Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien isn’t finding himself highly ranked on any NFL coaches lists this offseason.
Patrick Daugherty from Rotoworld released his ranking of all 32 coaches, and somehow O’Brien, who won the AFC South and a playoff game after being ranked No. 14 in Daugherty’s rankings a year ago, dropped three places.
For his six-year career, O’Brien boasts a .542 winning percentage but has outscored his opponents by only 23 points across 96 games. Things grow stranger in the front office, where O’Brien keeps winning power struggles and rewarding himself with promotions. He actually did not intend for that to be the case in 2019, but when his clumsy pursuit of Patriots executive Nick Caserio turned out to be obvious tampering, he was forced to back away. With no one to check his power this offseason, BOB formally named himself general manager before making one of the worst trades in NFL history. O’Brien didn’t even shop star wideout DeAndre Hopkins, a fact made clear by the fact that other GMs were forced to answer for his inexplicable acquisition of David Johnson. It is easy to believe O’Brien would have long ago been out of a job without Deshaun Watson, though that discounts the fact that he’s won divisions with Brock Osweiler and Brian Hoyer as his primary quarterbacks. Nothing about the man or his football team makes sense. I am not expecting that to change in 2020.
Among playoff-winning coaches, O’Brien’s No. 17 ranking is the fourth-lowest. The lowest playoff-winning coach was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Doug Marrone at No. 27.
O’Brien ranks third among AFC South coaches. The Tennessee Titans’ Mike Vrabel was No. 12 on the list with the Indianapolis Colts’ Frank Reich at 13th overall. Of course, Vrabel gets deserved credit for back-dooring the Titans into the AFC Championship Game. Reich remains a favorite for leading the Colts to a 7-9 record despite having no quarterback and injuries hitting the roster. Imagine if Reich had delivered back-to-back division titles with no quarterback and injuries to the roster.
