Sam Howell, North Carolina Tar Heels. (Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
The Houston Texans will need to make drastic changes at head coach and quarterback, sooner rather than later.
Though it remains to be seen what the Houston Texans will do this offseason, they are once again one of the worst teams in the entire NFL.
Everybody and their brother knew the Texans were going to be in for a rough season. Not having Deshaun Watson available to play quarterback severely limited their overall offensive viability. While the players seem to like head coach David Culley, who knows if ownership will give him more than two years on the job? Either way, Houston is going nowhere for the time being.
If the Texans want to change their fortunes, here are three head coach/quarterback combos that could save the franchise from itself.
Houston Texans: 3 head coach/quarterback combos to save the franchise
3. Former Eagles HC Doug Pederson with North Carolina QB Sam Howell
Though not every former NFL head coach gets another opportunity to lead a team, former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson absolutely will. He won the only Super Bowl in that franchise’s history. While it hit the fan for him and Carson Wentz last season, Pederson remains one of the most likely head-coaching candidates to get a job during the 2022 cycle.
Though he will get opportunities outside of Houston, possibly replacing Matt Nagy in Chicago, one quarterback who would make a lot of sense to pair him with is Sam Howell out of North Carolina. Should Howell declare for the 2022 NFL Draft, he will go in the first round. While the Texans should not take him top-five, he offers a lot of promise to be a future franchise quarterback.
Howell might be a tad undersized, but he possesses many of the positive traits Wentz displayed previously in Philadelphia and now with the Indianapolis Colts. Given that Howell was coached up in college under Mack Brown, he could make a relatively seamless transition to the NFL. Under Pederson’s tutelage, he could become Houston’s version of Dak Prescott. That sounds exciting.
While this potential pairing could work, it is hard to see Pederson replacing Culley after one year, and then reaching on Howell with his first first-round pick as the new Texans head coach.