INDIANAPOLIS — A year ago, the Houston Texans’ general manager at the NFL Scouting Combine was Brian Gaine.
Now, it is coach Bill O’Brien, and even though the 50-year-old coach is doubling up with general manager duties, he claims the combine is no different for him in 2020 than it has been any other year.
“Not much,” O’Brien told reporters when asked how the combine was different for him now that he is GM. “I think that we have a great team of people that have done, in my opinion, a great job of preparing us for the combine.”
The combine is more so the “big game” for director of college scouting James Liipfert and director of player personnel Matt Bazirgan. It is a chance to evaluate incoming talent; their time to shine.
“Matt Bazirgan, James Liipfert, those guys and all the college scouts, especially relative to this week, have done an excellent job of preparing us a week ago for this week,” said O’Brien. “We’ve had some good meetings. I feel like we’re in a good spot relative to what we’re going to be looking at, who we’re going to be evaluating, interviewing and all that.”
What the Texans have to do, and what O’Brien must do regardless of his title, is help the staff focus, especially given their paucity of draft picks with their first one kicking off at No. 57 overall deep in the second round.
Said O’Brien: “I think for me it’s just about making sure that we pay close attention to what we need to pay close attention to and just communicate with everybody and make sure we’re all headed in the right direction.”
The Texans have had informal interviews with QB Jake Luton, WR Devin Duvernay, and WR Denzel Mims.
