The Houston Texans believe they fixed the source of their 0-4 woes when they fired coach and general manager Bill O’Brien, but the slow road to fixing the problems that led to that ignominious start is just beginning.
According to Luke Easterling from the Draft Wire, the Texans put themselves in a disadvantageous position that may take a season or two to fix. Generally when teams fire a coach or even a general manager, they can plug and play. However, because O’Brien traded away DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney, mortgaged the future for Laremy Tunsil, and had Houston tied up with contracts that will have them $11 million over the salary cap in 2021, not to mention picking for the first time in next spring’s draft starting in the third round, the Texans are headed for a soft rebuild.
The danger in letting a head coach pick all of his own groceries is that he’ll sacrifice long-term stability for the quick fix and short-term success. Unfortunately for the Texans, O’Brien has left them without either.
Houston is bad now, have traded away their best draft resources with which they could have gotten better later, and in the process are wasting one of the most dynamic and talented players in the league, at the game’s most important position.
Watson deserves far better, and so do Texans fans.
Watson is the one element that still makes Houston competitive. As was proven with the Texans in the mid-2010s, having a talented roster or even a dominant defense has a natural governor put on it when the quarterback play is anemic. On the flip side, any roster has a chance to compete so long as there is a dynamic quarterback under center, and Houston has that in Watson.
Chairman and CEO Cal McNair has to nail two hires: general manager and coach. If the Texans get cheap or aren’t diligent, it could be more of the same.