WR DEANDRE HOPKINS
Opening Statement: "I'm sorry I'm late. I was getting a little workout in." (laughter)
On how many touchdowns he, QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry can total: "Hopefully enough to win a lot of games and win the games we need to win. I don't have a number, but hopefully more than a little bit."
On how excited he is to reunite with RB Derrick Henry: "I'm very excited. Derrick [Henry] is like family. Derrick and I have a long relationship. We talked today actually, well ... His trainer and myself, we all work out together down in Dallas, so his trainer called me earlier while Derrick was working out. He really didn't say too much, but that's Derrick – he's grinding."
On if he's spoken with QB Lamar Jackson yet: "Yes. I talked to Lamar [Jackson] a couple of days ago. [We're] just ready to get to work. [There's] not really much that needs to be said, just, 'Let's get to work.'"
On if QB Lamar Jackson was one of the main reasons he came to Baltimore: "Yes, absolutely. I think Lamar [Jackson] being the leader of this team is part of the reason that I came here. What he stands for and how he led this team and this organization to the playoffs in multiple years, and since he's been here, just how he's led any receiver group he's had. So, I think that played a big part of me coming here for sure – Lamar being the quarterback."
On the process of signing with the Ravens: "Obviously, I was in Kansas City, so we really didn't do too much thinking [about going anywhere with the] possibility of me being back in Kansas City. But once we found out that I wouldn't be back in Kansas City, we made a list, and the Ravens were the first team on my list."
On if he can give his new teammates wisdom from playing in Super Bowl LIX: "Obviously, I started off in Tennessee and then went to Kansas City, so I had the best of both worlds. Being with a team that wasn't a contender and then going to a team like Kansas City who obviously – we played in the Super Bowl. [I have] a lot of lessons that I can give to a lot of players. Especially, on this team, being in the [Divisional playoff] game that they were in last year – almost about to basically play us [in Kansas City] – but almost doesn't get it done in the NFL. I felt like I can give a lot – especially to this receivers group and guys in the locker room as well. I'm pretty sure there are some guys who've played in the Super Bowl [or] might have won a Super Bowl here, but for myself, if someone asks, obviously I'm here to help and make everyone better."
On if he's thought about what his role within the passing game will be in Baltimore: "I haven't really given it much thought. This is my first day. I just came in, signed my papers and did a little workout and met with you guys, so I really haven't given it much thought. Really, just wherever I can be used. It doesn't matter to me."
On what he knows about Baltimore's wideouts: "Those are some very talented young receivers. Those guys – Zay [Flowers], 'Bate' [Rashod Bateman], the tight ends that we have, Mark [Andrews] and those guys – well, the receivers specifically, they're young, fast, and those guys go out and make plays. They're exciting to watch, but I don't know much about them outside of what I see on the football field, so I'm just looking forward to hanging out and learning more about them."
On his mom and his family's reaction to him signing with the Ravens: "Obviously, [they were] excited. It's bittersweet that we couldn't win [the Super Bowl] in Kansas City last year, but that's football. I'm still grateful for the opportunity, but they're excited. My family are big fans of Lamar [Jackson]."
On what about his game still allows him to be effective: "I would say how I'm able to get open. I've never been a 4.3 or 4.4 [40-yard dash] guy, but I'm able to make plays on the ball and get open, and contested catches – I feel like that's been something that I've been able to excel in. And I would say my knowledge of defenses as well. Playing 13 years in the NFL, you learn defensive coverages and how to get open, and you kind of know what the defense is doing sometimes pre-snap."
On how much he has left in the tank: "I take it day by day, honestly. I really never thought about that or look forward to it, but they say, 'You'll know when your body gives out on you,' and it hasn't given out on me yet, or for me, I feel like gotten close. So, who knows."
On if he called current and former Ravens about what the culture is like when he was deciding what team to sign with: "[Shoot], Coach [John] Harbaugh. Lamar [Jackson], Derrick [Henry]. Derrick and I talk throughout the year, and that's one of my best friends. He keeps it honest, so for me, it was a couple of different things. From the head coach down, I feel like everyone, they compete, they're dawgs, and I feel like this organization [and] this team matches who I am."
