The Houston Texans are a mess, and while Deshaun Watson is trying to get out of town, some of his teammate weigh in on the matter.
Houston has a problem.
But, much like the astronauts onboard Apollo 13 and the engineers 238,855 miles away back on Earth, the Texans have a solution to solving their Deshaun Watson crisis that could prove much easier than safely sling-shotting a damaged lunar-lander around the moon returning everyone for a safe landing back on Earth.
“I’ll say this, for Deshaun and for the Texans,” a Texans player told FanSided this week. “And really for the benefit of the whole league … Hire Eric Bieniemy!”
The Texans player, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely about the combustible situation, wasn’t alone as two other current or former Texans players echoed his calls to hire the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator.
Each player mentioned their confidence Bieniemy could salvage the organization’s toxic culture. More importantly, they believe Bieniemy can extend an olive branch to the organization’s 25-year-old brilliantly gifted quarterback, who is apoplectic over how owner Cal McNair has handled this offseason and is reportedly open to waiving his no-trade clause.
Bieniemy interviewed with the Texans on Monday, perhaps a step towards lowering the temperature in one of the most heated organizational conflicts the league has seen in years.
Watson, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortenson, might force a trade over McNair originally seeking and then ignoring his input over the hiring of new general manager Nick Caserio — viewed by many as a rising talent evaluator and personnel executive — and executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby’s power within the organization.
McNair and Easterby have driven an Astrodome-sized wedge between the front office and Watson dating back to last spring’s ill-advised trade of All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins by former head coach Bill O’Brien. O’Brien’s personnel input slowly but surely decimated a roster with plenty of talent to compete in the AFC South prior to his firing following Week 4 of a disastrous 4-12 campaign.
This offseason, though, has been rock bottom.
I was on 2 then I took it to 10
— Deshaun Watson (@deshaunwatson) January 15, 2021
How did the Texans get here? What can McNair and the front office do to mend fences with Watson and restore some semblance of competence? FanSided spoke to league sources to get their insight on the situation, and a pair of former NFL Executives of The Year to find out the blueprint McNair must follow to salvage things with Watson rather than being forced into trading one of the league’s five most gifted quarterbacks.
“From everything that I’ve heard, Deshaun’s issues aren’t necessarily with Nick Caserio or his hiring,” a league source tells FanSided. “It was that McNair told him that he could have input on who the general manager would wind up being, which isn’t a common practice and probably something he never should have said.”
To the source’s point, a quarterback of Watson’s stature in the league and importance to the franchise will typically be kept in the loop during a coaching search. This is especially true as the team tries to marry personality with a scheme to get the best out of its most important — and typically highest-paid — player.
Setting the expectation that Watson would have any authority over a general manager search was likely a promise McNair couldn’t deliver on and shouldn’t have made.
“I do think they can get past this,” former NFL Executive Of The Year Jeff Diamond tells FanSided. “If I were the GM, the first thing I’d do is ask his opinion on head coaching candidates and would do everything I could to hire an offensive guy, most likely Eric Bieniemy. Then, I’d step back and allow the coach to lead the effort to mend fences with him.”
Before even hiring a head coach,former New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins General manager and the 2000 NFL Executive of The Year Randy Mueller says if he were running the Texans, he’d already have brokered a sit down with Watson.
“I would make it abundantly clear that we are not trading him,” Mueller tells FanSided. “It makes no sense for us (the Texans) to trade him.”
But, beyond reaffirming a commitment to Watson, Mueller believes that the organization needs to put together an action plan to solve the biggest problem currently facing the franchise and poisoning the relationship with its quarterback.
“You have to handle whatever’s going on with Easterby,” Mueller explained. “He doesn’t fit if the trust with players is this bad. Someone this toxic throughout the building can’t promote culture. You have to end that, perception has taken over, whether it’s true or not.
“Finally, I’d do everything in my power to make sure I’m hiring the right coach. This team needs a veteran guy who can help fix and heal. After all that, at the right time, I’d re-engage with Deshaun.”
