Cal McNair’s incompetence made the Texans the laughingstock of the NFL
Just two seasons ago, the Texans had Tyrann Mathieu, DeAndre Hopkins, Jadeveon Clowney, JJ Watt, and Deshaun Watson on their roster. Now, after the first three have already left the team, it is almost a virtual certainty that all of the five pro bowlers I just listed will be gone from the Houston Texans by the start of the 2021 season.
How did the Texans get to this point? Well, there have been a series of moves made by Chairman and CEO Cal McNair that have brought the team to a terrible place: one godfather offer away from trading away the team’s first franchise quarterback in his age 25 season just a year after he signed one of the largest contracts in NFL history.
In just a year and a half, the Texans have gone from one of the most promising franchises into the league into the laughingstock of the NFL. If you ask Cal McNair, it is just business as usual.
Everything started to roll off the rails when Cal decided to name head coach Bill O’Brien as general manager in June of 2019.
I’ve already written once on why giving Bill O’Brien supreme power over the Texans was a terrible idea. In fact, you can read it right here if you want. But these decisions are in the past. The Texans already ruined their future when they gave O’Brien the reins as general manager. It was a shortsighted move that allowed an unqualified egomaniac to ruin the team in just one year, when all they had to do was just hire one of the many NFL executives that would kill to be the general manager of the Houston Texans. But no, that would make too much sense.
After all, most of the moves and decisions McNair has made haven’t really made sense since he took over for the team.
He hired Jack Easterby, a character coach and team chaplain as vice president of football operations despite zero experience in an NFL front office and his former employer saying that he “isn’t a personnel guy.” Although he wasn’t regarded as a personnel guy in New England, he has certainly been one for the Houston Texans.
In the short time that Easterby has been in a leadership role with the Texans he has influenced a trade for all pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins that got nothing in return, influenced free agent signings that were known more for their character and religious beliefs than their play on the field while at the same time awarding these players with terrible contracts. He has made countless employees in the organization uncomfortable, and fired one of the most well respected public relations executives in the league, Amy Palcic, because she wasn’t a “cultural fit.”
I don’t know who should tell them this, but maybe that isn’t the best PR move.
In fact, the Texans created a PR firestorm from the move as the national media flamed the Texans for their decisions, with even current Texans players baffled by the decision to fire Palcic. This wasn’t the first time the media has roasted the Texans.
Nearly everything the Texans have done in the past year under Easterby, McNair, and O’Brien’s leadership has come subject to incredibly harsh criticism. The national and local media has been clowning the Texans and Cal McNair ever since the DeAndre Hopkins trade became official in March, and they did little during the season to salvage their reputation after the fact; they went 4–12 during the regular season with the worst defense and worst running attacks in the NFL last season.
Anyone with eyes could see that the Texans needed to tear everything down and start fresh with new faces and a new culture after a horrible 2020 season. HC/GM Bill O’Brien had already been fired after an 0–4 start, so naturally it seemed like it was time to also fire Jack Easterby.
Not so fast. Easterby has nuzzled himself firmly in the Texans’ organization, and he has been one of the leaders of the team in their new direction. This was Cal’s worst decision he has made in his time as chairman of the Texans.
Instead of McNair learning from his past mistakes, like putting unqualified people in important roles, he doubled down on his support for Easterby even though everyone else holds zero faith in his ability to connect with people and create a winning culture the team desires so much.
Despite two smear articles from Sports Illustrated which said people were uncomfortable with his behavior, countless media members leaking internal worries about Easterby from team employees, Cal McNair has decided to brush it all off and say that those reports are out of line and those reporters don’t know the real Jack Easterby like he does.
I understand if it was just one article with anonymous sources. I would understand if only a few irrational fans were calling for his firing.
However, this is the entire city, countless members of the national media, and even current employees that stay anonymous just because they fear for their job who are telling the world that Easterby has to go.
This is pretty harsh criticism for a “character coach” or “culture builder.” How can one sustain a winning culture if nobody believes the messenger is acting in good faith? Spoiler: you can’t.
According to Cal McNair, you just have to keep believing, and understand that the Texans are doing the right thing by keeping Easterby around.
