At the conclusion of the 2024 season, Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans made the difficult -- but necessary -- decision to move on from offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik after just two seasons. After emerging as a stealth head coach candidate following the 2023 season, Slowik's offense backslid in year two, with predictability and lack of creativity being the chief complaints among Texans fans.
In stepped Nick Caley, a 42-year-old coach with experience under both Bill Belichick and Sean McVay, and the expectation right out of the gate was that Caley would find a way to transform Houston's offense. Hell, I bought in. On my own personal blog, in a predictions piece ahead of both the college and pro football seasons, I predicted that Caley would be getting looks from teams in need of a new head coach at the end of the 2025 season. I was all the way in.
Unfortunately, Nick Caley's debut season with the Texans didn't quite go as I, and many others, had expected it would. Although you could certainly pick and choose stats that make the case that Caley's offense was indeed superior to Bobby Slowik's, in reality, there was very little difference in terms of how much success the Texans offense had under Caley as opposed to Slowik.
2024 Texans Offense (under Bobby Slowik) | 2025 Texans Offense (under Nick Caley) | |
|---|---|---|
Points Per Game | 21.9 (19th in NFL) | 23.8 (13th in NFL) |
Total Yards | 5,435 (22nd in NFL) | 5,559 (18th in NFL) |
Yards Per Play | 5.1 (22nd in NFL) | 5.1 (23rd in NFL) |
3rd Down Conversion % | 37.7% (19th in NFL) | 37.2% (23rd in NFL) |
Red Zone Touchdown % | 49.1% (26th in NFL) | 46.3% (30th in NFL) |
Regardless of how you wanna look at this chart, the evidence is clear... Houston, we have a problem, and it's the Texans offense.
This raises an interesting question: should/will the Houston Texans decide to move on from Nick Caley after just one season? On one hand, the lack of meaningful improvement across the board -- and the decline in Houston's 3rd down and red zone efficiency -- is a major cause for concern.
Now you could point to the full-season losses of Tank Dell and Joe Mixon and make a claim that this could be the reason why Houston's offense took a step back in some categories, but Nick Caley was supposed to raise this team's offensive floor, and unless you squint really hard, it doesn't totally feel like he did.
Playing devil's advocate, you could make the case that Houston shuffling in a third offensive coordinator in four years could be a detriment to quarterback CJ Stroud, who clearly has enough on his plate already. Perhaps this time around, continuity could work in Houston's favor.
Ultimately, this decision will be made by DeMeco Ryans, but the fact that it requires a decision is a bad sign for Nick Caley. During Monday's press conference, Ryans was asked about possible changes ahead of the 2026 season. And although league sources have indicated that Nick Caley is likely to be back next season, Ryans' comments open the door for another change within Houston's coaching staff.
“Coaches, players, I’m evaluating everything as we go throughout the week," Ryans told reporters, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston.
Internally, there does seem to be a groundswell of support for Nick Caley to return next season. When CJ Stroud was asked about his offensive coordinator, the 24-year-old quarterback indicated that he hoped Caley would return next season.
"I love Cales,” Stroud said Monday. “I think there’s growth in our relationship, there’s growth in his ability to call plays, growth and DeMeco trusted him. Whatever our coaches decide, I love Cales and I’m rocking with him however long he’s going to be here.”
What could potentially complicate the calculus of this decision is that there are a few interesting names that the Texans could choose to pursue to take over for Caley if they decided to move on from him after just one season. I'm not the first, nor will I be the last person to remind you that Ryans and former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel were once on the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff together. It's possible that McDaniel could be better suited to be a play-caller only and not a head coach, and Houston could be the exact right place for him to prove that.
In the end, Caley will likely be back for the 2026 season, but just as was the case with Bobby Slowik, his leash will likely be pretty short.