HOUSTON, TX — After a block buster deal that included Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins being traded to the Arizona Cardinals along with a fourth round pick for running back David Johnson and a 2020 second round pick and a 2021 fourth round pick.
The friction has been ongoing since last season between Hopkins and head coach Bill O’Brien, along with the fact the Texans knew they had to pay the 27-year old wide receiver. Hopkins is not your typical wide receiver, he’s top five in the NFL. Hopkins was the third most targeted wide receiver in the league as quarterback Deshaun Watson threw to him approximately 30% of the time last season.
Hopkins had double the amount of catches than any other receiver on the Texans.
Almost two days after the trade, former Cowboys Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin spoke with Hopkins regarding the reasons to the wild trade.
“Hopkins told me, he said, ‘Michael, it was a bit of a power struggle there because Bill O’Brien thought he had too much influence over the locker room.’ He called DeAndre Hopkins in a meeting to talk about this and kind of hash it out,” Irvin told ESPN’s Get Up.
“In that meeting, he started with telling DeAndre Hopkins this, that blew my mind when Deandre told me this: ‘The last time I had to have a meeting like this was with Aaron Hernandez.’ I was like, ‘What, he put in Aaron Hernandez in this meeting?’ He said, ‘Yes, he did, Michael that blew my mind that he would even bring that up. I’ve never been in any trouble. I don’t know why he would equate me with Aaron Hernandez.’
“From there, the meeting just deteriorated. You know, he got into talking about DeAndre Hopkins, and DeAndre Hopkins has a few kids and from different women. He told DeAndre that he doesn’t like that he has his baby mamas around sometimes. From there, I think the relationship just went bad and thus, we got a trade of DeAndre Hopkins from Houston.“
By Wednesday afternoon, Hopkins expressed his thoughts on his Twitter account regarding the situation between him and his former coach 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.“
This is exactly why you don’t give head coaches the ability to make personnel decisions, because there is no one that is unbiased that can make solid football decisions. The fact that O’Brien decided to allow his feelings to usurp his better judgement is a clear case that Watson could soon follow once his time is up in Houston.
