The Houston Texans may be at a disadvantage with their coaching staff for the second straight year.
According to Bucky Brooks from NFL.com, Lovie Smith ranks at the bottom of his list of incoming coaches. Part of the reason is because of where the Texans are at organizationally and another is because of the paucity of playmakers on the roster.
Smith will attempt to win games with a “hustle hard” approach that places a premium on effort, energy and execution. The grizzled coach is relying on a young quarterback with limited experience, but Davis Mills started to show promise down the stretch of his rookie season. With limited skill-position weaponry beyond Brandin Cooks, the Texans need their 23-year-old QB to take care of the football and make some winning plays. Defensively, Smith needs to build upon the small successes the unit experienced in 2021. After adding some key players in free agency and the draft, Houston will need its newbies to step in and flourish immediately. Whether it is Derek Stingley Jr. thriving as a CB1 or Jalen Pitre flourishing as a versatile defensive back, Smith needs a productive season from his rookie class to help the Texans compete in 2022. Perhaps Smith can get some surprising contributions from veteran additions to fill in the gaps, but he will need a team of overachievers to be at their best in order to overcome the deficiencies that plague the roster.
Across the rest of the AFC South, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Doug Pederson ranked No. 8. Sandwiched between Smith and Pederson was the Chicago Bears’ Matt Eberflus, who is the fourth coach the organization has hired since firing Smith in 2012.
The top coach on the list was Todd Bowles, who takes over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the retirement of Bruce Arians. Bowles has been with Tampa Bay since 2019 as their defensive coordinator.
