DeAndre Hopkins says Bill O’Brien compared him to Aaron Hernandez

The Houston Texans have been understandably criticized for trading one of their best players to the Arizona Cardinals this week, and fans may be even more frustrated when they hear about the events that likely led to the deal.

The Texans sent Hopkins and a fourth-round draft pick to Arizona for running back David Johnson, a second-round pick this year and a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft. Houston fans were furious over the trade and are still waiting for an explanation. During an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up!” on Wednesday morning, NFL legend Michael Irvin provided one.

Irvin said he was told by Hopkins that there was a “power struggle” in Houston between Hopkins and Texans head coach Bill O’Brien. O’Brien apparently felt Hopkins had too much influence over the locker room, which led to O’Brien calling Hopkins into a meeting. Hopkins says O’Brien then told him the last time the coach had to call a meeting like that was with Aaron Hernandez, and things went downhill quickly from there.

.@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, that blew my mind that he would even bring that up. I’ve never been in any trouble. Why would he equate me with Aaron Hernandez?’ From there, the meeting just deteriorated,” Irvin said. “Hopkins has a few kids from different women and (O’Brien) told DeAndre he doesn’t like that he has his baby mamas around sometimes. From that, I think the relationship just went bad.”

Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reported on Monday that there was “friction” between Hopkins and O’Brien, and now we can see why. Hernandez is a convicted murderer, so you can understand why Hopkins would be angry over O’Brien mentioning the ex-NFL tight end. That seems completely uncalled for no matter what point O’Brien was trying to make.

O’Brien is known for having a temper, and we saw an example of that when he went ballistic on a fan last season. He may have lost his cool in whatever meeting he had with Hopkins, but it sounds like he handled the situation horribly. Considering the Texans have given him full control over the roster, that has to be somewhat of a concern.