think the Pro Bowl is, whatever that is. The All-Pro team, the All-22 team, that's the one that I look at and that's the one he should be on, no doubt about it."
Check out some of the best photos of DeAndre Hopkins during his Pro Bowl season in 2017.
