I dont like the idea of giving all or no credit. They 'work' together in finding and evaluating players, in the very least the coaches have something to do with who gets brought in. I dont think Rick is even that dumb enough to go full rogue and just take players he likes. It just doesnt happen. The only top earning Franchises in all of the world I can think of run worst by their owner and GM combination is the Washington Redskins.
Don't think of it as giving all or no credit. Think of it as a job he is responsible for. If you are VP for Sales and the company makes a huge million dollar sale, you get the bonus. It doesn't matter that you got help from the VP of IT or if some in accounting gave you really good advice. His job description is "oversees all football-related operations and the player acquisition process". So his performance is based on that. It wasn't too long ago we all considered the Cowboys as a joke of a franchise. The Giants don't know what they are doing. The Colts can't figure anything out since they got Luck. The jets? I could go on and on. This team has 9-7 talent and coaching. Not the cream of the crop but not the worst of the litter either.
No.......it is reported 50/50. However, The question would have been what would have happened if Mahomes and Watson were there at 12.
No, it's not "50/50". It is as stated publicly many times. Rick controls the 53 and runs the draft. O'Brien's contract states "any decisions that are made are with the concurrence of the general manager" -- that means if O'Brien wants to do "X" and Rick wants to do "Y", they do "Y". McNairs participate in all "big" decisions and mediate if required, but we know which side Cal takes every time. O'Brien thought he'd have more input on personnel. O'Brien liked both Mahomes and Watson -- they're both impressive in different ways. Had both been available the outcome would've been the same.
Rick is in charge of getting the players the coaches want. This has been the case since Kubiak. There is zero reason for him to start taking more responsibility
So far we've "traded" out the PFF: #4 ranked CB for the #120 ranked CB #3 ranked RG for the #65 ranked RG #14 ranked OC for the #31 ranked OC #15 ranked LT for the #75 ranked LT Are we really trying to get better??? Hopefully Jimmy Raye III has some say in things because the guy at the top is making the roster worse.
Interesting. I thought it looked as if he sucks this year but could not tell with XSF and Allen being really bad as well. PFF confirms the eye test.
Actually often the nature of the OC's job is to clean up what's missed on either side of him, so someplace like PFF will down grade him because they don't know the assignments/adjustments of the OL. It would be the most difficult position for that group to grade. That one is the least of our worries.
Big decisions loom on the plate of Texans owner Bob McNair JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - When this broken season is finally over, Bill O'Brien will have recorded one playoff victory during his four years coaching the Texans. When this backward season is finished, general manager Rick Smith will have engineered six above .500 campaigns since he arrived on Kirby Drive back in June 2006 and still only have three postseason wins to his name. The owner of it all? Bob McNair's Texans enter a meaningless Sunday against the AFC South-leading Jaguars losers of seven of their last nine and at 4-9 overall, which is the third-worst record in the AFC and tied for 28th out of 32 teams in the league in 2017. Is it piling on to point out that Houston's football team is 110-143 all-time and still hasn't been past the divisional round of the playoffs since its 2002 inception? Nope. Those are just indisputable facts. And the above numbers should be at the core of McNair's upcoming offseason decisions. Why accept the status quo? Why reward annual mediocrity - or much worse? How badly does McNair really want to win, 16 years into owning the Texans? His football team went an NFL-worst 2-14 five years ago - suddenly ending the Gary Kubiak era and bringing O'Brien to Houston - and feels like it's staring at a 5-11 or 6-10 season right now. At Jacksonville, hosting AFC-leading Pittsburgh (11-2) on Christmas Day, then at Indianapolis to close out 2017. I'm feeling generous - happy holidays, everyone - so let's say the Texans somehow win two of their next three (and don't just lose out, as many of you are now predicting). Find me another owner in the cutthroat, constantly changing world of professional football who would reward a highly disappointing 6-10 season during the fourth year with a multi-year contract extension. Name another billionaire who would respond to 2-14 and 6-10 seasons during a five-year span with a "go get 'em next year!" pat on the back for his overprotected GM. As I was saying: McNair again has some serious decisions to make. One-year extension for O'Brien? Some of you love to overanalyze every decision A.J. Hinch makes and go after Mike D'Antoni as soon as the Rockets drop a couple games. Some of those same people have been mumbling "injuries, injuries, injuries" since J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus went down in Week 5. Nevermind that Watt played even fewer games (three) last season, and the Texans still won their division (and, gasp, a playoff game) with the increasingly loathed Brock Osweiler at quarterback. What were the Texans supposed to be this year? If memory serves, I had them somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7. Which means no one believed