Despite all of this clamoring, Cal McNair believes everyone else is the wrong one. He thinks Jack Easterby is an incredible human, a misunderstood football genius. Clearly, Jack has created a championship culture with championship level players, and you should trust him because Jack and Cal knows what's right.
Yes, Cal McNair, the same man who gave Bill O’Brien GM power while he was also head coach and then surrounded him with more unqualified football people and oversaw a complete dismantling of the roster in just one season knows what is right better than anyone else.
Unfortunately for the Texans, Easterby has somehow topped his previous actions with his hijacking of the team’s general manager search.
After firing O’Brien in week 4, Cal McNair vowed to the fans that he would spend careful consideration picking the next head coach and general manager. He paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to search firm Korn Ferry for the team’s GM and head coach search only to completely ignore what the firm said and hired Nick Caserio out of nowhere. By the way, Caserio is Jack Easterby’s longtime friend who they tried to hire as GM in 2019.
After the Texans literally agreed in principle with Steelers Salary Cap Manager Omar Kahn to be the next general manager of the Texans, Easterby torpedoed the GM process when he knew his days were numbered. A new GM likely meant a new culture and vision, particualrly, a culture without Jack Easterby.
Instead of going through with the deal they had, Cal and Jack flew to New England to pick up Caserio and then offer him the GM job just one day later. All while they were set to name Kahn their next GM.
Later it was revealed that Bob Lamonte (who by the way is both Caserio and Easterby’s agent) had leveraged Caserio’s Carolina Panthers interview for the same role into the job for the Texans. Essentially, Cal got duped by Easterby and Caserio’s agent and was persuaded to abandon on his own process.
What is more fascinating, is that after Cal was played into hiring Nick Caserio, the man had zero qualms about it. The lack of thoughtful decision making is astounding. Their agent literally took advantage of Cal McNair, and he is totally fine with it. That should tell you all you need to know about the CEO of the Texans.
The actual hire isn’t even that bad. Caserio is a respected NFL executive who is more than qualified to be a general manager. However, his connection to Easterby and the way he was hired made every Texans fan and members of the media feel incredibly uneasy, including star quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Just days after Caserio was hired, there were rumblings that Deshaun might want out of Houston because of how Cal McNair has behaved over the past year, especially with the way he carried out the GM search.
Still, Cal didn’t waver. Despite former Texans legend Andre Johnson chiming in on the national discussion around Easterby, saying that nothing good has happened since [Easterby] has walked into the building, despite the national media flaming Jack Easterby and Cal McNair, despite Deshaun Watson saying he was unhappy. Jack Easterby once again proved why he is the shadow owner of the Houston Texans. Anything he wants, he will most likely get. It also cemented Jack Easterby’s place in the Texans organization. He isn’t going anywhere now that he has his friend as the general manager.
What’s even more fascinating is that Watson didn’t even know about the decision to hire Caserio until it broke on twitter. Imagine not telling your franchise quarterback, “hey, we are going through with x as our next general manager”. Cal and Jack Easterby were so busy galavanting around the country rushing to hire Caserio that they didn’t even follow proper courtesy when making their decision. Boom. Just like that, a franchise altering decision was made without Cal even communicating with his franchise.
As a result of the sham hiring process, Deshaun voiced his displeasure with the Texans over their team direction. In those meetings he made an ultimatum: it is either me or Easterby. Cal McNair chose Jack Easterby.
It’s crazy to think that a man who has such a terrible reputation among the fans and the media, who has essentially failed at his job, and who has never once felt the need to defend himself or even make a public statement before still has this much favor among the owner. He is what most people in business refer to as a liability. I think almost everyone can see that. Shockingly, the only ones who can’t, or are too stubborn to admit it, are the only people who can do something about it. This is malpractice, and it makes Cal McNair look like an embarrassment to the city of Houston.
Ultimately, it is why Deshaun will probably never wear a Houston Texans uniform again.
When McNair was asked about Deshaun’s rumored unhappiness during Caserio’s introductory press conference, he explained that he “understood [Deshaun’s] point of view before meeting with candidates.” Excuse me, sir. You completely changed your search process when Easterby convinced you to hire Nick Caserio, and everything happened so fast that there was no communication. That is why he is upset, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand that.
