After the the firing of Bill O’Brien, all those connected to Houston carried hope of a new dawn, that Cal McNair was set to instil. This was a chance to re-define Texans Football. The possibilities seemed limitless due to their much-revered franchise quarterback, added to a fiercely loyal fanbase that felt real success was a possibility.

Of course it wasn’t going to be an easy task for the incoming General Manager & Head Coaches staff. As Houston fans had seen the team implode over a treacherous 18-month stretch of puzzling personnel decision. Cal McNair, understandably paid faith in O’Brien’s ability to do it all – across the GM and Head Coach roles. They arguably had the luxury of making moves to “Win-Now”, when in the envious position of a wining football team, with a transcendent passer under his rookie contract.

Look no further than the deluge of trades and contracts, all consistent with the theme of buying high and selling low. O’Brien didn’t have the awareness of NFL market value, nor the ability to evaluate talent, as results were disastrous. The net effect the over-investment in players so his offensive scheme could work, left the Texans with a defence unable to compete at the pro-level in 2020.

Last season petered out with only one-win against a team who’s head coach wasn’t fired & a series of close divisional loses. The one shining light – it’s quarterback, who lead the league in passing, despite having the worst rushing attack seen in franchise history. Their 4-12 record represented a spectacular feat of underachievement, considering the qualities of Watson.

The first major decision Cal made, after taking over from his late father, was an epic fail, O’Brien was relieved of his duties with time to find the new leaders of the football club.

Despite O’Brien’s early removal, he was only part of the problem. Now after a series of hires, the team are no better of than they were prior. They have completely unaddressed the issues that their own players stated to the media.

Though suspected & now crystallised, the true driving force in this unparalleled nose dive is Jack Easterby. Yet despite the continual pressure form fans and former players. Added to the public unmasking by the media with unrivalled scrutiny, McNair continues to cut an unconcerned figure in his spate of public outings.

Jack Easterby’s influence is catastrophic for McNair’s ownership, which is tittering closely into the realms of brining the league into disrepute or as the rules state: “conduct detriment to the league”. As the Texans are now in a position where they could be feasibility in breach of that, considering:

The headline reasons for wanting nothing to do with the Texans are plentiful for players, fans and sponsors alike. It’s beyond reasonable doubt Jack Easterby’s rise to power, directly correlates with the teams downfall. The team are on the precipice of footballing hell. As they may lose the player who’s they’ve spent the majority of their 19-year existence trying to find.

Deshaun Watson made Houston relevant to a whole generation of fans. He made this team worth watching. He covered up a myriad of mistakes, made by those in power. But after it became clear the GM hire had been undoubtedly been botched due to the intervention of Easterby. The burden became too great for Watson and his representation to bare. He has no faith in ownership and therefore requested a trade. Who could blame him? This off season was yet another example of the McNair family’s inability to run this club.

The McNair’s misplaced but well intentioned trust continues to be in the wrong people. The limited credence given that recent hiring of Head Coach, David Culley, has been yet another milestone of their slide. The justification of Culley being an amenable personality, considering the dire situation is a case in itself. Only the Texans under their current ownership could feasibly justify a head coach hire, due to the mess THEY created. Rather than hire the best coach they could find for Watson, they sought a fixer, to reprieve them. But the Texans issues are on a far grander scale than a patsy head-coach & sub-par staff assembled.

The future for this team & fans alike is incredibly bleak. There are precisely zero reasons to believe they can compete, when their leadership, sets them back irreparably with every decision made. The recent hiring of Character Coach Dylan Thomson, is yet another reminder of who’s making the decisions for the Texans front office. A long term disciple of defacto-CEO, Easterby.

The role or lack of autonomy given to conduct his role effectively, Nick Caserio is a glaring concern for those trying to see a way forward. His hire was objectively a good one but after a month his position, he appears undermined. The unshakable cultural problems created by the religious-fulled trust in the Easterby way of ‘the next right thing’ has lead to successive star players and long-time executives leaving.

Who would have believed the notion after the 2018 season that Clowney, Hopkins, Tyran Mathieu, DJ Reader, Kareem Jackson, JJ Watt & likely now Will Fuller, Deshaun Watson, all wouldn’t be on the 2021 roster?

The chance was there this off-season. Yet, somehow ownership cannot seem to fathom what & how they have missed it. Not only have they missed but they have also hampered future chances of addressing it.

The ‘next right thing’ is all they seem prepared to focused on. They have lacked any sense of plan or guile in the way Cal McNair has squandered a chance that will set this team back a minimum of 5-10 years.

They remind us “change is hard” but by retaining Easterby, hiring Caserio & Cully has not created any progressive change. They’ve taken the very worst of recent failings and blown them up on the jumbo-tron asking people to pay for the privilege, whilst being eviscerated on every sports network across the globe.

Whilst the Texans are attempting to “create memorable experiences”, by doing the next right thing. They’d be better placed by doing just something right, if anyone is to deem this 2021 team is worth considering, come August.