Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes react to the KC Chiefs' Week 8 debut for WR DeAndre Hopkins

In the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 8 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, several players on the offensive side of the ball managed to stand out. However, after this week's trade with the Tennessee Titans, all eyes were on veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

After Sunday's win, head coach Andy Reid admitted that Hopkins played “about” the number of snaps he envisioned early in the game. He also offered his initial thoughts on the All-Pro wideout's debut with Kansas City.

“Yeah, listen, I liked it,” Reid said. “He wanted to be in there, which is positive and I understand. He will get more chances in the next game.”

From a pure box score standpoint, Hopkins didn't do anything crazy at Allegiant Stadium. He completed two passes for the reigning Super Bowl champions and racked up 29 yards, a number that trailed four other Chiefs on the afternoon. It wasn't a spectacular game by any means, especially for someone of that caliber. However, a look beyond the surface reveals someone who had a more profound impact.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a front row seat for Hopkins' debut and he believes there were plenty of positives to draw from.

“I thought he did a great job,” Mahomes said. “Obviously (on) third down he had the big catch early in the game and then he had a couple other big plays. I missed him on the one corner route early on, but (he) still had the chance. And then when I looked back on the tablet, there were a few times where he really worked in man coverage and won. I even threw the touchdown to Trav (Travis Kelce), if you look back at his side, he's open to you too. Now that you see that – of course I know what kind of player he is – but if you look at that on the Seeing the field, it shows he's going to be open when they play him. I've got to give him a chance to go out and make plays.

One play by Hopkins particularly benefited Mahomes: a third-and-7 on the Chiefs' first drive. Hopkins found a weak spot in the Raiders' coverage behind the sticks and gained 13 yards, helping preserve the possession that ended in a touchdown. Mahomes didn't hold back when comparing this conversion style to that of JuJu Smith-Schuster or even Kelce.

“Honestly, it’s high-level stuff,” Mahomes said. “Just because it was zone coverage, they were kind of in the right spot, he went up in the right window, stuff you see a lot with Trav (and) you see JuJu do a lot. I was able to throw the ball and “I talked about it a little bit, he has good body language when he's running routes so you can tell what he's going to do beforehand. I think we had only practiced this game once, maybe twice. The fact that he was on third down in this situation and is in the right position shows that he will fit perfectly into this offense.”

Considering what could have been – maybe Kelce's touchdown goes to Hopkins or Mahomes doesn't rush him due to the aforementioned corner concept – just looking at the numbers doesn't do Week 8 enough justice. In some ways, Hopkins made the most of his playing time. Considering his opportunities will only expand in the coming weeks, both he and the Chiefs should be encouraged.

Read more: Four takeaways from the Kansas City Chiefs' 27-20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders