{"id":852834,"date":"2026-08-12T17:56:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852834\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T17:56:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:56:23","slug":"former-cardinals-gm-in-ugly-feud-with-deandre-hopkins-over-drug-test-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852834\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Cardinals GM in ugly feud with DeAndre Hopkins over drug test accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some outside noise is penetrating the Cardinals camp. <\/p>\n

Former Arizona GM Steve Keim has retained legal counsel after DeAndre Hopkins accused him of involvement in contaminating or manipulating a drug test that resulted in the five-time Pro Bowler\u2019s six-game suspension in 2022, NFL insider Ari Meirov reported Wednesday.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Keim, 53, denied the allegations in a public statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeAndre Hopkins recently published and then deleted a statement falsely suggesting that I was responsible for contaminating or manipulating the drug test associated with his 2022 NFL suspension,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThat accusation is completely false.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not contaminate, alter, manipulate, interfere with, or cause anyone else to interfere with DeAndre\u2019s drug test or its results. I did not \u2018set him up\u2019 for a suspension, and I had no involvement in causing the test result that led to his suspension.<\/p>\n

\"SteveFormer Cardinals GM Steve Keim walks the sidelines prior to a game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sept. 18, 2022. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAccusing someone of deliberately interfering with an NFL drug test is an extraordinarily serious allegation. It attacks my integrity, my professional reputation, and the work I spent decades building in the National Football League. The fact that the statement was later deleted does not undo the damage caused by publishing it to a large public audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have retained counsel, Raees Mohamed, Esq., to aggressively address this matter and to protect my reputation and legal rights. The relevant evidence is being reviewed and preserved, and this matter will be handled through the appropriate channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keim went on to add that he refuses to engage in \u201cpublic back-and forth\u201d or \u201clitigating\u201d this incident on social media with Hopkins, though he will \u201cnot remain silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his since-deleted Instagram post, Hopkins said \u201cI got set up when I played for his team and lost 13 million. Skeme Slime was my GM, contaminated drug test go figure how that happened,\u201d per Arizona Republic.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unknown where Hopkins is getting the $13 million figure. According to Pro Football Talk at the time, he lost $5.2 million due to being sidelined. <\/p>\n

\"AWildcats FFC wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins answers a question during the Fanatics Flag Football Classic Press Conference & Practice at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on March 20, 2026. ISI Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hopkins, 34, was suspended for six games for violating the NFL\u2019s performmance-enhancing drugs policy in 2022. It threw off Arizona\u2019s 2022 season, finishing just 4-13 while also losing Kyler Murray to a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

Keim traded for Hopkins in 2020 out of Houston. <\/p>\n

The two were together for three seasons and four years later, Hopkins is speaking out. <\/p>\n

After 10 years in the role, Keim left Arizona and the league following the 2022 season.<\/p>\n

Hopkins last played for the NFL in 2025 for the Ravens. He recently joined Georgia Tech as an assistant wide receivers coach in August. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some outside noise is penetrating the Cardinals camp. Former Arizona GM Steve Keim has retained legal counsel after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[1258,64,63,93813,593,85],"class_list":["post-852834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-deandre-hopkins","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}