DeAndre Hopkins Shuts Down Reports of Tumultuous Relationship With Bill O'Brien After Trade From Texans

The undisputed highlight of the inception of the NFL's legal tampering period on Monday saw the Houston Texans trade superstar wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for a shockingly bad return.

Since then, Hopkins has cryptically taken to Twitter to articulate his relief of being freed of Houston's ineptitude. Those tweets appeared to have endorsed the claims that the All-Pro's relationship with former head coach Bill O'Brien was strained.

Well, Hopkins proceeded to shut down those rumblings on Wednesday in a very straightforward tweet which states that he has the "utmost respect" for O'Brien.

This is being blown way out of proportion. As I’ve said before, I enjoyed and am proud of my time with the Texans. I have the utmost respect for Coach O’Brien and that will not change. Now, I’m ready to play for the Cardinals.
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) March 18, 2020

It's worth noting that Hopkins' post likely came in response to Michael Irvin's cameo on ESPN's "Get Up," during which the Hall of Famer claimed Hopkins told him that O'Brien compared a meeting with the 27-year-old stud to one he had with one Aaron Hernandez, a convicted murderer.

Michael Irvin says DeAndre Hopkins told him that Bill O’Brien pulled him into a meeting and equated him to Aaron Hernandez. Also O’Brien didn’t like Hopkins having his "Baby Mamas" coming around.

As @mspears96 said, I can't believe what I just heard. pic.twitter.com/WUbEZTGjPm
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) March 18, 2020

We'll probably never know what Hopkins specifically told Irvin, but we have to respect Hopkins wanting the mishmash of conflicting rumors to stop swirling.

Nuk's relationship with O'Brien may have been as tumultuous as reports claim, but he's on to bigger and better things with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. In Hopkins' eyes, his tenure with the Texans is now a thing of the past.