Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Shakeup on Kirby Drive continues

By James Sakaris
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 20, 2020) The shakeup on Kirby continues, as over the weekend the Houston Texans front office and coaching staff continued to see changes. Stemming from a flat organizational structure, in which Bill O’Brien is overseeing not only the head coaching duties, but also de facto general manager, the franchise dismissed long time contract/cap negotiator Chris Olsen, Senior VP of Football Administration. While this bodes as a move garnering O’Brien with more power over players and their respective contracts, others speculate it was  simply “making room” for a potential partnering with Nick Caserio, whom the Texans pursued for the GM position post Brian Gaine.

The coaching staff was not without their share of personnel exits/restructuring, as it was announced on the evening of January 19 that long time defensive coordinator and assistant coach Romeo Crennel would not be returning as the defensive coordinator. Filling his void will be defensive line coach, Anthony Weaver, who has been with the Texans as both a player (2006 – 2008) and a positional coach since 2013. While promoting from within is always preferred, one wonders why outside sources weren’t at least interviewed for the vacancy. Wade Phillips, a fan favorite in Houston, is available and when he held the post under Gary Kubiak, he coordinated some of the best defensive seasons the Texans ever had.

Whatever the reasons for the two dismissals Sunday night, one thing is clear, the Texans are not happy with their current structure. Will the changes in front office and coordinating be enough to propel the Texans further into the post season in 2020, or will the fans endure another heartbreaking meltdown in the playoffs like we have in recent seasons? This is the question that will loom until January 2021, when the Texans will hopefully have another chance to solidify their legacy in the NFL Playoffs.

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