Tag: Laremy Tunsil trade

How Bill O’Brien wrecked the Texans over an 8-month span

Bill O’Brien did a number on the Houston Texans in just eight months as he doubled up as coach and shadow general manager.

The Houston Texans have been clawing their way out of a rebuild, and they may finally be out of it with the hiring of coach DeMeco Ryans.

While it can be argued that the conflicts with the franchise quarterback beginning in January 2021 were a huge setback for the organization, there were decisions made by Bill O’Brien over an eight-month span that were far more injurious to the team than just the problems at quarterback.

According to Michael Renner from Pro Football Focus, there were six mistakes that O’Brien made from August 2019 to March 2020 while coach and moonlighting general manager that set the Texans up for failure over the 2020-22 seasons.

The Texans gave O’Brien general manager control in the summer of 2019, and he reacted like a kid in a candy store. Here’s a highlight reel:

Tunsil turned out to be a three-time Pro Bowler. However, the capital given up to acquire him was detrimental to the Texans’ ability to assemble good drafts, especially in general manager Nick Caserio’s first draft in 2021.

The Texans clearly lost on the Hopkins trade, but the worst parts of O’Brien’s wheeling and dealing was giving up third-rounders for role players such as Johnson and Conley.

O’Brien was part of the Texans’ five-man general manager council following the firing of Brian Gaine in early June 2019. Chris Olsen was the interim general manager, but the moves were more like what a coach would make to shore up his roster.

The Texans fired O’Brien after an 0-4 start in 2020. Executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby was named the interim general manager until Caserio was hired in January 2021.

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Updating results of the Laremy Tunsil trade after 2022 NFL draft

They’re still not done.

Four years ago, the Miami Dolphins traded left tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills, a 2020 fourth-round pick and a 2021 sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans.

In return, the Dolphins received a 2020 first-round pick, 2021 first-round pick, 2021 second-round pick, cornerback Johnson Bademosi and offensive lineman Julién Davenport.

Bademosi and Davenport were both gone by the end of the 2020 season, but the windfall of the picks has continued to this day.

Miami traded Houston’s 2020 first-round pick along with another pick in that draft (No. 141) to select cornerback Noah Igbinoghene and offensive lineman Solomon Kindley. Both are still on the roster but aren’t really making an impact on the current team.

In 2021, they traded Houston’s 2021 first-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2021 first-round pick, 2022 first-round pick, 2022 third-round pick and a 2023 first-round pick.

They used San Francisco’s 2021 first and another pick to move up and draft wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, and then used Houston’s 2021 second to take safety Jevon Holland. Miami then sent No. 156  in 2021 to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2022 fourth-round pick.

In this year’s draft, the Dolphins were set to have first and second-round picks that stemmed from the Tunsil trade, but they opted to trade those, along with others, to the Kansas City Chiefs for wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Then, at the actual event, Miami used No. 102 and No. 125, which were technically both from these trades, on linebacker Channing Tindall and wide receiver Erik Ezukanma.

Miami still has one pick left from all these trades that started with sending the offensive lineman to Houston – a 2023 first-round pick. If they opt to trade that selection, this list could go on forever. However, at this point, this is what they’ve received from the trade to this point.

  • Johnson Bademosi
  • Julién Davenport
  • Noah Igbinoghene
  • Solomon Kindley
  • Jaylen Waddle
  • Jevon Holland
  • Tyreek Hill
  • Channing Tindall
  • Erik Ezukanma
  • 2023 first-round pick

Not bad work by Chris Grier.

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Texans LT Laremy Tunsil isn’t leaving — Jordan Belfort style

Houston Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil restructured his contract, and posted a clip from “Wolf of Wall Street” to make his point.

The Houston Texans and left tackle Laremy Tunsil are going to make it work for 2022.

Tunsil took to Twitter to post a nine-second clip from “Wolf of Wall Street” where the protagonist, Jordan Belfort, announces he isn’t going to resign from his job.

The specifics of why the two-time Pro Bowler won’t be going anywhere this season is because the Texans restructured Tunsil’s contract, converting his $17.85 million salary into a $16.815 million roster bonus, according to Aaron Wilson from the Pro Football Network. Tunsil’s salary is now $1.035 million.

For the Texans’ salary cap, Tunsil will count $17.7 million as opposed to $26.1 million. The former Miami Dolphins 2016 first-round pick will still have an $18.5 million salary for 2023.

There was some question as to whether Tunsil would remain in Houston as general manager Nick Caserio appeared noncommittal to the left tackle in an interview with “Payne & Pendergast” on Sports Radio 610 [KILT-AM] on Jan. 18.

““I would say every situation, every player is in different circumstances,” Caserio said. “The injury that he sustained, whenever it was, you know, was a legitimate injury, and as we work through the process, every player has to work through some things, and in the end, it didn’t work out and Laremy didn’t end up playing for the duration of the season. Again, we can’t worry about what happened last year. We’re going to focus on this upcoming season.”

Tunsil sustained a thumb injury that limited him to five games for 2021.

New offensive line coach George Warhop also seemed to shy away from questions about Tunsil when he met with reporters on Feb. 22.

“I’ve barely had enough time to call my wife at this point,” said Warhop. “So, I’m going to love Laremy Tunsil, but I love my wife. So, I’m always going to make sure I’m calling her. When I get to him, I will get to him.”

With Tunsil coming back for 2022, Warhop will learn to love Tunsil.