On what about Derrick Henry's performance last year influences him to strive for more: "Derrick [Henry] is definitely an inspiration – not just to myself, but I think everyone in the league as well. For a guy who plays running back at that age to do what he's done, it's very rare. I can't say that he's not an inspiration – he's definitely an inspiration – but for me, I don't look at not one single person to motivate me to keep going. When you play football, you have to have it within yourself, and you have to know how you are."
On if his workout routine allows him to still be productive at his age: "For sure. My workout routine has changed throughout the years, but it's definitely been a key part of me still being able to come out and play at a high level at the age of 32. I'm not sure why you wouldn't work out if you have a weight room this nice, or you have the chance to work out, but for me, I just like working when no one's looking, [even] if that's at my house at night. But it's definitely been a key part of me still playing, and [it's] also my diet. It's not just the workout, but it's everything else."
On if RB Derrick Henry's diet influences his own: "No. I'm a little older than Derrick [Henry]." (laughter) "But Derrick definitely – being in Tennessee with him – he's picky about what he eats. You won't see him in the cafeteria going through the line too much." (laughter)
On if he remembers when he first saw QB Lamar Jackson play: "I was watching Lamar [Jackson] when he was at Louisville [playing] against Clemson – and this is when Clemson might have won the National Championship – and Lamar was giving them a run for their money, and I was like, 'Who is this guy?' And I think I started following his career after that, because I went to Clemson, and Lamar was a couple of plays away from basically single-handedly beating them, and I was like 'Man, this kid is going to be special.'"
On what about QB Lamar Jackson's game most impresses him: "I would say his football IQ outside of his running ability. He only threw four INTs last year, and it takes a very high IQ at the quarterback position for that to happen, and that's very impressive. If you play football, you know that's not easy to do."
On if quarterbacks weigh into where he wants to sign: "[It's] a big part of my decision. Lamar [Jackson] is known for running, but watch [the] film, and I was watching YouTube highlights of this offense to kind of get familiar with it, and he makes some incredible throws, and some of the interceptions as a receiver, you have to take responsibility yourself. Lamar, he knows how to thread the needle, so for me, that was definitely a big part of the decision."
On if he's spoken with QB Lamar Jackson and if he will work out with him this offseason: "Yes, I spoke to [Lamar Jackson], and we'll get up when we can. He's a busy guy – so am I – but I'm sure we'll find time to work before we get here."
On if he was limited by his MCL injury last year: "It wasn't. It wasn't something that I had to play through. It was kind of something that happened, and I was able to play Week 1. I would say after my first week of playing, there was really nothing that bothered me. So, I felt good throughout the season."
On if he needed surgery on his MCL: "I had surgery on my right MCL, I think maybe seven years ago. I've had an MCL surgery, so I'm definitely one to ask if you have MCL problems." (laughter)
On how playing with different organizations and systems will help him adapt to Baltimore: "Yes, I've definitely been around a lot of players, and even in Houston, seven years there [and] seeing a lot people come and go, it's part of it. Just accepting it; accepting your role and your job, and me being the older guy, just embracing everything and embracing the questions from the younger people. It's a business – you really can't take it personally if you get traded or if you get released or cut. So for me, just having gone through those things ... You know, my first trade I would say wasn't as easy to accept, because I was young, and I'm like, 'I'm at the top of my game. Why would they trade me?' But you realize after a while, it's a business. You have to embrace it and not take it personally."
On what stands out the most about offensive coordinator Todd Monken's offense: "They're winning, and [offensive coordinator Todd Monken] knows how to get guys open. His offense has worked, and it's still working."
On at what point in his career he stepped into a leadership role: "I would say Year 3 or Year 4 when I had an older guy come in, and he was asking me questions, and I was younger, and I was like, 'Wow. I guess am what they consider the No. 1 receiver.' So, I would say it was early in my career."
