The Houston Texans stunned the NFL world with a trade Monday, sending star receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals.
The trade itself was widely mocked due to the lopsided haul that benefited the Cardinals in a serious way. Due to that inequity, many have assumed, and some reports have indicated, that Hopkins was traded because he and head coach Bill O’Brien didn’t get along.
That perception was furthered Wednesday morning when Michael Irvin went on ESPN’s Get Up and said that O’Brien compared Hopkins to the late former New England Patriots tight end, Aaron Hernandez.
Responding to all that, ESPN’s Ed Werder shared on Wednesday that it was money — not personal issues between Hopkins and O’Brien — that caused the Texans to trade the star receiver.
To that point, Hopkins himself came out Wednesday with a classy statement on Twitter, writing that the Hernandez comparison was “being blown way out of proportion” and that he has “the utmost respect” for O’Brien.
There are plenty of reasons to criticize O’Brien for his baffling decisions over the past year. But at this point, the narrative that he and Hopkins were enemies needs to just go away.