The Houston Texans have been unintentionally given a gift in the Brian Flores firing. Here’s why they should immediately jump on it.
A major opportunity lies at the feet of the Houston Texans heading into the 2021-22 offseason- a gift, if you will. One that the franchise did not think would be available to them at this point in time.
That gift’s name is, of course, Brian Flores.
The former Miami Dolphins head coach was fired earlier this month on Black Monday to the surprise of virtually anybody tapped into the world of football.
After beginning the season 1-7, Flores led the Fins back from the dead to close the season on an 8-1 run. A near-impossible feat, some would say.
I will not get too much into the logistics of the firing in this Texans-centered article. I will say it was one of the biggest shocks of the season, and the Dolphins could not have shot themselves in the foot any harder. Flores is a fantastic head coach that was on-track to get the Fins back to the playoffs and possibly compete for a championship.
That brings me to the Houston Texans, who now have an opportunity to salvage their franchise from the jaws of utter ruin and collapse.
We know that Deshaun Watson was not happy with the Texans for their unwillingness to hire Chiefs OC, Eric Bieniemy for the vacant head coaching position. That, along with the Texans’ alleged insensitivity to “social justice” caused the rift between them and Watson that has not, objectively, subsided.
Bieniemy was who Watson really wanted to be hired in Houston. But with the option of a possible trade being placed on the table amidst the Bieniemy saga, Brian Flores arguably became Watson’s most prominent desire as the coach he wanted to play for the most.
Flores seemingly was one of the key reasons why Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson waived his no-trade clause in hopes of landing in Miami.
Flores is now available. The guy who Deshaun Watson wanted to play for — in my opinion, more than any other coach — is sitting there ready for a team like the Texans to scoop him up.
What a turnaround it would be for the Texans to alienate their star quarterback, one of the top talents in the NFL, and in a year’s time repair that relationship by giving him what he wants in the head coach he really wanted to play for.
This is the guy you need to go after if you are the Houston Texans. In order to salvage your franchise, and repair a large rift you have with one of the top quarterbacks in the game, this once in a lifetime opportunity must be taken advantage of.
The Dolphins have given every team in this league a gift by putting this man back on the market. And as a Texans team who’s future looks grim at the very least, in a division with a shaky Carson Wentz, and even-shakier Ryan Tannehill, and a sophomore Trevor Lawrence on a hardcore rebuilding team, a guy like Flores can be your salvation.
Flores potentially keeps Watson in Houston. He also improves one of the worst defenses in football this year- much like he did in Miami where he took over a Fins team that was 27th in points per game allowed in 2018 to being tied for fifth in that same category by 2020.
I personally think it’s a slam dunk move for Houston. This is a fantastic opportunity to revive your franchise after a year of destruction and hopelessness, and the chances of a better door opening in the near future are slim-to-none.
Hire Flores. Rekindle your relationship with Deshaun Watson in the process. Then hit the draft board hard with a stud defensive pick instead of worrying about who your quarterback is going to be.
It’s an easy fix in theory. But will the Texans actually take advantage of the Dolphins’ flop? That remains to be seen.