Watson looms large over hiring process
Taking time to get right people in place is vital so teamcan build to a level its star deserves
You do not cater to personal favorites when you go 4-12 for the second time in four years.
If you truly want to win a Super Bowl for the first time in this city’s history, old allegiances and warm friendships are pointless the moment a new general manager and head coach stride through NRG Stadium’s front door.
And if a Kirby Drive stench dating back two seasons still lingers while the Texans are screaming for a culture and roster reset?
Well, I’ll just take the high road and say that sometimes the easiest answer while cleaning house is to take out the garbage.
Who’s going to lead this reconstruction forward?
Who will become the Texans’ new version of Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith?
We could be waiting a while for both of those huge questions to be answered.
But Deshaun Watson joined J. J. Watt on Monday in calling out the Texans.
The team. The culture. The whole dang organization. Light the fireworks, D4. “We just need a whole culture shift. We just need new energy,” said Watson, the week after Watt reamed the Texans. “We need discipline. We need structure. We need a leader so we can follow that leader as players. That’s what we need. We’ve got to have the love of not just the game of football, because that’s what we do, but the love for people and the people in this organization.”
Apparently, Watson has been reading the Chronicle all season.
I’ll be honest: Nothing that follows in this column is going to supersede those brutally honest public comments from the face of the franchise, who just completed the best season by a quarterback in Texans history and has clearly had it with the weird Kirby Drive status quo.
Some good news: Serious change should be coming.
On the NFL’s Black Monday, the Texans continued to gradually work their way through an increasingly lengthy list of names, recommendations and résumés.
The off-the-field competition also kept increasing.
The Los Angeles Chargers fired Anthony Lynn as the league’s silly season ignited. Someone else will soon be asked to take strong-armed Justin Herbert to pro football’s next level.
Jacksonville, which handed the Texans two of their four wins in 2020, finally did what should have been done last season and axed Doug Marrone. Someone else (Urban Meyer?) will soon be handed the keys to an AFC South organization with big money to burn and the promise of the No. 1 overall pick (Trevor Lawrence? Justin Fields?) in the 2021 draft.
John Elway also gave up some power in Denver, adding another GM search to a fast-growing pile.
The Jaguars job is already more attractive than the Texans’ two open gigs. Throw in Atlanta, Detroit and the New York Jets, and the Texans’ immediate road forward only became murkier.
They have to get this right.
They must get this right. They have no other option but to get this right.
But will they?
And who’s going to make the final call on Jack Easterby, who is technically still the team’s interim GM and officially listed as executive vice president of football operations?
Key Texans wanted Easterby gone during the 2019 season. More key Texans wanted him removed from NRG Stadium during this horrible season.
Free advice for billionaire CEO Cal McNair: If your players, coaches and staff members don’t trust your interim GM during a 4-12 seasons, you might want to invest in an air freshener for the lingering stench.
“We’ve all got to be on the same page,” Watson said when asked about the qualities he’d like to see in a new head coach. “There’s too many different minds, too many different ideas and too many people who think they have this power, and it’s not like that. We need someone that stands tall and this is who we’re following and this is the way it goes.”
With Eric Bieniemy and Robert Saleh already attached to open jobs, the Texans initially looked a little slow on the trigger — especially when you remember they fired O’Brien as head coach, GM and offensive play-caller more than 90 days ago.
Seven years ago, O’Brien was one day into his full-time job as Gary Kubiak’s replacement, Smith was still locked in as the Texans’ GM, Matt Schaub was still on the roster, and Ryan Fitzpatrick was more than two months away from signing with the Texans as a free agent.
Time flies in the most cutthroat league in pro sports. But the Texans can’t rush this, and McNair must be as thorough and deliberate as possible.
The Texans should have known in December 2013 that accumulating power was going to become a big thing for O’Brien. Now they’re actively pursuing the opposite route: hiring an experienced GM first, then letting that new name have a big say in the next HC.
Nick Caserio (remember him?) is still an intriguing name. But if the front-office Patriot finally becomes a Texan, does that mean Easterby would find a way to stay and key Texans players would continue to be frustrated at the team’s dysfunctional and uneven culture?
The coaching staff will likely be about 99 percent remade. But Watson vouched for Tim Kelly as offensive coordinator on Monday and again stood up for Will Fuller, who was suspended six games midseason for PED use.
McNair must get the GM decision right, then allow that GM to shape everything — not the franchise QB who spent years publicly vouching for O’Brien and has yet to win a divisional round playoff game. Watson is not the Texans’ GM — yet.
Local pressure will mount with each passing day. Long-frustrated Texans fans have spent 19 seasons consistently being underwhelmed (or depressed).
But McNair must be careful and precise right now. He’ll have Jed Hughes (Korn Ferry) in one ear, team president Jamey Rootes smiling in the background, AFC South rivals Tennessee and Indianapolis as positive recent examples, and a ton of outside voices just hoping to be heard for a few all-important minutes.
Agendas will be pushed. Selfserving proposals will be offered.
McNair must remember when Watt called out his teammates, team and organization the week before a pathetic season ended.
The Texans can’t forget what Watson said the day after 4-12 became reality again: The Texans need new energy, discipline, structure and a real leader.
The most important offseason in Texans history started quietly Monday morning.
That could be a good thing if McNair listens to the right people and ultimately surrounds Watson with the new team and culture that the NFL’s leading passer deserves.