The Houston Texans have fired head coach Bill O’Brien after a highly disappointing 0-4 start to the 2020 NFL season. O’Brien also served as the general manager in Houston as well.
O’Brien addressed the media today and said, “we weren’t able to get it to where we needed to get it.” O’Brien also mentioned, “I understand we fell short in terms of taking this team further into the playoffs.”
Houston made the playoffs four times during O’Brien’s tenure, but never made it past the divisional round. The Texans were up 24 points on the Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s playoffs, but were unable to hold on to the lead, allowing the Chiefs to advance to the AFC Championship.
After the playoff loss back in January, O’Brien was given the additional title of general manager.
During this past offseason, O’Brien traded away star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a 4th round pick to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for running back David Johnson, a 2nd round pick in 2020, and a 4th round pick in 2021. The reaction to the trade nearly broke social media, because nobody thought Houston got enough in return for a player of Hopkins’ caliber.
There are a number of reports suggesting that Hopkins was traded because he didn’t get along with O’Brien. Another reason for a trade was because O’Brien didn’t want to give Hopkins a huge contract extension.
A source also told personally me that O’Brien never wanted to draft quarterback Deshaun Watson back in 2017. It was then-GM Rick Smith’s draft pick.
O’Brien coached exactly 100 games for Houston and finished with a record of 52-48.
According to Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network, Texans Executive VP of Football Operations Jack Easterby, did not see eye to eye with O’Brien.
Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel will serve as the interim coach.
It’s early and unclear as to which direction the Texans can go in hiring their next head coach, but names like Eric Bieniemy and Josh McDaniels have already come up. Some see Bieniemy as a perfect fit for Deshaun Watson.
Rapoport also mentioned that Easterby is close with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
Another wild card name to throw out to replace O’Brien is Dabo Swinney. He’s close with Easterby and has a connection with a certain quarterback for the Texans.
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