While Bieniemy is popular in the Texans’ locker room and respected by many current and former executives, there are whispers about his past.
However, Bienemy’s track record in the NFL, his input over Mahomes’ development under the tutelage of Andy Reid, and his relatability to today’s players just might be exactly what the Texans need.
One thing is abundantly clear, McNair might have just one chance to make the right hire or else risk alienating his quarterback and his players for however long he owns the team.
How the Jets landed their program builder
New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas has a clear vision for the team he wants to build.
There was one name listed high above the rest on Douglas’ list of potential head coaching candidates to set the tone throughout the organization as he enters his second full offseason at the helm.
San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
Saleh, 41, first interviewed the Jets brass virtually on January 12, and Douglas knew he checked all the boxes.
“Robert’s presence, leadership and his clear vision for what he wanted our offense and defense to become were two of his strongest aspects from that first conversation,” a Jets team source tells FanSided.
Saleh in Florham park with an Empire State Building sized chip on his shoulder and a personality built to dominate the Big Apple.
However, what turned Saleh into a rising star as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator was his ability to craft a defense around the best traits of his players, and more importantly he, has proven his personality lends itself to him holding his players — and more importantly, himself — accountable.
Put in its most simple terms; Saleh is a culture-driver.
"“Robert is a great coach and an even better person,” San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch said in a statement. “He’s a gifted leader who has earned the opportunity to direct a team in this league. His contributions to the 49ers over the last four years have helped us establish a culture and a standard that will continue to serve us well.”"
Following the failures of former head coach Adam Gase to develop any sort of winning culture, or to build a scheme capable of producing more than nine wins in his two failed seasons as head coach, Saleh might be exactly what the Jets need to finally turn the tide of one of the NFL’s most downtrodden franchises.
The Jets would interview nine candidates, but only Saleh and eventual Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith received a second interview.
Douglas knew after speaking to Smith that he had seen and heard enough.
“We interviewed nine or 10 candidates but if neither Robert or Arthur did well in their second interview, I think we would have kept going,” the source familiar with the Jets’ process aid. “Robert earned this, he won Joe over, and that’s even more impressive because they don’t have a past [connection.”
What matters most now, isn’t what the Jets’ recent past has been, but if Saleh can work in concert with Douglas to produce a much brighter future.
Justin Fields enters the NFL Draft
Former Ohio State quarterback, fresh off leading the Buckeyes to a National Championship Game appearance made it official this week, officially declaring for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Fields certainly made an impressive closing argument in the College Football Playoff, completing 78.6 percent of his passes for 385 yards with six touchdowns to one interception as he outplayed Clemson wunderkind Trevor Lawrence in the semifinal.
But, did Fields do enough to leapfrog Lawrence as the top passer in this year’s class?
“Right now,” an AFC South scouting director tells FanSided. “I have it as Lawrence, Fields, and then Wilson.
In his final season in Columbus, Fields completed a personal-best 70.2 percent of his passes for 2,100 yards with 22 touchdowns to six interceptions in eight regular season games.
“Fields is a top athlete with outstanding size, instincts, competitiveness, and arm-strength,” the executive tells FanSided. “But, he’s not a defined passer, he has mechanical issues with his lower-half, and is not an anticipatory passer.”
The Buckeyes’ consistently excellent supporting cast around Fields, buttressed by three recruiting classes that featured seven five-star offensive recruits helped raise the 6-foot-3 and 228 pound Fields’ draft stock but also raised concerns that he’ll be able to replicate his level of success in the Big Ten at the next level.
“He’s a bottom-15 starting quarterback in the NFL,” the executive said. “He’ll flash top ability, but the key for him will be his consistency as a passer if he is ever to be a top-15 quarterback in this league. He has always had top talent around him. How will he react when he doesn’t?”
That will be the conundrum facing the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jets, and maybe the Miami Dolphins and Falcons between now and when Urban Meyer and Co. go on the clock in just over four months.
