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  • FA Head Coach
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    Texans fired coach Lovie Smith.
    The Texans will have a different head coach for a fourth straight season. Fired with three years left on his deal, Smith managed to keep the Texans from exiting with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by winning on Sunday. Smith’s defense was feisty at times, but had season-long issues dealing with opposing rushing attacks and ultimately has never presented a challenge for the league’s better quarterbacks. The offense was already bad, but stagnated further under Smith’s watch as Pep Hamilton introduced the world to Jeff Driskel as Diet Taysom Hill and couldn’t find ways to get Brandin Cooks involved in the offense. Assuming Nick Caserio also survives -- and the Texans have put out a statement that all but confirms this -- the Texans will likely start back where they left off last year’s coaching search. Jonathan Gannon is expected to be a strong candidate per Aaron Wilson.

  • HOU General Manager
    FOX’s Jay Glazer reports that “either one or both” of Nick Caserio and Lovie Smith will be fired.
    We’ve heard plenty of smoke about Lovie Smith being on the hot seat this weekend, but this is the first real report we’ve had noting that Nick Caserio’s job could be on the line. After two years as Houston’s general manager, Houston remains one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. It’s perhaps a little unfair to expect the Texans to have made the playoffs or anything like that at this point given where they started with Caserio and David Culley, but it’s not hard to argue they should look a little more functional than they have to date.

  • FA Head Coach
    NFL Network reports Texans coach Lovie Smith’s job status is “very much up in the air.”
    The Texans enter Week 18 “in the lead” for the No. 1 overall pick, but that was always going to be the case with this sub-expansion level roster. There is zero talent here. That, of course, doesn’t mean Smith is the right man for the job — he was a panic hire after the Texans ousted David Culley following his surprisingly effective 2021 — but it further demonstrates this organization has zero direction, and has become one of the league’s worst. Per Ian Rapoport, “sources say frustration has mounted in the locker room and elsewhere in the building over many aspects of Smith’s program.” You will always find takers for one of the world’s 32 head-coaching NFL jobs, but candidates will undoubtedly have pause if Smith is let go.

  • FA Head Coach
    ESPN’s Dan Graziano reports the NFL fined Commanders head coach Ron Rivera $100,000 “due to excessive contact in practice drills” during OTAs.
    The league will also strip the Commanders of two OTA practices in 2023. Meanwhile, Texans head coach Lovie Smith was fined $50,000 for conducting prohibited one-on-one drills between offensive and defensive linemen. As the NFL’s forward-looking franchises ease off on intense OTA and minicamp practices, the league’s old-school coaches haven’t gotten the memo. Washington continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Last week, Rivera fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 for his comments about the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

  • FA Head Coach
    Speaking at a presser, Lovie Smith noted that Houston’s play at the cornerback position last year “was not good enough.”
    “We can’t play the type of football that we want to play until we get better at the cornerback position, I will say that,” Smith added. The Texans released Terrance Mitchell, re-signed Desmond King, and have brought in Steven Nelson for a visit recently. This statement could point towards an early draft pick at the position -- perhaps Ahmad Gardner at No. 3 or Derek Stingley at No. 13.

  • FA Head Coach
    NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Texans are unlikely to hire a defensive coordinator.
    Lovie Smith said at his introductory presser that he’ll be calling the defense, so the position would be more ceremonial than anything, but it might be a chance to land a talented assistant. For most other teams this would qualify as startling news, but the Texans haven’t met a drum they can’t beat to their own tune. Rapoport concluded that there’s a “possibility they need to use the title,” but that this is the plan now.

  • FA Head Coach
    Texans promoted DC Lovie Smith to head coach.
    This move became inevitable after the Texans eliminated all of their supposed finalists from contention and leaked Smith as a candidate. The reports indicated that Smith was in the running all along but there were no reports of interviews or even discussions involving Smith until a day before his signing. Smith was a top-flight head coach in the early days of his time in Chicago but we are roughly a decade removed from that time in his career. Since his split with the Bears, Smith has gone 8-24 as Tampa Bay’s boss and 17-39 during a five-year stint in the college ranks with Illinois. After the Illini fired him, he returned to the NFL to serve as Houston’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. In his lone year with that title, the Texans finished 27th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed. He will bring an experienced presence to the locker room but that did little for his previous two teams. Smith will need to show that he has revamped his old-school style to inspire any confidence from Houston fans.

  • FA Head Coach
    NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the Texans are “moving towards” hiring defensive coordinator Lovie Smith as the team’s next head coach.
    Though the deal isn’t done yet, the Texans have seemingly ruled out all of their other options. Smith went from completely unmentioned in the team’s search to all but inevitable in a little over 12 hours. Multiple reports have indicated that Smith was in the conversation all along though not a single report mentioned him up until it was most convenient for his candidacy to leak. The sudden shift from Houston’s three finalists, Josh McCown, Jonathan Gannon, and Brian Flores, to Smith reeks of an organization that is in complete disarray. After being jettisoned from the ranks of the NFL in 2016, Smith was hired as the head coach of Illinois. He went 17-39 with the Illini and then returned to the NFL as the Texans’ defensive coordinator. With so many talented young coaches on the market, calling Smith an underwhelming hire would be putting it lightly.

  • FA Head Coach
    ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Texans are “now in talks” with defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to become their next head coach.
    Schefter added that the team has “have included Lovie Smith in their discussions all along, but his candidacy as head coach has gained steam in recent days.” It’s the latest in a series of puzzling moves by the Texans. Reports just leaked that Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon was told he would not be hired, leaving Josh McCown and Brian Flores as the finalists. Schefter noted that McCown is not considered ready for the job yet so Houston is down to Flores, who is currently suing the NFL for racist hiring practices, and Smith, who was not even known as a candidate for the gig until today. Smith now has to be considered the favorite to be Houston’s next head coach.

  • FA Head Coach
    Texans hired Lovie Smith as defensive coordinator.
    Smith returns to the NFL after spending the last five years as the head coach at Illinois. He’ll serve as the defensive playcaller for first-time HC David Culley. A Texas native, Smith gives Houston experience and a proven track record at the coordinator position, though he’s never had a great winning percentage, going 89-87 overall as a head coach and 17-39 with Illinois. The Texans are staying in-house with OC Tim Kelly, but the pairing of Smith and Culley should improve a defense that allowed the third-most yards in the league last season.