Kingsbury: Hopkins ‘handled himself well’ in response to missing practice

There’s no denying that wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is one of the best in the NFL.

The Arizona Cardinals would agree, too, if making the former Clemson Tiger the highest-paid wideout in league history wasn’t already an indication of that.

Hopkins on Wednesday responded to criticism that he misses practice too frequently for a player of his caliber and stature.

“You know, for those people who don’t understand football and don’t watch — there’s a reason I play football and they watch. People are in positions for a reason,” Hopkins said. “I really didn’t listen to (the criticism), I don’t listen to it.”

“Tell those people who said I don’t practice to come watch me play the game,” Hopkins added.

Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said he was proud of the way his wideout handled himself after practice on Thursday, a practice in which wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald made sure to point out that Hopkins participated in.

But unlike most of us — who first heard Hopkins’ comments via social media — Kingsbury tends to get wind of these types of things in a different manner.

“I got that link from one of my friends basically with just the smiling, laughing, crying emoji and he just said, ‘I love this guy.’ So that’s usually how it comes about, but DeAndre is entertaining and I thought he handled himself well in that moment,” Kingsbury said.

Larry is also the goat of impressions 😂

🗣 @alleniverson pic.twitter.com/BFlUjxA152

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) December 24, 2020

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