The Houston Texans are in serious talks with David Culley becoming their next head coach as reports have him staying in Houston overnight to have more talks about the vacant position. Reports are saying Culley has been offered the job to become the new head coach of the franchise.
The Texans were the last team in the NFL without a head coach and have had multiple interviews with many candidates, including Eric Bieniemy, Leslie Frazier, Jim Caldwell and others, but from reports on Wednesday night, the coach they are choosing is David Culley.
Culley was most recently the passing game coordinator, assistant head coach and the wide receivers coach for the Baltimore Ravens, having 27 years of experience in the NFL. Culley has never been an offensive or defensive coordinator during his years in the NFL, as he mostly coached quarterbacks and wide receivers during his 25-plus seasons.
In a tweet on Wednesday night, Tom Pelissero said the following about Culley and the Houston Texans coaching spot, which became vacated when they fired Bill O’Brien after the 0-4 start to the 2020 season:
The #Texans are working towards a deal with David Culley to make him their head coach, sources tell me, @RapSheet and @MikeGarafolo.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 28, 2021
He later tweeted the following about Culley joining the Houston Texans:
Amidst scrutiny of the NFL's hiring practices, the #Texans had the final head-coaching vacancy and are now poised to hire the first Black head coach, and second minority, in this cycle as they work towards finalizing a deal with David Culley.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 28, 2021
Ian Rapoport had the following tweet on Wednesday night pertaining to the Houston Texans and Culley:
To be clear: The #Texans have offered the job to #Ravens assistant head coach David Culley and he’ll accept it. Houston has a new head coach.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 28, 2021
Houston Texans News: Franchise passes on top coordinators for Culley
This is a big decision by the Texans because not only are they passing on a few good coordinators to hire the veteran coach Culley as their fourth head coach in franchise history, but this means Deshaun Watson now has a big decision to make on his future as well.
Culley has coached a player with a similar style of play as Watson, that being Lamar Jackson of the Ravens, but they are different players, and who exactly knows what Watson is thinking right now?
Granted, Bieniemy deserved better from the Texans in this entire process, but even without the offensive coordinator experience, Culley could be the right guy for the job. Only time will tell for that.
Culley has a lot of work ahead of him in repairing the Texans and Watson’s relationship if there is one left, and the Texans themselves will need their new 65-year-old head coach to rebuild a team that finished 4-12 last season and was the third-worst team in the NFL standings last season.
There is also the fact that currently the Houston Texans don’t have a first- or second-round pick this year. Culley and the entire Texans franchise not only have work on the field to do, but the fan base will have to accept this hire as well.