‘Tis the season for conflicting NFL reports. One of the biggest for Sunday centers on the Houston Texans.
Jason La Canfora of CBS reports that Texans G.M. Rick Smith could be shifted to a different position in the organization, with a new G.M. arriving for 2015. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle disputes that.
“I’ve spoken to the [four] in front office I trust the most and all shot it down,” McClain said via Twitter. One of the four was Texans vice-chairman Cal McNair.
Speculation about Smith, who arrived in 2006 after Charley Casserly resigned, isn’t surprising, given that the team has become bereft of talent at several key positions. And the decision to keep the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft and to use it on Jadeveon Clowney currently looks like a major mistake. But Smith also drafted J.J. Watt, which more than makes up for the possibility that Clowney will be a bust.
The wild card in Houston is coach Bill O’Brien, who has done well enough in his first year to have the ability to try to grab power and/or to get one of his guys hired. The question is whether O’Brien would do that after only one year.