Micheal Irvin Claims Bill O’Brien’s Offensive Comments To Deandre Hopkins Indirectly Led To The Texans Trade

If Houston Texans fans were angry enough about the trade earlier this week that dealt wide receiver Deandre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals, new claims made by Michael Irvin may make matters worse.

Irvin appeared on ESPN‘s morning show Get Up on Wednesday and made several claims about what led to Houston trading the star receiver. A video posted on Twitter moments after his appearance, shows Irvin telling a story about how the relationship between Hopkins and Texans general manager and head coach Bill O’Brien deteriorated.

The former Dallas Cowboy turned ESPN commentator said he called Hopkins right after he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson and a second-round draft pick. Irvin said he was surprised at how little the Texans got in return and wanted to find out why Hopkins thought that might have been.

According to Irvin, Hopkins instead just wanted to talk about how happy he was that the trade was done, and he thanked the Houston Texans for their support over the years. When he called Hopkins back the next day, the Pro Bowl receiver was ready to talk about what happened behind the scenes.

Hopkins claimed his relationship with Bill O’Brien had soured badly over the years, Irvin recounted. The receiver reportedly stated that O’Brien wasn’t happy with the influence he had over the locker room. O’Brien also allegedly told Deandre in a meeting that the last time he had to have a similar conversation, it was with Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who was convicted of murder and died in prison in 2017.

Irvin said he was shocked to hear the Houston head coach compare Deandre Hopkins to Hernandez, but that wasn’t the end of the offensive comments O’Brien allegedly made. Hopkins allegedly told Irvin that O’Brien also complained about “baby mamas” being around the team, an apparent dig at Texans’ wide receiver has children from a couple of different women.

These exchanges eventually led to the relationship between the team’s superstar player and its head coach/general manager becoming untenable. With no additional proof, it’s up to Houston fans to determine how much of Irvin’s second-hand information can be believed.

What is known to be a fact, is that the team’s fanbase is facing a 2020 season without arguably the best receiver in team history and a head coach who wasn’t popular among certain segments even before this trade.