David Culley least known head coach, yet most upside?

If I told you that your team was going to hire a man who has worked directly with Bill Cowher, Andy Reid, Sean McDermott, and John Harbaugh you would likely expect that man to know what he is doing, and find success early on being that all these men managed that feat quickly in their careers. When I tell you this same coach helped guide the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance as a senior analyst, and wide receivers coach your faith in this hire would probably go that much more. Finally when I tell you he had a direct hand in designing the offense surrounding Lamar Jackson that led him to an MVP season in which he led the NFL in passing touchdowns, and on top of that set records for rushing yards, and attempts, as the assistant head coach, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach for the Ravens This should foster some faith in your new head coach. He has shown success at nearly every stop in the NFL, he hails from the most successful active coaching tree in the NFL, and he led a QB to an MVP season just 2 years ago. That's a resume that deserves consideration as a head coach. Then for some reason when you finally say that this coach is David Culley the harsh judgements begin to come up. I can't seem to understand why. 

David Culley first linked up with Andy Reid in Philadelphia in 1999, and stayed with him until 2017 which included his first 4 seasons in Kansas City. During this stretch he held the wide receiver coach role, the senior offensive analyst, and assistant head coach. He was allowed to move on, and decided to latch on with a former coworker Sean McDermott another former Eagles coach, who is currently the head coach of the Buffalo Bills where he has found tremendous success thanks to Josh Allen a potential MVP candidate in his own right. After just 2 seasons in Buffalo, Culley again tapped the Eagles' pipeline and was hired by Baltimore to serve as the assistant head coach, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach. His first year, Lamar took home his aforementioned MVP trophy. He has helped lead winning teams and worked with some of the most highly regarded coaches in the game right now yet can't get any respect. 

Currently he is the head coach of the Houston Texans. He takes over a roster that features one of the best young dual threat quarterbacks in the league in Deshawn Watson however, Watson wants out, at no fault of Culley's, yet for some odd reason he seems to catch some of the blame arguably due to the manipulation of the team by Jack Easterby. However when you look at the roster, assuming Watson returns to play this season there is talent there to work with. Just because DeAndra Hopkins, Jj Watt, and Jadeveon Clowney are gone does not mean this team is hopeless. Let's start on the offensive side of the ball:

At quarterback the team has Watson, Tyrod Taylor a guy who once led the Bills to the playoffs as a starter, Jeff Driskel, and rookie Davis Mills. Solid depth should Watson get suspended, if not odds are Driskel is the odd man out. 

At running back they bring back David Johnson, however this time he will compete with Mark Ingram, seatback Phillip Lindsay both with 1,000 yard seasons in the recent past, as well as former Patriot Rex Burkhead, and AAF star Dontrell Hillard. Stacked talent wise but how the carries shake out remains to be seen. 

At wide receiver they bring back Brandin Cooks, (who had a vintage Cooks season with 81 receptions for 1150 yards and 6 tds), Randall Cobb, and Keke Coutee from 2020, while adding Andre Roberts from the Bills, 3rd round pick Niko Mills, free agent acquisitions Donte Moncrief, Chris Conley, Taywaan Taylor, Alex Erickson, and Chris Moore to round out the depth chart. 

Tight end is a position of uncertainty after last year. Starter Jordan Akins is back but caught just 37 passes for 403 yards and 1 td, his backup Pharoh Brown caught 14 passes for 163 yards and 2 tds. Behind these two guys they have Ryan Izzo acquired in a trade with New England, 2019 3rd round pick Kahale Warring who caught just 3 passes last season, Paul Quisenberry, former CFL player Anthony Auclair, and 5th round pick Brevin Taylor. Although there is uncertainty here they aren't without talent. 

On the offensive line they have two solid bookend tackles with Laremy Tunsil at LT, Tytus Howard at RT, they added Marcus Cannon via trade who will slide into right guard, Justin Britt who was signed to play center and 2019 2nd round pick Max Scharping playing left guard. They also brought in former Packer Lane Taylor to add depth at guard and compete for the RG spot. 

All in all the cupboard isn't bare and I believe it even offers players Culley can succeed with. The same could be said about the defense. Despite losing big names like JJ Watt, and Jadeveon Clowney in recent years, free agency and the draft have brought in talent. 

Running a 3-4 defense requires depth at linebacker in droves. The Texans apparently subscribe to this theory because they have gone about adding a ton of players here. Whitney Mercilus, Zack Cunningham, and Jonathon Greenard are the hold overs here. Via trade the Texans added Shaq Lawson, and Jacob Martin at OLB. Lawson came over this offseason while Martin is one of the guys acquired for Clowney. They also have brought in Jordan Jenkins, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Joe Thomas, Christian Kirksey, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Hardy Nickerson Jr., Neville Hewitt, Nate Hall, and Tae Davis. They also drafted Garrett Wallow in round 5. Among these guys the Texans have a collection of guys who have started games at various other stops allowing them some room for competition and rotation at OLB to produce a better pass rush than 2020. In 2020 the team only produced 34 sacks with only 1 player logging more than 4 sacks on the year and he now resides in Arizona. Shaq Lawson might be penciled in as the starter currently but I expect Jenkins to play a huge role, he racked up 15 sacks between 2018-2019 seasons, but is coming off a down year with just 2 sacks in 2020. Lawson however had 4 sacks in 2020, a bit of a regression from his 2019 total of 6.5, add in the 4 sacks Mercilus racked up last season, the 3 contributed by Jacob Martin and the 1 sack Greenard suddenly you might have a productive rotation. 

