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What Drives DeAndre Hopkins To Greatness?

The unbreakable bond between DeAndre Hopkins and his mother Sabrina Greenlee

July 10, 2020

Friends,

Today’s article is an emotional story about the unbreakable bond that DeAndre Hopkins shares with his mother, Sabrina Greenlee, written by Mina Kimes of ESPN. Read the full article here.

Beating The Odds

Hopkins, growing up in a small town in South Carolina, faced an uphill battle from birth - his father died when he was a baby while his mother held multiple jobs and sold drugs on the side. With their mother working so much, you could always find Hopkins and his siblings playing outside where they frequently witnessed drug sales and shootings.

As a young adult, Greenlee faced her own challenges with DeAndre’s father dying when she was just 23 years old. One paragraph in particular really stuck with me.

"Making ends meet was tough because I'd always depended on guys to do that." Before she met Hopkins' father, whom she describes as kind and loving, she dated a number of men who abused her. "By the time I was 15, I had been beaten about four times, put in the hospital once," she says. After Steve passed away, she found herself once again tumbling into relationships where she was subjected to violence, encounters that traumatized both her and DeAndre. "He saw the screams and [heard] the noise behind the door that he wasn't allowed to touch or come in as a young boy," she says.

Those abusive relationships eventually led to a traumatic incident where Greenlee was once left for dead following a violent attack 16 years ago. Greenlee opens up with Kimes about her long road to recovery, how the incident has formed a special relationship with her son, and her recent philanthropic efforts to help end the culture of silence towards domestic violence and abuse.

Supreme Confidence

Since Hopkins entered the NFL in 2013 he has been one of the leagues top WRs, eclipsing the elusive 1,500 yard receiving mark multiple times while earning all-pro honors 3x. To me, there are two mind blowing Hopkins statistics:

  1. In 2015, he managed to catch 111 passes for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns with a combination of Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallet at QB. No offense, but not exactly the cream of the crop.

  2. PFF credited Hopkins with zero drops in 2018; no ball thrown his way that should have been completed wasn’t. For a guy who finished with 159 targets and 115 receptions, that’s amazing.

The video below is one of my favorites as it showcases the supreme confidence that Hopkins has in himself.

Rather Watch Than Read?

Here is the ESPN video version of the article for those interested.

Visit the link below if you want to learn more about Sabrina Greenlee and the work of S.M.O.O.O.T.H., Inc. (Speaking Mentally, Outwardly Opening Opportunities Toward Healing) .

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