Mismanagement of draft capital lands Houston Texans in purgatory

Bill O’Brien has killed the Texans future by shipping out draft capital

As a head coach, Bill O’Brien has done an amicable job with the Houston Texans since taking over in 2014. Unfortunately, his decision making from the general manager’s chair has landed the Texans somewhere where no NFL team wants to be: purgatory.

What does purgatory mean? Essentially, purgatory is when a team is good enough to pick outside of the top ten or twelve in the draft, but not good enough to make a legitimate push for a Super Bowl. For Houston, they have put themselves in quite a hole with their recent transactions. In terms of salary cap space and draft capital, the Texans are just barely keeping their heads above water.

The Texans are slated to have just over $21 Million in cap space next off-season. What makes that really interesting is that they haven’t locked up Deshaun Watson on a long term contract. They also reset the tackle market with Laremy Tunsil’s contract, giving him roughly $22 Million per season. How can a team that hasn’t paid their quarterback and moved on from players like Jadeveon Clowney, Tyrann Mathieu, D.J. Reader, and DeAndre Hopkins be up against the cap? Bad roster management is the answer.

Where did it all go?

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In the span of a year Bill O’Brien traded for three average running backs in Duke Johnson, Carlos Hyde, and David Johnson. In the case of David Johnson, they took on most of his guaranteed salary. All of these trades occurred with Lamar Miller on the roster making upwards of $5 Million.

Is it so hard to sign a running back to a bare minimum contract? The Texans are also spending far too much money on the wide receiver position. The Texans currently have Brandin Cooks, Randall Cobb, Kenny Stills, and Will Fuller. Fuller is the only one currently on his first contract. These funds could be allocated to fixing their 29th ranked pass defense.

Unfortunately for Texans fans, O’Brien’s ineptitude extends to trade negotiations as well. Before the 2019 season, Houston made two unbelievably bad trades.

Mismanagement continued

They shipped Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle for a third round pick and two backup linebackers. O’Brien followed that up by sending two first round picks and a second round pick to Miami for Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills. Stills is an expensive third wide receiver and Tunsil led all NFL players in penalties in 2019.

After the season, where Houston blew a 24-0 lead in the playoffs, they made two more trades. The Texans shipped DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth round pick to Arizona for David Johnson, a second round pick, and a 2021 fourth round pick. It’s still not over.

The Texans sent a 2020 second round draft pick to the Rams for Cooks and a 2022 fourth round pick. Houston sent a top 60 pick for an expensive receiver with multiple concussion issues. Having that second round pick would have been huge in organically building this roster after sending away premium capital in the Tunsil trade.

Speaking of capital, the Texans have none. In 2021, the Houston Texans will not pick until the third round. While they have some extra picks in the later rounds, they can’t truly replenish a roster that desperately needs an infusion of cost effective talent. Extending Deshaun Watson means there will be losses within other position groups.

To sum it all up, the Texans are in limbo. Having players like Watson, Tunsil, and J.J. Watt means they will always have a chance. It also means that they won’t bottom out and pick in the top five. However, not having draft capital and salary cap space to support their stars puts them in a category of playoff contenders but not Super Bowl contenders. In other words, the Houston Texans are in purgatory, and it’s because of Bill O’Brien.