The Facts: Texans HC and GM Bill O’Brien was eager to trade away Hopkins, and Hopkins is apparently eager to play for a different coach as well. Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin relayed this morning on ESPN a discussion that Hopkins told him he had with O’Brien. According to Hopkins, O’Brien sat Hopkins down to talk to him about life and brought up Aaron Hernandez, who played for O’Brien in New England and was later convicted of murder. “The last time I had to have a meeting like this, it was with Aaron Hernandez,” Hopkins says O’Brien told him, according to Irvin. Hopkins was not pleased with that comment. “That blew my mind that he would even bring that up,” Hopkins told Irvin. “I’ve never been in any trouble. I don’t know why he would equate me with Aaron Hernandez.”

Diehards Line:Irvin also says that O’Brien questioned how Hopkins was living his personal life. “He told DeAndre he doesn’t like that he has his baby mommas around sometimes. And from there I think the relationship just went bad,” Irvin said. As PFT notes, we haven’t heard O’Brien’s side of this conversation, but it’s clear that whatever message O’Brien was trying to get across, it resulted in alienating one of his best players. And now that player is gone.