The Houston Texnas are one spot away from the absolute bottom of the latest Touchdown Wire NFL power rankings.
According to author Doug Farrar, the Texans come in at No. 31 and it totally relates to their lack of an actual general manager.
So… let’s catch up on the Texans’ offseason. They fired general manager Brian Gaine in June, were hit with tampering charges after pursuing Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio to replace Gaine, were jumped by the Eagles in the first round of the draft and missed out on Washington State’s Andre Dillard (the best pass-blocking offensive lineman in the 2019 draft class), subsequently overdrafted Alabama State tackle Tytus Howard and moved him to guard, and just traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seahawks for a third-round pick and two backup linebackers because the market for Clowney tanked after Clowney said he didn’t want to play for the Dolphins. Even when the Texans followed the Clowney mess with a trade with the Dolphins for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills, the price for those acquisitions — two first-round picks and a second-round pick — are way out of whack. And, by the way, they didn’t work out a new deal with Tunsil before making the trade, which gives the player a huge amount of leverage. No recent team has proven the value of an actual general manager in the front office than this one.
What appears to have happened with the Texans as they approached cut weekend is they realized they didn’t have anyone to properly protect quarterback Deshaun Watson. Also, they wanted to move Clowney for picks or an impact player, which is why they tried to land the trade with the Dolphins. In the end, the Texans did what they wanted anyway and moved Clowney to Seattle and went after Tunsil.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were No. 12 with the Indianapolis Colts landing at No. 17 followed by the Tennessee Titans at No. 18.
