The bad news is that I haven't had as much time to write other pieces or clean the inbox, so I'm trying to make time today with the situation in Houston.
These two articles from Sports Illustrated, Here and Here, are about the almost-cult-like conditions surrounding the franchise and how they have placed themselves on the verge of losing the greatest offensive player in franchise history.
My nephew, Jeff Heimberger has been a Houston Texans fan since the franchise was created, but the craziness down in Houston that seems to revolve around a fellow named Jack Easterby has Jeff questioning his fandom and considering a move to another team.
Easterby is a former team chaplain and relationship coach that has maneuvered his way all the way into personnel involvement and the only person that the Texans owner, Cal McNair, will listen to on almost any team issue.
Jeff has been telling me about Easterby for months, but I only knew a little about the situation until recently when Easterby has seemingly been heavily involved (when the Texans insisted that he would not) in the Texans hiring their general manager (Nick Caserio, an Easterby pal from his New England days) and coach ( Ravens passing game coordinator David Culley) with Easterby reported to be key in the hiring process.
Caserio is regarded well in the league, but so many of the Patriot gang has struggled after leaving Foxboro and as for Culley, I've never heard his name even rumored for a head coaching job, his last job was passing game coordinator for a team that finished last in passing, will be 66 years old when the season starts and missed a game last season due to illness.
While Culley appears to be one of the strangest coaching hires in quite a while, the lack of personnel currently on the Texans and the decision-making under Bill O'Brien is astoundingly awful which has left the Texans talent-light except for a few stars and having traded multiple high picks.
The O'Brien/Easterby crew has created a franchise that has little ability to add talent around DeShaun Watson if he could be convinced to stay and might have to trade one of the top quarterbacks in the game in his prime to add talent that the team needs.
In other words, the Texans are cornered- keep Watson, and other than offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil and an aging J.J. Watt, Houston has no top-level players and look to be at the bottom of the league for quite a while.
Trade Watson and you've lost a player that rarely comes along at quarterback, plus considering how the personnel department has operated with Jack Easterby around, can you feel confident that the team will get the incoming picks right?
After all, Easterby is the person that was behind the trading of Deandre Hopkins and a fourth-rounder to the Cardinals for a past his prime, David Johnson, a second and fourth-rounder with the second-rounder going to the Rams for Brandon Cooks, a lesser receiver, so if he's involved in personnel there are plenty of doubts.
This seems like one of those sports stories that we will find out the complete story of this down the road in what may make a very interesting book, but from what I've read Jack Easterby sure seems like a televangelist that preaches one thing and behaves differently once a back is turned.
One thing is for sure- the Houston Texans have a mess on their hands that might the worst that the NFL has seen in a while.
It's one thing to have little talent, and even lacking high draft picks, but to have both problems with a Jack Easterby in charge?
Pro sports may not have seen a mess this bad since Ted Stepien ran the Cleveland Cavaliers into the ground in the 1980s...
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