5-time All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins says he's not retired from NFL after becoming Georgia Tech's assistant receivers coach

Posted by Admin August 1, 2026 NFL

Five-time All-Pro wideout DeAndre Hopkins will serve as Georgia Tech’s assistant wide receivers coach in 2026. That doesn’t mean his playing days in the league are over.

Hopkins, 34, clarified that on Saturday with a post on X.

“I haven’t retired from the NFL,” he wrote. “…. But if you’re a WR and you want to be great, come to Georgia Tech football.”

The Yellow Jackets announced the addition of Hopkins, a former Clemson star, to their coaching staff on Friday.

“DeAndre is one of the greatest receivers of all time, but his value to our program goes far beyond the that,” Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key said in a statement.

“He has an exceptional knowledge of what we’re doing on offense due his long relationship with [offensive coordinator] George Godsey and strong familiarity with the ACC, but, most importantly, he’s a leader of men that I’m very excited for our players to be around, on and off the field.”

As Key alluded to, early in Hopkins’ 13-season NFL run, he overlapped with Godsey. They spent three seasons together in Houston, where Godsey was the Texans‘ quarterbacks coach in 2014 and offensive coordinator in 2015-16. At that time, Hopkins, a 2013 first-round pick, was bursting onto the pro scene.

In 2015, Hopkins amassed the third-most receptions (111), second-most receiving yards (1,521) and tied for the second-most receiving touchdowns (11) of his illustrious career.

All in all, Hopkins has seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons to his name. He’s reeled in 85 touchdown passes. He made two scoring grabs during the 2025 campaign with the Baltimore Ravens, although he registered a career-low 330 receiving yards with the team.

After his lone season in Baltimore, Hopkins became a free agent. He hasn’t signed with a team this offseason.

“I still got a lot ball left,” Hopkins said in June during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. “But it’s not a situation that I’m sitting here trying to force or go out and be the regular-season superstar because that’s for the young guys, man. That’s for the people that they want to develop and give those contracts to, looking at the future. I know what it is.

“I know in my position, I’m a utility guy. I’m a special situation kind of guy. I can go out there and beat anybody 1-on-1 at any time, but, as of lately, I’ve been a third-down guy. I wasn’t used in the red zone last year. But, hey, third down, they know D-Hop there. They can come to me. I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon.”

He added: “Going into Year 14, I would love to play for a competitor, if that time came.”

Recently, Hopkins visited the New England Patriots during training camp, as he began to forage into the coaching world. He’s wading farther into those waters as Georgia Tech’s assistant wide receivers coach.

Yet, as he noted Saturday, he hasn’t closed the door on playing in the NFL again.