The Houston Texans were universally panned for trading away superstar wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in what appears to be an incredibly lopsided deal with the Cardinals, and the transaction left many wondering what was going on in Houston.
During an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday, Michael Irvin shared the shocking details of a conversation he had with DeAndre Hopkins about the move, and Hopkins’ revelations left many in the NFL world dumbfounded. According to Hopkins, Texans coach Bill O’Brien was unhappy that Hopkins had “too much influence” in the locker room, and called a meeting with his wide receiver. In that meeting, O’Brien compared Hopkins to Aaron Hernandez, and criticized Hopkins for having the mothers of his children around.
.@michaelirvin88 shared shocking details surrounding the relationship problems between Bill O'Brien and DeAndre Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/mr33pvpfxC
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 18, 2020
“He said ‘Michael, it was a bit of a power struggle there, because Bill O’Brien, coach O’Brien thought [Hopkins] had too much influence over the locker room.’ He called DeAndre Hopkins in a meeting to talk about this and to kind of, I guess, hash it out. In that meeting, he started the meeting with telling DeAndre Hopkins this – that blew my mind when DeAndre told me this.
He told DeAndre Hopkins, he said ‘hey, the last time I had to have a meeting like this it was with Aaron Hernandez.’ I was like ‘what, he put in Aaron Hernandez in this meeting?’ He said ‘yes he did.’ He said ‘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.’
And from there, the meeting just deteriorated. He got into talking about DeAndre Hopkins – DeAndre Hopkins has a few kids from different women – he told DeAndre he doesn’t like that he has his ‘baby mamas’ around sometimes, and from that I think the relationship just went bad.”
NFL analysts and fans were stunned.
Did y’all hear what @michaelirvin88 just said to @Espngreeny on @GetUpESPN: that @HoustonTexans coach Bill O’Brien actually called @DeAndreHopkins into his office and mentioned the late Aaron Hernandez in the same breath as D-Hop?? Oh! I’m really done with O’Brien if that’s true.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 18, 2020
If what Michael Irvin just said on @GetUpESPN is true (and I have no reason to not believe him), then Bill O'Brien is about to have a lot of explaining to do about the conversations with Hopkins prior to the trade.
— Jason Goff (@Jason1Goff) March 18, 2020
If this is true about Bill O'Brien's conversation with Hopkins, and Michael Irvin is quoting Hopkins, then pressure is going to mount for O'Brien to get fired. Hard to know if that can break through the noise of other current events though.
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) March 18, 2020
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