On if the amount of weapons Baltimore has will help him and if his experience will help deal with not being the focal point of the offense every game: "I've definitely been in situations [in] the past couple of years where I've only gotten a couple of targets, so for me, it's really never bothered me, and I embrace it. I love that there's a draft every year for the organization to draft the guy – that's part of football – and you have to realize and understand [that] this is a business, and that's how it goes. So, I love it, and the guys that are out there, they're going to get open – like they have done the past couple of years – and hopefully I can give them a couple of little tricks to help them advance their game a little more. If there's something they're doing, I'm sure I'll ask, 'Well, what are you doing that I can add in my game,' because at this position, you never want to feel like you know everything at the receiver position because there are always little things that you can learn from a scout team guy or a rookie, and that's how you get better."
Head Coach John Harbaugh
On where his passion for helping high school students came from and why it's important: "That's the best question that we're going to have all day today. The high school experience ... We all came through high school; we all understand how formative that is, right? And the high school experience, whether it's sports, football, or basketball, or band, or theater, or clubs, or whatever, makes a huge difference in young lives. And you know that. The impact that you have as a coach in any one of those areas – just like a teacher – can be life transformational. It can be transformational for amazing things; it can be transformational for not so good things, or bad things too. The idea that we want to help coaches in every way we can to be the best that they can be for the young people that they're responsible for because they took on that job of coaching them. It is something that is really important – it should be important to all of us. It's important to the Harbaugh Coaching Academy, to us, and we want to help out where we can."
On one piece of advice he got from his high school coach: "One piece of advice I got from my high school coach? We had a coach whose name was Pete Palmer – he was called 'Pushup Pete.' He was my baseball coach. And if you didn't run out a ground ball or a fly ball, you got to run around the football stadium, which is about half a mile. Baseball players don't like running too much sometimes, so hustle, hustle. That's probably the best advice I got early on. Hustle serves you well in life. Thanks."
On if he has the same views on the allegations against K Justin Tucker as executive vice president & general manager Eric DeCosta: "Absolutely. It's not what you want to wake up and read. You don't want to read about it. It's not something you want to see. I don't care what it is in terms of things that are hurtful and harmful to people. There are too many headlines like that; there are too many stories that you hear that make you just sad and disappointed. And you don't ever want to see a circumstance, a situation, especially as if it relates to your world where anybody is made to feel less than great when they are involved in a work experience somewhere. As it touches all of us in our lives, we want to do everything that we can to make sure it's just the opposite, that everybody feels like they have a great work experience. You guys have been in our place every day, and you know what we try to do with that. That's just really a tough deal. The NFL is looking into it. They're going to review it, they're going to try to gather all the facts, and I'm sure we'll have an understanding of it at that time, but once there's an understanding of it, then you have a chance to make some decisions and determinations and things like that, and that's where we're at right now."
On how difficult it is to hear the allegations against K Justin Tucker: "Yes, and that's what we're waiting to try and do is reconcile it. That's what the process is for. That's why you have to come to an understanding if you can of what happened. We all have questions, but nobody knows exactly what happened, so let's see where the review takes us."
On when he first learned about the allegations against K Justin Tucker: "I learned after [executive vice president & general manager] Eric [DeCosta] told me. I think right before it came out, maybe The [Baltimore] Banner called Eric and told him that there was something coming out. We didn't know anything about what it was going to be, so I knew what it was when I read it, and then a week-and-a-half [to] two weeks after that, I gave Justin [Tucker] a call on a Sunday morning, and we had a conversation about it and talked about it, more from a perspective of being together for all these years and kind of what he was going through and what he was dealing with that and kind of how he's handling it with his family, and that's really what we talked about."
On how he approaches the K Justin Tucker situation when it rises to the national level: "Great question. Really, it's not so much about what level nationally or what level [of] attention something gets, it's the fact that it's so important to somebody in our program. To me, people walk in the door in this job and have an appointment, sometimes we call it, but things come up all the time. You could be dug deep in some football-related task, and someone walks in your door that's number one important to them, and they're talking to the boss, so to speak – or the head coach or whatever – and they just need your time and they need your attention. So, to me, it's exactly the same any one of those conversations that you'd have."
