DeAndre Hopkins revealed he anticipated he might be traded by the Houston Texans as he spoke for the first time since being dealt to the Arizona Cardinals.
Last month the Texans shipped their All-Pro wide receiver and a fourth-round pick to the Cardinals in exchange for running back David Johnson and a second-round pick.
Houston then sent a selection from that second round to the Los Angeles Rams to land Hopkins' replacement Brandin Cooks.
It was considered a perplexing move given Hopkins was coming off his third straight 1,000-yard receiving season and is under contract through 2022, even if there are rumblings about the 27-year-old wanting a new deal.
However, while the rest of the NFL tried to get their head around the trade, it did not come out of the blue for Hopkins.
"It wasn't a big surprise to me after the year," Hopkins told reporters on a conference call. "I was preparing for it.
"I was very excited, actually, about it because [of] what Arizona has been building, having a young quarterback, a young team and also having veterans."
The Cardinals have already discussed a new contract for their recently acquired asset and Hopkins is happy to leave his contract situation in the hands of his agent.
"That's between my agent and the organisation," he said.
"DeAndre Hopkins goes out and works out every day to prepare myself to get my team the opportunity to win a championship whenever that's possible.
"So, you know, everything behind closed doors, that's between my agent and the organisation."
Hopkins is going from one promising young quarterback in Deshaun Watson to another in Kyler Murray, the first overall pick in 2019 who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award last season.
"Both of those guys are able to get out of situations with their feet, so that's one of the things, and also, they both keep their head downfield and just trying to make their play, not just with their feet," Hopkins said of Watson and Murray.
"So a lot of similarities there. Obviously, they can run out the pocket and get away from things, but both of those guys also have a very strong arm."