The Off-Season Has Already Become More Interesting Than the Regular Season

After the press conference on Monday, Texans fans were more confused than they were before Cal McNair and Nick Caserio spoke at the podium. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Caserio look rattled and unprepared. Some of his quotes during the press conference have been interpreted by fans and pundits to mean that he would step down as general manager. This was certainly not the case, but Caserio did a poor job of explaining what he was attempting to relay. 

“If there’s candidates, if they feel that whether or not in my position that I’m worthwhile to be in my position, if ultimately the best thing for the organization is for me not to be in that position, then I have to respect that and acknowledge that. I’m certainly not above and beyond anything else.”

Caserio alluded to him possibly stepping down five separate times during the press conference and rumors of his possible departure spread through social media like wildfire. This was never going to happen and it was obvious when they did not fire Caserio along with Lovie Smith. The Texans have been shredded in the national media for firing yet another black coach just after a year of employment. Uninformed shock jocks like Stephen A. Smith advised all African American coaches not to interview with the Houston Texans. If the Texans wanted to avoid being called racist they would have fired the white general manager along with the black head coach. Clearly, they were not planning to get rid of Nick Caserio nor should they have. 

Caserio went on SportsRadio 610 and tried to clarify his statements. He seemed more jovial and relaxed than he did during the press conference, but reverted back to his standard word salad responses giving everyone a migraine as they attempted to understand what he was trying to say. It was not until Cal and Hannah McNair went on SportsRadio 610 that Texans fans started to put an end to some of the rumors that were being spread on social media and sports shows. 

The McNairs first talked to Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast and said they were in preliminary talks with Houston legend JJ Watt about inducting him to the Ring of Honor. Since the McNairs talked to him about the Ring of Honor it is safe to assume they also discussed signing a one-day contract so JJ Watt could retire as a Houston Texan. The real interview occurred during “In the Loop” with Landry Locker and John Lopez. During the interview Cal confirmed that there was not a single candidate that refused an interview with the Houston Texans. The rumors that DeMeco Ryans refused to speak to the Texans were put to rest. Hannah also defended the organization, herself and her husband by declaring that the Texans were not racist. Cal chimed in and said that the Texans have the statistics to show that they have been the most diverse organization in the NFL dating back to when his father was in charge. 

While I do not believe the Texans are a racist organization by any stretch of the imagination I wanted to review the data. Prior to the firing of Lovie Smith the Houston Texans were ranked as the 2nd most diverse organization in the NFL, second to only to the Pittsburgh Steelers. 63.16% of coaches on the Steelers staff are people of color. They have 2 of 4 coaches of color at the coordinator level or above. 60% of the staff at the Houston Texans are people of color. They have 2 of 4 coaches of color at the coordinator level or above. No other team in the NFL reaches that 60% mark. 

To put this in perspective, the Bengals are the least diverse organization in the NFL. Only 23.81% of their coaches are people of color and they have 0 of 4 coaches of color at the coordinator level or above. The Houston Texans do not have an issue of racial discrimination; they have an issue of instability and turnover. While the optics may look bad because the Texans fired black head coaches David Culley and Lovie Smith in consecutive years, this is not unprecedented. While the San Francisco 49ers were in the middle of a rebuild they fired Jim Tomsula after just a year. They hired Chip Kelly to replace him but fired Kelly after just a year as well. After firing two stop-gap coaches the 49ers finally hired their long term coach in Kyle Shanahan. 

The Houston Texans have been called racist by many lazy national media sports commentators. Meanwhile the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks have never hired a black head coach in their entire history. 

Sometimes the national media decides to form a conclusion without having all the facts and understanding the nuances of a situation and this is one of those times. The good news for Texans fans is that there have been many positive updates since Lovie Smith was fired.

The Texans have requested to interview 8 candidates for the head coach position:

• former Saints head coach Sean Payton
• Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
• Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon
• Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen
• Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka
• former Texans and 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans
• Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero
• Rams assistant head coach Thomas Brown

Unlike the past two years there are no unqualified candidates on this list. While many of us may have our preference (mine is Mike Kafka) anyone on this list would be a great head coach. In other good news, rookie wide receiver John Metchie III is making great progress as he recovers from Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL).

“I’d say there’s a chance that he’ll be ready for the start of the offseason program. I think there are still some things that he has to complete or go through. Quite frankly, it’s amazing what he’s done to this point. He actually looks better now than he did when we drafted him in the spring. He’s improved his strength, he’s improved his lower body strength. His attitude has been great, even though he’s been dealing with a lot of things medically.”

Most teams in the NFL will not be able to start their conditioning program until April 17th. However, since the Texans will have a new head coach we will be able to start the conditioning program on April 3rd and get a head start. Rookies Dameon Pierce and Derek Stingley Jr. were put on injured reserve so they could get a head start on their recovery and should be ready to go in April. 

The Texans will have a new head coach in 2-3 weeks and we will have an exciting draft with 12 draft picks including 5 picks in the top 100. Our new head coach will have two 1st round picks, one 2nd round pick, and two 3rd round picks to add talent to our roster. This week local media members were given a sneak preview of the preliminary designs of the new uniforms the Texans will have for the 2024 season, which is just another cool thing that fans can look forward to. 

It has been a frustrating season, b