I can literally begin to follow them again. Tank for 1st overall. Thank JJ and trade him wherever he likes, Hope it’s still worth a 1st or at least something valuable towards a rebuild. Shouldn’t take long to be competitive again. Rick and Gary will have this thing fixed in a jiffy.
Round Table Reaction The winless Houston Texans shocked the NFL on Monday by firing head coach/general manager Bill O’Brien four games into his seventh season with the team. Things haven’t gone according to plan this season for O’Brien and the Texans (0-4), who sit in the AFC South basement despite the presence of franchise QB Deshaun Watson and an expensive surrounding roster. Executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby is expected to be heavily involved in the coaching search, while Romeo Crennel has been installed as Houston’s interim head coach. O’Brien leaves Houston with a 52-48 record and a reputation as a good coach, but his track record as a GM — which includes trading away stars like Duane Brown, Jadeveon Clowney and DeAndre Hopkins, a willingness to part with top draft picks and questionable cap management — had fans up in arms and observers from around the league confused. Still, few pegged O’Brien as the first NFL coach to lose his job once the 2020 season got underway. We assembled The Athletic‘s NFL writers from around the country to weigh in on the news. What’s your first reaction to the news of Bill O’Brien’s firing? Aaron Reiss, Texans writer: Surprised to see it happen just four games into this season. O’Brien’s overhaul of the Texans’ offense clearly wasn’t going well, but owner Cal McNair had given O’Brien immense power over the past year or so. He signed off on the Texans having the most expensive roster in the NFL this season (in terms of cash) and let O’Brien mortgage the future by consistently trading draft picks for proven players. I figured the Texans would maybe ride this out a bit longer, especially because their first three losses came against the Chiefs, Ravens and Steelers. Sheil Kapadia, NFL writer: Stunned. It feels like every piece of news with O’Brien in recent years involved him getting more power. It’s been less than a year since ownership named him general manager and handed him the keys to the franchise. I felt like he had great job security, regardless of the on-field results. I guess I was wrong! Dan Pompei, NFL writer: There was an inevitability to this because there was no one else to blame in Houston. O’Brien was general manager, head coach, and now play-caller. He had acquired too much power, and too many of his bold moves had backfired. The timing suggests he was on thin ice before the season even began. Lindsay Jones, NFL writer: During my live chat with Athletic subscribers this morning, I was asked to rank who would get fired first: Bill O’Brien, Adam Gase or Dan Quinn. I put O’Brien last in an answer that clearly aged poorly. Things were spiraling out of control in Houston, and at 0-4 the season is basically lost, but the McNair family had given O’Brien so much power it would have seemed surprising to reverse course so quickly. But if things were growing toxic within the building, between O’Brien and his key players and other senior staff, that would speed this along. Mike Sando, NFL writer: The timing was unexpected, but in speaking with people around the league last night, I was reminded that we really had no idea what ownership was thinking. For all we knew, O’Brien had a lot of runway to work with. Or, as the case turned out, he was under immense pressure to win right now after pushing through controversial changes. Such is the privilege of NFL ownership. Those guys can make these decisions at any time. Why would Cal McNair make this move now? Reiss: Though the Texans’ first three games were against three very good teams, their most recent loss came against the previously winless Vikings, and though it was a one-score game, Minnesota was in control basically the whole time. Aside from one good half against the Steelers, the Texans haven’t been competitive this season. They have the third-worst point differential in the NFL. That just can’t happen for a team that has an elite young quarterback, won a playoff game last year and made the most controversial move of the offseason (the Hopkins trade) with the intention of bettering the team. Kapadia: In general, I think owners do a poor job of assessing their teams beyond wins and losses. For example, the Texans were not a great team last year. They were a minus-7 in point differential, but they were 8-3 in one-score games and advanced to the divisional round. I guess that convinced McNair that they were good. This year, they opened the season against the Chiefs, Ravens and Steelers, but presumably, McNair saw 0-4 and decided it was time to move on Pompei: He must believe he can salvage the season. Either that or relationships had become untenable. Jones: If O’Brien had lost any segment of the locker room, making this move now prevents frustrations from escalating and could allow the Texans to at least be functional as they play this season out and really figure out what sort of head coach and general manager they want for the future. Sando: My first inclination is, because he can. My second inclination is, because he is probably getting advice from people who are telling him O’Brien was the problem, and that things were not going to get better. Owner Cal McNair will be looking for a new leader for Deshaun Watson and Co. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)