Free agent to watch
Kamu Grugier-Hill – LB, Miami Dolphins
Grugier-Hill seems to have found a home in Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ scheme, and emerged as one of the game’s premier cover cornerbacks this season while making big strides as a pass-rusher.
Playing 207 total snaps, Grugier Hill logged one sack and was given a 73.1 pass-rush grade from Pro Football Focus. Grugier-Hill thrived in the Dolphins’ scheme and in his new role, producing 26 total tackles while continuing to be a special teams standout.
If the Dolphins are going to retain Grugier-Hill, they could face a strong market when free agency begins next month, according to league sources, and the feeling inside the NFL is that the 26-year-old could command upwards of $5 million annually.
Quotable
"“Consummate leader. Has been all year. Got the air of confidence that permeates through our team every day. I allow him to be himself. Like, New England didn’t allow him to coach. I just sit back sometimes and watch.”"
– Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, on Tom Brady, via Peter King’s Football Morning in America column.
Don’t look now, but Arians, Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have all of the pieces to pull of an upset on the frozen — and likely snow-covered — tundra of Lambeau Field Sunday against Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers and return home as the first team to ever host a Super Bowl.
Brady seems to have turned back the clock as he’s turned up the heat over the second half of the season, passing for 1,333 yards with 12 touchdowns to just one interception in December as the Buccaneers entered the NFL Playoffs riding a season-high four-game winning streak.
For as dominant as Brady has played of late, though, it was Todd Bowles’ menacing defense that held the New Orleans Saints to 20 points, and intercepted Drew Brees three times that delivered Brady to his 14th Conference Championship Game.
The Buccaneers have surrounded Brady with arguably his most gifted collection of weapons; wide receivers Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and Antonio Brown along with tight end Rob Gronkowski and running backs Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette.
But, Brady’s firework brigade have become a supporting actor to a defense with linebackers Devin White and Shaq Barrett, and a secondary with playmakers like cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, and safeties Jordan Whitehead and Antoine Winfield Jr. that finished ranked second in DVOA and is peaking.
Arians is the savvy Jedi-master who hasn’t just turned a collection of high-talented mercenaries into a team capable of dominating both sides of the ball but also a team in its truest definition that is playing its best football at the most important time.
Bowles has the horses on defense to relentlessly bring the house against Rodgers with Jason Pierre-Paul White, Barrett, David, and Ndamukong Suh up front and a secondary capable of capitalizing on any mistakes the MVP quarterback might be forced into.
The Packers only lost three times this season, including a 38-10 blowout in Tampa Bay back in Week 5, but Rodgers threw at least one interception in two of those losses. If the Buccaneers can create turnovers on defense, Brady is playing at a high enough level to give Tampa a fighter’s chance to pull this off.
Brady’s already won nine conference championship games, and I certainly won’t be betting against him leaving Wisconsin without his tenth.
Final thought
Drew Brees’ legacy is cemented, even if his [possible] sendoff wasn’t befitting of an all-time great.
If FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer’s pre-game report Sunday holds true that Brees would retire whenever the Saints’ season ends, he won’t be remembered for his three interceptions against a swarming and opportunistic Buccaneers’ defense nor for forcing head coach Sean Payton to scheme around his diminished arm-strength in the vertical passing game.
No, Brees will be remembered as the athlete and figure who lifted New Orleans and gave a city hope in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina en route to lifting the franchise’s first Vince Lombardi Trophy four years after 10,000 residents took shelter in the Superdome as it was being battered by wind, rain, and debris and their homes destroyed.
Brees potentially departs the field for the NBC broadcast booth a Super Bowl champion, the game’s all-time leading passer with 80,358 yards and it will be years until anyone comes close to surpassing him for second all time in passing touchdowns with 571 because Aaron Rodgers trails him by 159 touchdowns.
A Super Bowl MVP, two-time NFL Offensive Player of The Year, 13-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, Brees will walk into Canton wearing a gold jacket in 2025.
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.