entering 2017 that this was going to be a great (or even very good) team. First-round pick Deshaun Watson peeled back our collective eyelids and wowed us for five games. The Texans also were 3-4 overall during his often brilliant time on the field and still struggled with the same issues - finishing off close games, beating better opponents, time management and mastery of all four quarters - that have plagued the team since the 2014 debut of the uneven O'Brien-Smith partnership. I'm waiting a couple more games before I officially weigh in on O'Brien's future. Right now, I'm leaning toward a short one-year extension and one more shot with Watson, which would set up 2018 as a true prove-it season for a gritty coach who has often been his own worst enemy. As always, Smith's tenure is more complex. He traded up for Watson. His name is ultimately attached to the best current Texans (DeAndre Hopkins, Jadeveon Clowney) wearing red and blue. And for all of the criticism the GM has received since 2013, many of the names Texans apologists keep playing the wait-until-next-year card for aren't in uniform without Smith's direction. But then there's the embarrassing, paper-thin offensive line. And a defensive secondary that has only gotten worse. And the Duane Brown situation. And not franchising A.J. Bouye, who's now a critical piece of a Jacksonville defense that leads the NFL in average points allowed (15.5) and ranks second in total yards (291.6). You can say "injuries" all you want. I know this roster wasn't good enough to compete for anything serious when the season began and always lacked the athletic depth required to overcome the problems that good NFL teams face annually. Weighing stability vs. overhaul These Texans slept through free agency, despite having cash to spend, and entered training camp knowing their offensive line was a Week 1 mess in waiting. All that - and sending a 2018 second-round pick to Cleveland just to get rid of Osweiler - equals job security? The Jaguars were an abysmal 3-13 last year. Jacksonville fired its coach (after losing to the Texans), gave the full-time job to O'Brien's longtime friend, Doug Marrone, and added Tom Coughlin as executive vice president of football operations. The Jaguars are 9-4 a year later because of their NFL-best defense, built piece by piece for years, and an improved Blake Bortles. And because Jacksonville finally got tired of the same old disappointing show. Firing and hiring can be overrated in a league prone to overreaction. Annual stability sometimes really is a strength. Can the Texans again be a 12-4 team in a couple years? Host their first conference championship? Are they truly on the right path as an organization toward taking the next elusive step - you know, winning a second-round playoff game - or is just going to be another series of annual excuses and disappointments? McNair has some decisions to make. He should remember that his acceptance of the status quo has his Texans at 4-9 in 2017 and 110-143 all-time.
1. He has already won, 30,000 on the season ticket wait list and PSLs paid for stadium. 2. Cal McNair, billionaire to be... the "overprotector". Such bullisht. Brian T Smith will gleefully drop his hatchet piece when instructed to do so by Rick. 1. Pay raise. 2. Gets to choose a Head Coach who will never question his scouting/roster capabilities. (From the small list of coaches willing to sign up for the money and to shoulder the blame in 4 years). 3. Contract extension.
If Rick Smith wants to keep his job, and look shrewd, he'd trade O'Brien this offseason. If he can get a second round pick out of Obrien, I'd be all in on that. Also, the secondary coach has got to go. Vrabel should be on a short rope, as well.
I agree with you here about Smith but at this point in time with (yet) another wasted season, it's way past time for McNair to clean house. I just don't see the point in keeping this organization intact anymore as it's clearly going nowhere.
He's never getting fired... you lost me on that him looking "shrewd" part. And why would you want to trade away a Head Coach that other teams value so much as to give a high draft pick for to go get a guy that nobody would give a draft pick for? The only reason to do that is if you wanted to make sure your head coach never questioned to competence of the GM, so that the GM ensures his lifetime employment contract. I mean, nearly 80% of his 2nd-4th round picks from 2011 to date are not even on the team anymore.
Rick Smith is the 7th longest tenured GM in the NFL. All the guys who've been employed longer than him have either won a championship or they own the team and aren't going to fire themselves. And aside from Cincy Owner/GM Mike Brown, they all have winning records whereas the Texans 92-98 since Rick became GM. He's not an awful GM. He isn't the worst in the league. There are good things you can point to but he's not particularly good either. He's just kind of mediocre. Average? He just doesn't have the resume to justify him continuing to stay in the same position for so long, Mediocrity is the bar for McNair.
To be clear, I think Rick should be fired too. He signed off on all these guys even if he's not the one who's making the decisions. It's a joke that he's a GM, he should be an assistant GM at most.
It's time. FIRE RICK SMITH. Just about any other team, can at least remain competitive after injuries....the Texans have ZERO depth. That is on the GM. It's ridiculous he's been here since 2006 (?).....no GM should be here that long with the records over those years and not a single SB.