How good a job is the Texans’ head coaching opening? Reiss: I’d argue Watson alone makes it a better job than any other gig that might reasonably come open this year. Plus, the McNair family has proven to give its head coaches long leashes. Gary Kubiak lasted seven-plus seasons with only two playoff appearances before getting fired during a 2-14 campaign. Many fans wanted O’Brien gone long before this. Kapadia: I think it’s a really attractive job for one reason (and this is probably not an original take): Deshaun Watson. It’s rare for a job to come open where the biggest question — quarterback — is already answered. Watson is 25 years old, supremely talented, and by all accounts a great leader. Ownership needs to find someone who can maximize his abilities. Pompei: I’m not sure anyone knows. Cal McNair is not Bob McNair. If you can tell me who he is as an owner, I can tell you how attractive the job is. But Watson makes it better, no matter who Cal McNair is as an owner. Jones: The new head coach will inherit a very good quarterback, which is better than many (or any?) other jobs that will come open later this year can offer. There are talent deficiencies elsewhere (and a lack of high draft picks next year doesn’t help), but having Deshaun Watson in place should put this job among the most desirable come January. Sando: Watson’s presence makes Houston an attractive destination for any head coach, but first we must see how the front office shakes out. Will the team name a traditional GM? Would such a move be made before or after a head coach is hired? The best head coaching candidates will want the front office set up favorably. Jack Easterby’s future and role is a key variable on that front. How about the GM job? Reiss: It would look a lot better if the Texans were making a hire a year from now, when they have their full set of picks. Because of the Laremy Tunsil trade, Houston doesn’t select until the third round in 2021. That’s got to be the scary thing for Texans fans: For as bad as this team is now, it could look worse in a couple years when Watson and Tunsil’s cap hits both jump, current rookie contracts have expired and Houston is paying the price for O’Brien mortgaging so much of the future. Kapadia: It’s a challenge. O’Brien has made objectively terrible roster moves. He’s dealt players like DeAndre Hopkins, taken on contracts like David Johnson’s and lit draft capital on fire. Houston doesn’t draft until the third round of 2021. Having said that, oftentimes the hardest job for a GM is to find a franchise quarterback. In Houston, that’s not an issue. Finding creative ways to build around Watson, given the limited resources, should be attractive. Jones: Not nearly as attractive as the head coaching job; there’s not a lot of draft capital or salary cap room to work with right away. I will be very curious to see how McNair runs this search. Does he try to get the GM in place first and allow him to hire the head coach? The reverse? Are these parallel searches? Sando: It’s an imperfect situation but still an attractive one. The cap issues and lack of draft capital can be fixed over time. The owner is a bit of an unknown, but there’s a quarterback in place, Houston is a good sports town and the team has had some success. I just wonder whether they are going to open up that spot. Bill O’Brien helped develop Deshaun Watson into one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, but his moves as GM were widely criticized. (Troy Taormina / USA Today) What is O’Brien’s best attribute as a coach? Reiss: This season aside, his teams generally had high floors. No matter which division a team plays in, winning it four times in six seasons is difficult. Ever since O’Brien began making poor decisions as Houston’s GM and pundits started dunking on him, I was of the opinion that his reputation as a GM had unfairly hurt his reputation as a coach. Kapadia: He won some games. The Texans were 52-48 with him, finished above .500 in five of six seasons and made the playoffs four times. Early on, it seemed like he might be able to get the most out of mediocre talent, but that hasn’t been the case recently. The Texans never finished higher than 17th in efficiency (DVOA) with O’Brien as the head coach, and he also struggled with game management. Jones: Well, it wasn’t his in-game decision-making (I can still hear the cackling in the Arrowhead Stadium press box when he called for that fake punt against the Chiefs in January). I will say, though, that the Texans were almost always going to be competitive. They won a lot of games — though not necessarily meaningful, postseason games. Aaron is right above in mentioning the Texans’ floor. It was always decently high … until this year when the bottom fell out. Sando: O’Brien’s strength is probably in coaching the quarterback position. How about his worst move as a personnel man? Reiss: The Hopkins trade was the worst, but since that’s been broken down a million ways, I’ll go with a deep cut. On Monday morning, before he was fired, O’Brien said cornerback Gareon Conley was not close to returning from IR. Why’s this matter? The Texans, who were clearly not a cornerback away from winning in 2019, traded the third-round pick they got in the Clowney trade to acquire Conley midway through last year. He played well in eight games, but not well enough for the team to pick up his fifth-year option, meaning this is his final season under team control and he’s currently missing it. Given the Texans’ general lack of draft capital, Conley will have to return soon and look like an All-Pro to make that trade look even slightly decent. Kapadia: The Hopkins/David Johnson trade will go down as an all-timer. You could make an argument for unloading Hopkins, but to take on one of the worst contracts in the league for a running back in lieu of draft capital was mind-boggling at the time and remains mind-boggling now. Pompei: Giving up Duane Brown, Jadeveon Clowney and De’Andre Hopkins is one thing. Not getting a single first-round pick in return is another. Jones: Not sure how many times we can keep dunking on the De’Andre Hopkins trade, but that … after everything else he had already done, really is the biggest mistake. What does O’Brien do next? Reiss: O’Brien does not like to share details about his teenage son Jack, who was born with lissencephaly, a rare neurological disorder, but he has said in recent years that Jack isn’t doing well. I could see him take this time to be around Jack and the rest of his family. Jones: If he wants to keep coaching, he should have plenty of quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator-type jobs available to him in the next cycle, whether that is in the NFL or in college. Finally, what will Texans fans complain about with O’Brien no longer around? Reiss: His GM tenure gave them enough to complain about for years to come. Sando: The defense. It’s really fallen off in recent seasons and might not improve in the absence of resources to replenish it.
Lol **** that’s right there’s a reason I quit following so closely... he traded both picks for Ryan Mallett right?
It has to be a bit demoralizing for all those coaches to know they're all getting fired come January. Hopefully we give someone new a chance to run the offense.
