The Houston Texans made a no-surprise yet successful hire in Nick Caserio as their general manager. The move was almost a completion of a year and a half arc that began with the firing of general manager Brian Gaine on June 7, 2019.
The hiring of 65-year-old rookie coach David Culley, who had never been a coordinator in his 27 seasons in the NFL, was quite a shocker and replete with questions.
According to ESPN, which ranked NFL teams according to their own three-year power rankings, Culley may be the right man to fix the Texans. Analyst Louis Riddick provided detail, even though it was in the “biggest worry” part of the evaluation.
David Culley walked into one-of-a-kind dysfunction in Houston, and for a first-time head coach who has waited a long time to get his opportunity, it appears that he has been set up to fail. Culley is a man of impeccable character and leadership skills, so if anyone can fix the culture in Houston, it is him.
At the Texans’ charity golf classic on May 10, general manager Nick Caserio spoke of Culley’s constant positivity as one of Culley’s hallmarks.
“I would say his consistency day-to-day is phenomenal,” Caserio said. “His attitude, his messaging to the players, messaging to the coaching staff. Every day you walk in the building, he’s the same guy regardless of what’s going on. That speaks to who he is. Honestly, it’s no different — we talked about this in the opening press conference — it’s no different now than however many years ago when I met him on the field at the combine, fast forward however many years later.
“So that consistency day-to-day has been a hallmark of his all his whole career and he’s done nothing to dissuade us from thinking otherwise.”
If Culley can get the most out of a veteran roster that the rest of the sports media has written off, it will be one of the more meritorious coaching jobs in the 2021 season.