On potentially looking at kickers in the 2025 NFL Draft: "Well, sure. Every position is important, we're going to look at every single position, but certainly [in] different years, you're going to look at different positions. We're looking at kickers; we're looking at a lot of positions. We're looking at every position, but I'd say the kicker position would have been a priority no matter what because Justin [Tucker] is our kicker, we love him, and I always would have expected him to keep going forever, but nobody goes forever. So, we have to look at every position like we do."
On all of the team's coaching changes over the past few years and the new coaches in 2025: "That's the thing, we've found in the last three, four, or five years, we've had a lot of coaching changes, and there's different reasons for different coaching changes. Guys have gotten opportunities, we've had a lot of success, and that's a good thing, but it's also a challenging thing, because from the coaching side, there's nothing more important than your staff, and we have a great coaching staff. We've had great coaches come through. I'm going to be talking to Anthony Weaver and Mike Macdonald later today, and those guys are two of the great coaches that have helped us become kind of what we are as a program. So, I'm excited about [sr. defensive assistant/secondary coach] Chuck Pagano. Chuck has been there before. He's coming back. He's a great coach. He's a great guy. He started it. He helped start [our program] back in 2008 to 2011. I love Chuck, and I think he's going to bring a lot to the table. And then [defensive backs coach] Donald D'Alesio is a young guy who's got a lot of talent, and [inside linebackers coach] Tyler Santucci is going to do a great job with the linebackers and [assistant linebackers coach] Matt Pees. I'm really happy with all of those guys."
On how eager he is to look at the defensive tackle prospects in this year's draft class: "It starts there. It starts on the offensive and defensive line, so we're going to be looking at both lines really hard. You look at every position. It's a deep running back class from what I've been told, too, so we'll be looking at that position, too. But yes, game-wrecking defensive tackles, [it's] kind of a big deal. Pass-pressuring defensive ends, that's kind of a big deal, too."
On how his thought process has evolved on assembling assistant coaches: "Yes, well, our analysts are in that list, just so you know. We have about the same number of guys on the field – and women coaches too on the field. We have the most women coaches in the league which I'm really proud of that. We have a very diverse coaching staff – I'm really proud of that – and we have a great coaching staff, most importantly, and that's the thing I'm most proud of."
On the benefit of having so many coaching analysts: "Well, everybody has them, but they're just not listed on the coaching staff. We just give them coaching staff credit. I think the Browns have 24 people in their analytics department, so that would make them the biggest coaching staff in the league."
On female coaches for the Ravens: "Our women coaches are doing a great job. They're coaching football, they're contributing to our team, they're learning, [and] they're younger coaches in the weight room, on the football side, through the administrative [areas and] through the analytic part of it. We have some great young people coaching for us, so I'm excited about that."
On any position groups that stands out to him in this draft class: "Yes, that's probably a better [executive vice president & general manager] Eric [DeCosta] question. I've personally watched the tackles and guards right now so far on offense. That's where I'm through, and I like a lot of those guys, so that's what I can speak to."
On what he thinks Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh learned about himself in his first year back in the NFL: (laughter) "I don't know, man. [Jim Harbaugh] seems like the same Jim to me. People, maybe with the Chargers, learned how good he is and how much fun he is to be around every day. You're around him a lot, and he's ... I was just talking to [Chargers GM] Joe Hortiz coming down the hallway here, and he said, 'We work really hard, and we have a lot of fun doing it.' That's something that Jim has always been about. He's fun to be around. He's all ball. If you like football, you like being a Charger, and I feel the same way about the Ravens. [We] kind of run similar-type programs, and that's kind of what it should be about."
On if he's discussed potential replay changes or other rule changes with coaches around the league: "That's a great question. I have been very involved with that, and you can ask anybody that. They'll probably tell you that, 'Yes, he's been a little bit of a pain about that.' The thing I appreciate about the League is there is great dialogue with that, and they do. [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell] wants to hear everybody's opinion, and [NFL executive vice president of football operations] Troy [Vincent] wants to hear everybody's opinion, and those guys are kind of at the top of the food chain, and it kind of works from there through the competition committee and all that, so they're great. No, I haven't always gotten what I've suggested. Most of the time, [they are] doing what I think is right. The coaches talk a lot, too. As far as replay [changes], I'm about [having] as much replay as we can that makes sense. Some things don't make sense with replay, but to me, the end of the deal should be to get it right as much as we can, and with technology, that allows you to get more and more right through different avenues of replay."
