During an appearance on ESPN on Wednesday morning, Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin shared his side of a conversation with soon-to-be former Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins about Hopkins’ relationship with Texans head coach Bill O’Brien.
Irvin said that Hopkins, who the Cardinals agreed to acquire in a trade this week, told him that O’Brien called him into a meeting to discuss the wideout’s life and said the last time he did that was with Aaron Hernandez. Per Irvin, Hopkins said it “blew my mind that he would even bring that up” and went on to say that O’Brien didn’t like that he had children with multiple women.
Hopkins didn’t detail his conversation with Irvin, but went on social media to say that too much was being made of an issue with O’Brien.
“This is being blown way out of proportion. As I’ve said before, I enjoyed and am proud of my time with the Texans. I have the utmost respect for Coach O’Brien and that will not change. Now, I’m ready to play for the Cardinals,” Hopkins wrote on Twitter.
It’s not the first time there’s been chatter about the relationship between Hopkins and O’Brien being part of the impetus for this week’s deal, but it appears Hopkins would like to change the focus as he prepares to join a new team.