The Houston Texans still room for improvement when it comes to assembling a competitive roster, but the club may have upgraded at coach.
According to Conor McQuiston from Pro Football Focus, who compiled a list of 26 NFL coaches (rookie coaches for 2022 were excluded), Smith ranks as the 17th-best coach and is grouped in the “average coach” tier.
Smith is perhaps the largest approximation on this list, considering he has not been the head coach of an NFL team since 2015. Based on his prior results, though, he lives up to his reputation as a defensive mind — although it remains to be seen if his Cover 2-heavy style will still hold up in today’s NFL.
The average win-loss for Smith was 8.8 wins and 8.2 losses. If Houston could even make that type of improvement in 2022, it would have fans optimistic about the direction of the organization.
From Smith’s perspective, even though the club is still amid offseason workouts, the structure of what the 2022 version looks like is starting to come together.
“I made the statement: starting positions aren’t given in the spring, but you could start getting in the front of line in the spring when you show up each day and we can start forming opinions,” Smith told reporters on June 1 at Houston Methodist Training Center after organized team activities.
The Texans had bad coaching last year with David Culley, and it wasn’t entirely his fault as he was in over his head and dealt a terrible roster. If the Texans can just get average coaching with an improved roster, they should be able to win more than four games for the first time in the 2020s.
Across the rest of the AFC South, the Tennessee Titans’ Mike Vrabel was No. 8 and in the “good coaches” tier. The Indianapolis Colts’ Frank Reich was No. 9. Doug Pederson, despite winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, was No. 15 and also in the “average” tier.
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