O’BRIEN’S BEST WEEK OF 2020
Getting deals done with two key playmakers and productive draft have Texans optimistic
This weekend’s NFL draft brought another dose of anxiety to the downtrodden, Deep Steel and oh-so Blue faithful.
Super Bowls are not won or lost in the spring, but this is when Super Bowl teams are built.
Thus, the annual feeling of dread that falls on the Texans’ fandom this time of year is understandable.
The Texans, whose theme song surprisingly does not start with the words gloom, despair and agony, are 0-for-forever in building a champion.
What little hope there was that this year could change that, took a hit with head honcho Bill O’Brien’s recent request for the team’s followers to be patient.
His shaky trade of DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona was not inspiring. His even shakier justification for it, was infuriating to many.
But give O’Brien credit. In running his first draft as the official general manager, he didn’t live down to the expectation of failure.
In fact, the Texans had their best week of 2020, and not simply because that is a low bar.
Not only did they not lose any games — hard to do when no games were played, but I wouldn’t put anything past this franchise — they won the NFL draft. Yes, won it.
Before doing anything in the draft, the Texans agreed to contracts with two difference makers.
They signed offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil to a contract extension that should solidify one of the most important positions on the team for the next few years.
Tunsil will be paid like the best player at his position, but his performance can be short of that, and the deal will still be a good one for the Texans.
As great a job as he did in negotiating his own deal, the contract details are not nearly as ridiculous as some of the ones initially reported.
(And good for him if he manages to be overpaid. He was underpaid last year.)
Sure, the Texans didn’t work out the best possible scenario in how they acquired Tunsil before the start of last season, and they traded a lot of assets to get him, but he will have to be a bust going forward for the deal to fail.
Money aside, the Texans cheated the system in adding for Tunsil. Players of his caliber rarely hit the trading block that early in their career.
While they should have followed my advice and done it a couple years ago, the signing of safety Michael Thomas is another outstanding move by the Texans.
The Houston native, who was an option quarterback at Nimitz High School before going to Stanford, is a special teams star, a consummate team leader, who will make the team better in every way.
With those two moves, the Texans set up for the virtual NFL draft already feeling good. Now, they should feel even better.
There isn’t a scoreboard at the NFL draft. At least not one that determines victory or defeat.
That determination is best made four or five years from now.
The key to a positive immediate evaluation of a draft is the lack of a headscratcher in the group. Give the Texans some applause for that.
What they did makes sense. On paper, the Texans did quite well.
“We targeted certain guys in the draft, and obviously we didn’t get all of them — you never do — but we were able to get five that we really liked,” O’Brien said. “We feel really good about that.”
Every team will brag about how successful the three-day event was, and how they got the players they truly wanted and how surprised they were that certain guys were still on the board when it was their turn to pick.
O’Brien can say that without his nose growing too rapidly about the Texans’ first pick, Ross Blacklock, who was expected by most experts to be drafted higher.
As the second round unfolded Friday night, the Texans realized they could come away with a steal; a player at No. 40, who they thought would be a firstround pick.
Blacklock, who starred at Fort Bend Elkins, is athletic and versatile and could find himself in the playing mix early on a Texans’ line that is a weak spot on the roster.
On and on, the Texans made solid picks of players with upside, players who could one day contribute.
With only five picks after it was all done, the Texans can’t afford many misses.
Odds are, only a couple of this year’s picks will make significant contributions this season. Or ever, for that matter.
As overrated as the draft is — only three of the first 23 players taken under O’Brien are still with the team — it is the best way to grab a star player.
Of the Texans’ 14 All-Pro seasons, only one (Vonta Leach in 2010) was by a player who didn’t begin his career with the franchise. They’re paying Tunsil to change that.
That their draft looks sensible means the Texans had an excellent week.
The excessive misery when to comes to the NFL around here was put on hold for a bit.