1.Failure to pay Duane Brown
The exit of Duane Brown tops the list as the pro-bowl LT’s exit triggered a series of desperate moves that has left the franchise devoid of young talent and assets. All DB wanted was to restructure his contract to get more guaranteed money and bump his annual amount to closer to where it belonged.
Instead of retaining the proven pro-bowler at the 2nd most important offensive position, the Texans traded him for a 2nd round pick and backup edge rusher – creating the worst oline in the NFL. To fix the mess upfront and protect their prized rookie QB, the Texans traded 2 1sts and a 2nd for Laremy Tunsil and spent a 1st and 2nd round pick on a tackle and guard.
Tunsil and Tytus Howard have been good, but bc of the assets lost to fix the offensive line the Texans have had little opportunity to add defensive talent to the team. Ross Blacklock and Lonnie Johnson are the only 1st or 2nd rounders the Texans have used on defense in the past 5 years and its really showing. I can’t imagine the defense being any good until 2022 at the earliest and this largely stems from greed and stupidity.
All the instability and tumultuousness of the franchise the past 3 years stems from this.
- Extending Whitney Mercilus
This one angers me so much and is directly on BoB. In 2019 it was obvious that Whitney was not the same player he used to be and DJ Reader was the priority. DJ Reader is one of the best run defenders in the game and made JJ Watts life easier.
For no apparent reason other than “veteran leadership” we made Whitney one of the highest paid pass rushers in the NFL on a 4yr/54m extension and let DJ Reader leave for the bengals at less money. Now we have the worst rush defense in team history and the worst OLB in the NFL according to PFF. Whitney has 12m in dead cap for 2021, preventing us from splurging on any replacements. Genuinely mind boggling how dumb this was.
3. Deandre Hopkins Trade
In a lot of ways I think Deandre leaving is a good thing for Deshaun Watsons development and the Texans offense overall. Deshaun progresses through his options better and makes quicker/smarter decisions. The main issue with this trade was the terms and the fallout.
Nuk is my all time favorite player and I wish we kept him, but the ramifications of his exit were more impactful than his absence on the field
BoB lost the locker room with this one. Hopkins was the best and most respected player on the team and nothing short of a mammoth return would be recognized as legitimate by the players. BoB lost most of the team after the KC playoff game and this was the straw that broke the camels back.
Ross Blacklock (who we got with their 2nd) doesn’t appear to have a promising future and David Johnson sucked as we all predicted. Doing this deal instead of finding a way to pay Nuk is ridiculous and BoB got all the s**t he deserved in the end for it.
4. Terms of Laremy Tunsil trade and lack of agreed upon extension
Laremy Tunsil has been great at LT. He’s a huge reason for our success last season and his presence gives me some hope that the Texans can be good again in 2021. Kenny also was a major contributor last season.
However, because BoB gave up the farm for him and Kenny Stills, Laremy had all the leverage and got himself an extension worth 4-5m more annual than it would have been had BoB made the trade contingent on Laremy signing an extension. You don’t trade 2 firsts and a 2nd to a rental you have to pay a year later.
I don’t know for sure if we could have gotten Laremy Tunsil (who we desperately needed post DB) with a lesser offer, but we definitely overpaid out of desperation. Not having a 1st or 2nd this year is debilitating – especially because our cap situation is 5m worse than it should be because BoB didn’t think to lock him in early.
I get why this trade happened the way it did and I’m a big fan of Tunsil, but I’d much rather have a 1st and a 2nd rounder right now than him on the roster.
5. Failing to pay Tyrann Mathieu
From my understanding, Honey Badger was expressing his love for Houston all season and repeatedly tweeted desire to stay with the Texans. Then Kansas City offered more and we didn’t match it and he understandably dipped.
I don’t know for sure if he would have signed with us if we matched the offer, but we should have done all we could to lock him in. He was a really good player for us and was a big part of the great defense that helped us get to the playoffs with Julien Davenport starting at LT in 2018. He’s been even better for KC and meanwhile our safeties suck.
If memory serves me right, Justin Reid had just had a great rookie year and we thought Andre Hal was going to still play so I understand why we didn’t want to splurge, but in retrospect we really should have done all we could to keep him.
6. Signing Brock Osweiler
This isn’t on BoB but happened when he was the coach. We hugely overpaid for Brock in desperation to attain a franchise QB after Schaubs meltdown. Brock sucked, but his failure opened the door for the best move in franchise history: trading up for Deshaun Watson.
With a dominant defense the Texans overcame Brocks deficiencies and somehow made the 2nd round of the playoffs (losing a competitive game at NE). We were able to move off his contract (costing us a 2nd rounder) the next season and got Deshaun Watson.
This was a bad signing (that at the time a lot of us were excited about), but it ultimately didn’t set the franchise back and we still had a good season.