On if the team comes to an agreement on those things before they vote: "We do. [Owner] Steve [Bisciotti] is the boss. Steve ultimately makes the call, but he listens to all of us. Then, it's not too often where ... We all come to an agreement. One of our philosophies that we agree to agree. It might be either-or or a third option or fourth option or some way of looking at [it] that melds all the ideas together, but we always try to agree to agree."
On how much pride he takes at former Ravens coaches developing and moving on to other opportunities: "Thanks, I do. You take a lot of pride in that. You take a lot of pride in the fact that your coaches are going off and they're doing well, and you kind of see the personality of the teams that they coach or the units they coach. You feel like, 'Man, that looks familiar to me.' That's something that – you do, you take a lot of pride in that, especially as you get older. You start feeling better and better about that, so I love our guys. I don't love playing against them all the time. That's not so much fun, but you love what they're building."
On if he would be comfortable moving T Roger Rosengarten to LT if the Ravens don't retain T Ronnie Stanley: "Absolutely, yes. That would be one of the options we could go to. It would depend on the Draft and different things like that and free agency. I think we'll probably keep Ronnie [Stanley]; [I'm] hopeful that we will, but if we don't, we'll have an option, and that would be one of them, for sure."
On if OL Andrew Vorhees is in the mix: "Yes, [Andrew] Vorhees has a great shot at that. He looked really good at the end of the year when he played. There are other guys in there, too, in that mix."
On if injury was the reason OL Andrew Vorhees fell out of the rotation: "Yes, it was early in [Andrew Vorhees'] career, and someone came in there and played really well. Pat [Mekari] went in there and played great, and that was the better option, but Andrew was working all the way through and developing and then all of a sudden – boom – he's back on the field. You guys don't see the practices, but then he's back on the field, and he played really well. That was because of all the work between then and when he got his opportunity."
On his feelings on the "tush push" play: "To me, you have to take all of those rules holistically. What effect does one rule change have on the next thing? So, if you take out the 'tush push,' then you're going to take out all pushing. A guy can't be downfield, and the offensive linemen can't come running in and push the ball carrier five more yards. You can't take one out but not the other. They are the same, just like you're not supposed to be able to grab a running back and pull him into the end zone. That hasn't been officiated. They've allowed that to happen. That's already against the rules. How are you going to officiate that? So, if we want to say that you can't help push a [running] back, then you can take out the 'tush push.' If you're going to say that's still allowed, then, in my opinion, can't take out the 'tush push.' So, I'm good with it. I'm OK with the 'tush push,' yes."
On the importance of adding a pass rusher this offseason and getting home with four pass rushers instead of sending more pressure: "We believe in both. You want to be able to get there with three [pass rushers] and maybe make them hold it a little longer. You want to be able to get there with simulated [pressures], when you bring four [pass rushers], but it's not the guy you expect to come and make them hold the ball with coverage disguise. You want to be able to get there with four rushers. The teams that have those guys, they do a great job with them. We have those guys, too. We've done that a lot. You want to be able to get home with zone blitzes, man blitzes, with all-out blitzes. We like to keep it moving. We like to keep people guessing. That's kind of our format, and a four-man rush – absolutely – [that's a] big part of that."
On if he can explain the "zero tolerance" policy as it pertains to Justin Tucker: "That's to be determined. That's to be determined. That's something we have to find out. That's what the review is for – to gain an understanding of what we're even talking about. You can't take an action without understanding. You have to get the facts and understand what happened as best you can. Then, you take the situation for what it is, but the principle is the same. How you define that principle, that term a little bit and how ... Maybe we'll come out and make a definition of that at some point in time. That's something that would be interesting to me. I think everybody understands the idea there, and let's see where the review takes us."
On if he regrets saying that there is a "zero tolerance" policy: "Absolutely not."
