NFL Rumors: Houston Texans eye Brian Flores and Josh McDaniels after firing David Culley
The Houston Texans need a new head coach after firing David Culley after one season. Although Culley compiled a 4-13 regular-season record, he inherited a Texans team nfl/jj-watt-response-brother-tj-watt-setting-nfl-sack-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">depleted from questionable trades under Bill O’Brien and most all missing its star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, due to legal issues.
The Texans’ four wins under Culley were Week 1 against Jacksonville, Week 11 against Tennessee, Week 15 against Jacksonville, and Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Texans will have the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and now need a new head coach to rebuild the team.
When the Texans hired David Culley, they only guaranteed him two years of money; they knew there always was the real chance he would be one and done. As one league source texted about his one-year tenure, “I knew it when he was hired.”
Houston Texans and Brian Flores
Texans beat reporter Aaron Wilson reported that the team is interested in Brian Flores, who was also recently fired by the Miami Dolphins.
Reportedly, Flores has ties to both Texans executive Jack Easterby and general manager Nick Caserio from their days on the staff with the New England Patriots.
Flores himself is coming off of a 24-25 record in his three seasons with the Dolphins. Despite narrowly missing the playoffs this season, many around the NFL felt that Flores should have kept his job after guiding the Dolphins to a seven-game winning streak to put them in playoff position after a seven-game losing streak earlier in the season.
Texans are targeting former Dolphins coach Brian Flores as their top candidate at this time, according to multiple league sources. He has a strong relationship with Nick Caserio.
Houston Texans and Josh McDaniels
Additionally, the Texans are also interested in New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was a former college teammate of GM Nick Caserio, and the latter would certainly hope to pry away another top coordinator from Belichick down to Houston.
Reportedly, McDaniels is only focused on the Patriots’ playoff preparations rather than conducting interviews for head coaching vacancies around the league.
McDaniels previously was the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2009-2010, and infamously took the Indianapolis Colts head coaching job in 2018 only to withdraw days later to remain with the Patriots.
Whoever the Houston Texans' next head coach is, it looks like the top brass have their sights on anyone with New England Patriots ties. The new coach will have their job cut out for them in coaching up a roster without any talent or potential. The first order of business for the franchise will be trading its former franchise quarterback in Watson and hope to gain multiple draft picks to stock their roster.
Of course, the Houston Texans ultimately hope to establish a new regime from the coaching tree of Bill Belichick. But they would certainly prefer this new era to proceed differently than how former Belichick protege, Bill O’Brien, left the Texans franchise in disarray.