DeAndre Hopkins is widely considered to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, but one defender he is set to go up against believes part of what makes the Houston Texans star so great is that he gets away with pushing off. To say Hopkins is not concerned about said defender’s opinion would be an understatement.
With his team set to face the Texans on Thursday night, Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was asked about trying to cover Hopkins.
“I see he likes to push off a lot,” Howard said, via Safid Deen of The Sun-Sentinel. “He likes to get physical. That’s going to be part of his game. He can make some hell-of-a-catches.”
Hopkins was asked on Tuesday about Howard’s assessment of his game, and his response was pretty insulting.
I asked DeAndre Hopkins about Xavien Howard’s claim that Hop “likes to push off a lot” to get separation from defenders. Hopkins response, “Who’s Xavien Howard?”
— Omar Ruiz (@OmarDRuiz) October 23, 2018
Hopkins, who is on pace for around 100 catches and 1,500 yards this season, is a matchup nightmare for just about anyone. However, he should probably familiarize himself with Howard before Thursday, as the former second-round pick has been rock solid this year and has three interceptions and five pass breakups. Howard was high up on our list of players who have exceeded expectations this year for a reason.