To fill his shoes they brought in multiple guys. The first off the bench is expected to be DeMarcus Walker signed away from Denver followed by Maliek Collins signed away from Las Vegas, with Derek Rivers from the Rams, Vincent Taylor from the Browns, adding depth behind them. Charles Omenihu is expected to retain his starting job opposite of Walker. These two men combined for 8.5 sacks in 2020, and the Texans are hoping they can top that in 2021. 

The most improved position might be cornerback. They lost Jonathon Joesph, but replaced him with Desmond King II from Tennessee, as well as Terrence Mitchell, and Tavierre Thomas from Cleveland as well as Tremon Smith and Shyheim Carter from Indianapolis. Returning are Bradley Roby, Vernon Heargraves, John Reid, Aj Moore, and Cornell Armstrong. Desmond King II will likely slide right into the nickelback position allowing Mitchell to compete for a starting role. 

At safety the Texans have former 3rd round pick in 2018 Justin Reid, and at free safety they have former 2nd round pick in 2019 Lonnie Johnson Jr. last season they combined for 159 tackles, and 2 sacks in 2020 but no interceptions. Reid is more of a strong safety, while Johnson a converted cornerback has been playing the typical free safety role. While new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith has noted his positional versatility he is expected to continue to start at free safety and maybe cover slot receivers at times when needed but after rounding that depth at cornerback I think we will see him settle in at safety. If Lovie Smith, more on him later, is known for one thing as a coordinator it's for developing safeties. However they aren't hedging all their bets on him succeeding they also signed Terrence Brooks away from New England, and they also have Eric Murray who has played cornerback, and free safety, and racked up 71 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumbles in 2020. They also have special teamer Jonathon Owen's. This allows them more competition, and depth in case of injuries, they go 4 deep at safety, and cornerbacks. 

Lovie Smith is an absolute asset for first time head coach David Culley. Smith was a head coach in the NFL with the Bears and Buccaneers for a total of 11 years. He then went to the college level and coached the Illinois Fighting Illini for 5 seasons. When being hired for the Texans he was handed the associate head coach title and is essentially the defensive head coach for the Texans allowing David Culley to focus on what he knows, offense. 

On offense Culley made another smart move in my mind keeping Tim Kelly who served as the offensive coordinator in 2019, and 2020. He also served as the QB coach in 2020 which is crucial if Culley ever expects to win Watson over, which let's be honest that's priority number 1. Watson is young, mobile, accurate, and makes great decisions....on the football field. Regardless of his off field actions the Texans will want to save face with him to avoid plunging themselves back into QB purgatory. 

As if retaining Kelly wasn't smart enough, the next hire, Pep Hamilton cemented my thoughts on this offensive staff. Hamilton came on to serve as quarterbacks coach, and passing game coordinator. Hamilton is known for working with former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck for two years in college, then joining him in the NFL for 3 seasons. He moved on in 2016 to serve as assistant head coach, and quarterbacks coach for the Browns. That season didn't go well for the Browns. However Hamilton landed on his feet as the assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for Michigan under Jim Harbaugh he stayed in Michigan for 2017, and 2018. In 2019 Pep Hamilton saw an opportunity to join the XFL, as a head coach and general manager of the DC Defenders he put up a 3-2 record before joining the Chargers for the 2020 season as the quarterbacks coach overseeing the monumental performance of Justin Herbert as a rookie. This is nothing short of a win for the Texans. 

But that's not all, despite the turnover in the coaching staff Romeo Crennel returns as a senior advisor for football performance. Making him the first man that I know of to receive a promotion following stints as interim head coach with two franchises. Crennel is like that calming factor that the Texans desperately need, someone that knows football but is trusted by the higher ups to relay what the coaches need to succeed. Crennel is also the exact confidant you want in your corner for your first head coaching job. He has shown himself to want to develop other coaches. He stepped down as defensive coordinator to allow Mike Vrabel the chance to run the defense. Vrabel was handed that position after just 6 years as a coach, in part because Crennel tutored him over their 3 years together from 2014 to 2016 before Vrabel took over, during the season following he still had Crennel to lean on heavily if needed. In 2018 when Vrabel was hired as a head coach, less than a decade after retiring as a player, Crennel again resumed his duties as coordinator. In 2020 he again stepped aside this time so Anthony Weaver could take the next step up. Weaver too only lasted one season before moving on to Baltimore where he began his career as a player. Now the Texans are hoping Crennel can mentor a head coach who has never held an offensive coordinator position and now makes the leap to head coach. Then again this rookie head coach has the resume and support system to be successful.