There is a race of three for who the Houston Texans will be selecting from for their new HC.
Nothing ever seems to come easy for the Houston Texans, and this year’s head coach search is exactly that … not an easy decision for general manager Nick Caserio and the cast of characters who make decisions for the franchise.
From reports, there are three finalists for the Texans coaching job, and they are former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, current Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, and former NFL quarterback Josh McCown.
All three finalists bring something to the table the other doesn’t to the Houston Texans, as Flores is the only one of the three who has head coaching experience, Gannon helped improve the defense of the Eagles, and McCown has a lot of experience as a former quarterback and playing around many different style head coaches.
McCown has no coaching experience at any level, so whatever he’s presenting to general manager Nick Caserio and the decision makers, his background and knowledge of the game must be impressive to be a finalist with the likes of Flores and Gannon.
Moving forward with a decision will be important for the Texans front office because the head coach hired needs to be able to bring in his own coaching staff and build a team around that.
Will the new Houston Texans head coach have to make Davis Mills the starter no matter what? Will the new head coach have to be able to run an offense or defense the decision makers of the franchise want to have, or will the new head coach get to do their own thing, because nothing is guaranteed in the NFL?
Putting aside the lawsuit Flores has against some hiring practices, his hire would be very interesting and exciting because of his relationship with Deshaun Watson. There is also excitement when Gannon’s name is mentioned because of his ability to apparently make defenses better like he did with the Eagles.
All three candidates have their positives and negatives, so let’s take a closer look at the three reported finalists for the head coach position of the Texans.
Brian Flores
Positives: The best part about this possible hire is Flores is a former head coach in the NFL (three seasons with the Dolphins, 2019-21), and he has a great mind for football as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots (2004-18) in various coaching roles including special teams, offensive assistant, safeties, and linebackers. He’s also only 40 years old and still has a long time left to coach in the league.
Flores knows his football, and his relationship with Watson doesn’t hurt things as he might be able to convince him to return if all of Watson’s off-the-field issues are resolved, or he can help Watson and the Texans agree on a trade partner if that is on the table, too.
Negatives: His tenure with the Dolphins didn’t have the best of endings, and though they were close to making the playoffs after starting the season with an 1-8 record only to win seven in a row (starting with a win over the Texans), ultimately Miami didn’t make the playoffs and didn’t reach expectations.
There is also his current lawsuit against the NFL and teams in the league, so that could be something the Houston Texans want to stay away from, especially with Watson’s off-the-field issues.
Josh McCown
Positives: Where should one start when it comes to Josh McCown and his experience that has made him a head coach finalist for the Texans? Sure, he does have a relationship with GM Nick Caserio, so that’s a positive in itself because Caserio must think highly of him to make him a finalist and interview him twice.
There is also the fact his experience as a mostly backup quarterback in the NFL has made him a head coach of sorts with all of his knowledge of not only learning the offenses of teams he’s played for, but learning many different defenses and tendencies along the way.
McCown has played for a total of nine NFL teams from 2002-09, ’11-19, plus one team in the United Football League in ’10. That’s a huge pool of football knowledge to learn from, but is it enough?
Negatives: The first thing that pops to mind is not the fact he hasn’t been an NFL head coach before, but the fact he has no experience as a coach at any level. How does one get to that point without any experience whatsoever as a coach? Sure, he last played in the NFL in 2019, but that’s not like being in the fire of calling plays and making big coaching decisions that could make or break the team.
McCown has been in the fire as an NFL quarterback as he has 76 career starts in 102 games, but being a coach and a former player is a whole different animal, and it would be interesting to see how he would work out as a rookie coach in general and not have any experience at any level. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Jonathan Gannon
Positives: This could be an exciting hire because his defense as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles did help that franchise make the playoffs in ’21, and the unit as a whole was solid overall.
Gannon is a realistic option here because he could learn about being a head coach all while rebuilding his team with the help of GM Nick Caserio. Gannon has coached with other team such the Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans and the Rams when they were in St. Louis.
Like Flores, his background coaching defense is excellent, and he’s coached under some quality head coaches in his path to being a current defensive coordinator. Gannon seemed to do well as the Eagles’ DC for one season, so maybe he is ready to lead his own team, and a young, rebuilding franchise like the Houston Texans is the place to learn.
Negatives: Gannon has no experience like McCown, so that does leave a bit of a mystery as to how he’ll be at the next level of coaching. Gannon did help the Eagles make the playoffs in ’21, but they didn’t play well against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, losing 31-15.
Plus, it does need asking if his one year as a defensive coordinator is enough experience to be a head coach, even with all of his experience as an assistant.
Even with some negatives on the experience level of being the head coach, Gannon’s resume is impressive, and now it is up to the Texans if they are the ones who give him his first chance to be an NFL head coach.
Whomever the Texans pick as their next head coach, whether it is one of these three men, or a surprise choice, the fact is they need to get the decision made and get things rolling as it is now draft preparation, and it would be great if the head coach and his coaching staff were in the building sooner rather than later to take part in this process.