Next steps mulled with roadblock to rebuild now gone

HOUSTON — So, now what? Now that Deshaun Watson has been traded, now that the Texans received Cleveland’s three firstround picks, a third-rounder and a fourth, now that roughly $24 million has been cleared off the Houston’s immediate roster budget, what’s next for the rebuilding franchise?

The question suits the setting of general manager Nick Caserio’s interview session Saturday — a relaxed and understated post-Watson trade discussion on the uppermost floor of NRG Stadium, tucked away from the buzz and bluster of the rodeo crowd outdoors — because the answer is a blend of an immediate quiet and a nearing noise, a palpable presence of both patience and urgency.

It makes sense to first examine the patience. It makes sense to reach beyond the swirling saga of a 14-month turbulent news cycle, toward the circumstances that controlled nearly everything in the first year of what Caserio has called a “massive undertaking” of a rebuild.

Consider the questionable trades and contracts executed by a former regime, the no-trade clause packaged in Watson’s extension before the 2020 season, the franchise quarterback’s trade demand, the subsequent legal trouble that warded off trade partners for a year.

Consider Caserio’s initial overhaul of the Texans roster — a capclearing 2021 season played mostly

by veterans and rookies on oneyear deals — and the Watson trade appears only to have just paid the fare for a toll bridge that stretches far beyond.

Saturday was as open Caserio has been about the era that preceded him. “Whatever took place prior to my arrival,” he said, “I certainly can’t control,” and he said his job has been “about finding solutions.”

“Nobody’s going to bitch and moan about your situation and your circumstances,” Caserio said. “It’s OK. Let’s deal in the real. Let’s deal in the now. Let’s identify problems. Let’s provide solutions and understand that we’re going to have to find ways to fix it and make it work.”

Caserio said Watson’s no-trade clause was certainly “part of the equation” in trying to reach a deal that met the value of parting with a 26-year-old three-time Pro-Bowler in his prime. Caserio said he couldn’t alter the trade market (which was mostly dictated by Watson’s leverage), and he set a threshold with interested teams “to make it a legitimate discussion” that included three firstround picks.

That Caserio demanded anything further — second-round picks, a package of players — was “a little bit of speculation,” he said. When asked if he was prepared to hold Watson for another year if he thought he’d get more value, Caserio said “we were prepared to make the decision that was right for the organization.”

“No one player, no one thing is going to change this organization,” Caserio said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

But megadeals create urgency. So does firing a head coach. By firing the one-and-done David Culley, who personified the rebuilding franchise’s process, Caserio sped up his own career’s timeline — general managers don’t often hire more than two head coaches — while also signaling the Texans aim to compete at a higher level in 2022.

Although there’s schematic stability with newly promoted Lovie Smith, a three-time NFL head coach, and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, last year’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, there are still widespread needs across a depth chart that has few players under contract beyond the next season.

Caserio’s frugal free agency so far also hasn’t yielded big-name players who’d signal a dramatic boost in talent. He said his signing strategy won’t change much, even though Watson’s former four-year, $156 million contract extension is now off the books.

The $24.2 million in extra cap space will get quickly soaked up by this year’s rookie class, which Caserio estimated setting aside $10 million to $12 million, plus a season allocation of $6 million to $8 million for practice squad players, injured reserve payments and other expenses.

“I’m sure everybody’s expecting us in free agency to go out there and sign the highest-paid player,” Caserio said. “But we’ll deal with that next year.”

For now, the Texans have resigned 15 players so far — including defensive tackle Maliek Collins, linebacker Christian Kirksey and center Justin Britt — who embody the “traits and characteristics and behaviors” the general manager wants Texans players to possess.

Those players make up the core of the team Caserio will have the chance to bolster with his new arsenal of draft picks, which now include the Nos. 3 and 13 overall selections. The NFL draft is just over a month away. Top draft selections also yield urgency, and the players selected by the Watson picks will be measured — fairly or unfairly — against the expectation to someday equal or surpass a former franchise quarterback’s value.

And what of the quarterback position? Caserio said the Texans are “starting from scratch a little bit,” although Davis Mills “has certainly earned an opportunity” after showing relative improvement toward the end of the 2021 season.

Caserio arrived in Houston with Deshaun Watson on the roster. The trade that stalled Caserio’s rebuild has now been completed, and his legacy will now be defined by the team he builds with the assets yielded by trading the star quarterback.

“Ultimately, if you don’t do well enough,” Caserio said, “in the end, there’s going to be somebody else sitting in this chair.”

Eric Christian Smith / Associated Press The Texans saved around $24 million in cap space after trading Deshaun Watson, but most of that has already been earmarked.