David Culley was placed in an unenviable situation as he took over as coach for the Houston Texans.
Initially quarterback Deshaun Watson requested a trade. By March 2021, the first of a multitude of lawsuits from women alleging the three-time Pro Bowler committed sexual assault poured in.
For Culley, a rookie coach, the training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center in late July 2021 was rife with distractions, all of them surrounding Watson. However, Culley told OutKick 360 that Watson actually wasn’t a problem.
“He was at every meeting during training camp,” Culley said. “He was at every practice during training camp. There was only a certain amount of things that he was only going to do during practice because of the injury factor, but he was there. He was in every meeting. He wasn’t a distraction. He was just like everybody else there. But knowing that he wasn’t, there was always hope that maybe he might change his mind.”
.@HuttonOutkick to David Culley: What were the conversations like behind the scenes with #DeshaunWatson last year? pic.twitter.com/V36cob9hnY
— OutKick 360 (@Outkick360) June 27, 2022
Watson never changed his mind, and former 2015 Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor continued to receive first-team snaps and the team continued to develop third-round rookie Davis Mills. When Watson was no longer an option, the Texans proceeded accordingly.
“We got to the point once the season got started, he was still coming in the building, but he wasn’t in our meetings anymore. There was no need for him to be in our meetings anymore because he was not going to be active. We knew that going in, and we handled it that way. We knew were going to have one less guy on our active roster that wasn’t going to play during the year, and we understood that and we dealt with it.”
Watson took up a roster spot on the Texans’ 53-man squad. Houston finished 4-13. Culley was fired. Watson was traded in the 2022 offseason. However, the litigation continues, and the Texans were recently named as defendants in another related civil suit.