Deshaun found Cal’s remarks patronizing, and it turns out they didn’t even talk to each other, just texted. An excellent job communicating with your franchise, Cal. Deshaun was upset by your process and already didn’t trust you, and you compounded that by making minimal efforts to communicate with him or understand his point of view.
Cal McNair has constantly shown how out of touch and unaware he is of his own issues during this offseason, and this was just another example. Alienating his star quarterback and might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the Texans CEO. His inability to manage his quarterback made the Texans one of the best coach positions available into the worst possible job imaginable very quickly.
That is where the lasting effects of his decisions will be felt: on the football field.
The dysfunction in the organization and Deshaun’s rumored unhappiness loomed so large that it caused the team to lead a terrible coaching search. The Texans failed to interview top candidates like Brian Daboll and Robert Saleh, and waited way too long to interview the best coach candidate, Eric Bienemy. Even when they did request to interview coaches like Colts DC Matt Eberflus, he specifically turned the job down before interviewing. They lost out on top coaching candidates because Cal couldn’t make his quarterback happy, and candidates were worried Deshaun was done with the organization after their public displays of incompetence.
Their poorly executed head coaching search made them the last team left to hire a coach despite being the first to fire. In the end the team’s top two options were…Leslie Frazier who had a 22–32–1 record in three years as a head coach for the Vikings eight years ago, and David Culley, a 65 year old assistant head coach and receivers coach for the Ravens, who oversaw the worst pass offense in the league last year.
The team decided to hire Culley because of his respect around the league as a person and his ability to lead, but his introductory press conference left much to be desired. Culley has never called plays before, and while he might be good at connecting with players, his answers to the media seemed like more of the same in the Texan’s cult of toxic positivity.
Now, the Texans are left with an unspectacular head coach, a controversial GM, a disgruntled franchise quarterback, and an oblivious owner. This situation the Texans are in now is all on Cal McNair, and he knows it. It literally can’t get worse than this. The Texans are a dumpster fire, the worst team in the league.
It didn’t need to be like this.
During the beginning of the offseason, hopes in Houston were high. They had a disappointing year and no first or second round picks, but at least they had their franchise quarterback and some good young players that would attract good head coach and general manager candidates. Once again, Cal McNair got in his own way with his incompetence and blind faith in unqualified leadership. This time, he set the franchise back another five years.
After all, the team’s outlook went from cautiously optimistic to downright embarrassing in just one month. In January, Deshaun Watson went from “I want the right culture put into place in Houston” to “I want out of Houston”. Only immense incompetence can create a change of heart that quickly.
But that is what happens when you make a pastor executive vice president of football operations and continue to side with him over everyone else in the room.
While Cal McNair and Jack Easterby believe they are building something special, everyone else is signaling the complete opposite.
I don’t think there is a stronger vote of no confidence in the organization’s direction than a franchise quarterback one year removed from signing a four year, $156 million contract extension demanding a trade.
The saddest part of the whole Deshaun trade request is that firing Easterby won’t solve anything. The damage has already been done. McNair has shown countless times that he is tone deaf and unaware of his own mistakes, or just chooses to ignore the plight of the fans begging him to make a cultural change. No, he and Easterby “know what’s right”. Whether you like it or not, they are doing the “right” thing in their eyes and they won’t change their stance no matter how much people around the team complain.
Even if Easterby is fired, the city’s faith in McNair as a competent “owner” is completely diminished just because he let Jack run the show for so long.
The only solution for the Texans to get out of this mess is for Janice McNair to sell the Texans or appoint someone else to CEO, which will never happen no matter how much people complain.
There is no logic to support Cal’s decisions, just like there is no logic for Deshaun to stay in Houston as long as Cal favors his friends over the players that make his franchise relevant.
McNair just simply doesn’t get it, and most likely never will. He is out of touch with his fans and his players, and he has no idea how to build a winning culture. For that reason, I’ve lost all my faith in the Houston Texans.
Every step of the way, Cal McNair has done the wrong thing. It doesn’t matter though, the Texans know what’s right and you don’t. So stop questioning their logic, because clearly they don’t question their decisions internally.
Now, the Texans are a shell of their former selves just a year removed from being up 24–0 on the Chiefs in the first quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoffs. Fans are emotionally exhausted, players are disappointed, and employees are scared.
Only an idiot like Cal McNair couldn’t have seen this chaos coming.
