Patriots hit with a harsh reminder of why they should've signed DeAndre Hopkins

As of just a few days ago, a long-time New England Patriots free agent target this offseason DeAndre Hopkins, signed with the Tennessee Titans. Via Instagram, the Titans made it official four days ago that Hopkins would be joining them on a two-year deal.

The newly signed Titan wide receiver is already making waves at practice for his new ball club.

During today's practice, Hopkins made a circus catch that is all over social media—according to Jim Wyatt, who works for the Titans team, in the first play of 1v1's, Hopkins made an unbelievable one-handed catch over cornerback Kristian Fulton.

Hopkins then went to Twitter to take a shot at some critics he might have by saying, "I was told he doesn't practice...".

Clearly, this is in reference to a report from Tim Graham of the Athletic that some NFL executives "expressed concern about DeAndre Hopkins practice habits."

This article came out following the release of Hopkins from the Arizona Cardinals and in the lead-up to Hopkins making his free-agent decision.

From the video and everything coming out of Titans camp, it seems things have been going well with Hopkins. It is still very early in the process, so time will ultimately tell the final story of how the marriage between Hopkins and the Titans works out long term.

As details continue to come out, what strikes me is how the Patriots dropped the ball on the Hopkins 'sweepstakes.'

This year the Titans were able to keep Hopkins's cap hit to a minimum at 3.668 million dollars. The AFC South foe also added void years in order to spread out some of the money due to his signing bonus.

When first reported, this deal looked like it was a lot of money for an aging wide receiver, but digging into the actual contract, it was absolutely affordable for Bill Belichick and his staff.