Fantasy Football 2014: 5 Reasons Why You Should Draft DeAndre Hopkins

Hopkins showed serious flashes during his rookie year, teasing fantasy owners with what could be. The guy is a physical specimen, running a respectable 4.51 40-yard dash and posting a 36-inch vertical. He has an ideal combination if speed and size that allows him to make plenty of plays. Hopkins finished the year with an impressive 15.4 YPC total, showing that he does damage once he catches the ball. He hasn't even scratched the surface.

Fantasy owners love touchdowns, and while he only found the end zone twice last year, Hopkins has some serious upside from inside the twenty-yard line. He saw a healthy 19 red zone targets last year, which were seven more than his teammate, Andre Johnson. The Texans typically love to look towards their tight ends in the red zone, but Owen Daniels is now gone, so Hopkins could see an uptick in looks from up close. He has the size and physicality.

According to ESPN, when they looked at wide receivers over the years, they noticed that the biggest statistical jump occurred in year number two, In fact, they saw a 65 percent uptick in fantasy points in season two, more than any other year. Guys like Josh Gordon, Kendall Wright and Michael Floyd all emerged in their second years last season, and Hopkins has that same kind of talent to succeed.

The Texans tossed the 3rd-most interceptions as a team last season (22), and we all know about the horrid streak of pick sixes Matt Schaub threw last year. Because of their unfortunate season, the Texans are on the clock, and could very well take Johnny Manziel or a quarterback first overall. The quarterback position can't be worse than it was last year, and it's hard to score fantasy points when your passer is throwing to the other team.

As a rookie, Hopkins got his feet wet a bit. The Texans, at first, eased him in. But now that he has his first season under his belt, Houston is going to unleash him, and with Owen Daniels gone and Andre Johnson aging, Hopkins is going to see more usage. The majority of receivers see a major uptick in targets during their second season, and Hopkins saw at least five targets in each of his last six games.