2021 NFL draft will wipe away Texans mistakes from the Bill O’Brien era

The 2021 NFL draft will signal the end of all of Bill O’Brien’s mistakes that he made with the Houston Texans’ draft picks.

After the firing of general manager Brian Gaine on June 7, 2019, coach Bill O’Brien proved to the Houston Texans’ five-man general managing council that fixing holes on the roster was easy.

Don’t have a solid starter at left tackle since the trading of Duane Brown to the Seattle Seahawks in 2017? Simple — just trade for one.

As much as the Texans’ trading with the Miami Dolphins for Laremy Tunsil solidified their blindside protector for quarterback Deshaun Watson, it was also a great gamble. Certainly if the Texans gave up two first-round picks in the trade, it would be understandable given the value of acquiring an eventual two-time Pro Bowler. After all, as proven in 2019, if Watson is protected, Houston is making the playoffs. Who cares about that No. 26 overall draft pick?

Go 4-12 and the loss of a first and a second-round pick in the ensuing draft just makes the gamble look even more impulsive. And it really is the loss of the second-rounder in the upcoming draft that signals O’Brien got fleeced in the trade. The Texans’ 2021 draft is essentially gutted all because O’Brien overpaid for a left tackle.

When the NFL draft concludes this weekend, it will be the last loose end from the O’Brien era that will have been resolved. The DeAndre Hopkins trade, another ill-advised gamble, has already been wrapped up technically when the Texans traded that fourth-round selection to the New England Patriots as part of a package for tackle Marcus Cannon. The last threads remaining are from the Tunsil trade.

General manager Nick Caserio will truly be starting anew once the draft ends. He will have the club’s full complement of draft choices to work with in the 2022 offseason, when Texans fans will be more hopeful that their franchise will take bigger strides towards getting out of the rebuilding stage.

Nick Caserio says Texans not picking until Round 3 ‘not that big of a deal’

The Houston Texans don’t pick until Round 3 of the 2021 NFL draft, but new GM Nick Caserio says it isn’t that big of an issue.

The Houston Texans got their left tackle for the future in Laremy Tunsil.

It only cost them a hefty trade package that included their 2021 first and second round picks, but at least they have their starting quarterback’s blindside protector.

The Miami Dolphins are now in possession of the No. 3 overall pick, which they dealt to the San Francisco 49ers. The Round 2 pick at No. 36 overall would have been a nice piece to have as the Texans seek to execute a rebuild after a 4-12 finish and a disastrous start to the offseason.

According to new general manager Nick Caserio, the Texans’ not picking until Round 3 at No. 67 overall is not that big of an obstacle because the evaluation of the draft class never stops.

“We have done a lot of information,” Caserio told reporters on a Zoom call on April 16. “Again, when you’re watching a team, you might think, ‘OK, this player is going to get picked in the first however many picks.’ But when you’re watching that team and evaluating that school, it’s not like you’re going to go through your evaluation process and say, ‘well, we don’t have a first or second round pick, this player is not going to be there, so we are not going to worry about him.’

“It’s kind of negligent or irresponsible. Quite frankly, it’s not that big of a deal. I think it gets made into the bigger deal than the reality of what it is. So whatever our opportunities are, whatever picks that we have, we are just going to try to maximize those opportunities.”

Caserio, who was the New England Patriots’ director of player personnel from 2008-20, noted that in 2017 the AFC East club had a four-man draft class: DE Derek Rivers (third round), OT Antonio Garcia (third round), DE Deatrich Wise (fourth round), and OT Conor McDermott (sixth round). Of the four-man class, the Patriots found a solid starter in Wise, who has earned a second contract with the Patriots.

Of course, that was reloading for a team that had won the Super Bowl, not rebuilding a franchise that has great instability at quarterback following a double-digit losing season.

Said Caserio: “I think the most important thing is to evaluate the players, have an understanding on the board top to bottom, and whatever opportunity you have to pick, whenever that is, just be ready to pick the player that you feel most comfortable with.”

Caserio is counting on director of college scouting James Liipfert to do a thorough job and present him with decent prospects, no matter where the Texans make their first selection.

Texans to weigh all options should they move up in the draft

Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio says part of the team’s prep for the draft includes evaluating scenarios where they could move up.

If not for the trade that acquired offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil and former wide receiver Kenny Stills, the Houston Texans would have been picking No. 3 in this year’s NFL Draft.

Unless there is a significant trade involving disgruntled quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Texans’ first selection will come with the 67th overall pick in the third round. And for a team looking to begin a rebuild after a 4-12 season, missing out on the first 66 prospects is not an ideal situation.

The Texans can look to trade up in an attempt to improve their draft position, but not before weighing all of their options.

“When you look at the draft in general, there is a multitude of strategies that you can employ base on resource allocations,” first-year general manager Nick Caserio said during his pre-draft press conference Friday via Zoom. “A part of our draft preparation is to look at different scenarios and see how far we can move up [with] the resources we currently have in place.”

In total, the Texans are entering the 2021 NFL Draft with eight selections. The sixth round will be the Texans’ most active with picks No. 195th, No. 203 and No. 212.

“The most important thing is to always be prepared whenever you are scheduled to pick,” Caserio said. “If there is an opportunity to move up or down, we will be flexible and open-minded — making best use of the resources that we have. You try to weigh everything and make a good decision whenever you have to pick.”

In August 2019, the Texans obtained Tunsil, Stills and a fourth-round pick from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for two first-round picks, a second-round pick, Johnson Bademosi and Julien Davenport.

The San Francisco 49ers now own the No. 3 pick after a blockbuster trade with the Dolphins in March.