O’Brien reaffirms his ignorance with acquisition of Eric Murray
Updated Friday, March 27, 2020
Usually, when football coaches perform poorly they lose their jobs. But the Houston Texans’ Bill O’Brien works for patient ownership. He’s had six years, been to the playoffs four times, won 2, lost 4.
Despite having one of the NFL’s most talented quarterbacks (Deshaun Watson) and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year (J.J. Watt), O’Brien convinced Cal McNair that he’d do much better if he got to choose the roster. So in the wake of blowing a 24-point lead to Kansas City, O’Brien in January was handed the general manager’s position to go along with his head coaching responsibilities.
And now we’re seeing the results of that decision by McNair, who became CEO after the death of his father in November 2018. O’Brien last week traded 27-year-old All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for their No. 2 running back (29-year-old David Johnson), a second-round draft pick and a swap of 4th-rounders.
The transaction was universally derided by the national media. Mike Jones, USA Today, expressed a consensus: “O’Brien has put his team at risk of serious regression by parting with Hopkins while getting so little in return.”
Just hours after the Texans shipped Hopkins, the Minnesota Vikings traded their much less reliable No. 1 receiver, Stefon Diggs, for Buffalo’s first-round pick, a fifth and a sixth and even a 2021 fourth-rounder.
So in a city with a tradition of forgiving lunacies by its sports teams – Astrocheating, Rocket implosions, Tilman Fertitta dodging taxes, Jerry Glanville blustering and alienating — O’Brien is setting records for pissing people off.
There are way more than 50,000 on-line petitions going to McMair to fire O’Brien before he burns the organization to the ground.
It wasn’t like Hopkins had an unwieldy contract: three years remaining, $13.5 million salary. These are some receivers earning more: T.Y. Hilton, $14.5 mil; Odell Beckham Jr., $18 mil; Julio Jones and Amari Cooper, $20 mil; A.J. Green $17.8 mil.
Hopkins let O’Brien know he wanted a rewrite of his contract. He reportedly is looking for $22 million a year. He wants to be paid closer to his actual value to his team. That’s how it works in the NFL. The Rams didn’t think the wobbly-kneed Todd Gurley worth his $15 million salary, so they cut him. The Atlanta Falcons quickly snared him for 1 year at $6 million.
Unlike Gurley – and David Johnson — Hopkins has an excellent health record. O’Brien should have offered him a 2-year extension to keep him in Houston through the 2024 season. He’d be 31, same age as Julio Jones is now.
But behavioral issues led O’Brien to jettison a player who caught 219 passes in two years and dropped only 4. Hopkins was seen arguing with O’Brien on a sideline last season, and the coach considered that unacceptable lack of respect. There was concern about a veteran player fomenting dissension.
Michael Irvin, Hall of Fame receiver and a confidant of Hopkins, said O’Brien butted into Hopkins’ private life, told him the last time he’d done that was with Aaron Hernandez in New England.
Irvin quoted Hopkins: “I’ve never been in any trouble. Why would he equate me with Aaron Hernandez?”
Not only that, Irvin said O’Brien commented on Hopkins having children from two women, that he didn’t approve of “his baby mommas being around.”
So D-Hop, who’s popular with the Texans’ players and with the reporters who cover them, joins an ever-lengthening list of people who can’t get along with Bill O’Brien.
Recall him berating Tom Brady on the sideline in Foxborough. Recall the shouting at Brock Osweiler. Recall the “F-you” to a fan as the Texans headed into the locker room. Recall All-Pro guard Brandon Brooks leaving in free agency and saying he couldn’t stand playing for O’Brien.
Recall Ed Reed’s disenchantment with O’Brien during a brief 2013 fling with the Texans. The All Pro safety cited “that old-school mentality – coaches talking reckless to guys. . . . It took me back to the South.”
O’Brien was born in Massachusetts, graduated from Brown University, so there’s no excuse for vestiges of Jim Crow, as Reed implied.
What we see are vestiges of Bill Belichick, who mentored O’Brien when he was offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots in 2011.
Belichick is notorious for his high-handed manner. He gets away with it because he’s such a brilliant coach and evaluator of talent that his players know he can win without any of them. Farewell, Tom Brady. Belichick has won six Super Bowls. O’Brien, who’s proved to be mediocre as a game-day coach, should know he’s no Belichick.
Recall that O’Brien couldn’t get along with his general managers, Rick Smith and then Brian Gaine, and shoved them out the door. And see what O’Brien has done when he calls the shots. He trades Jadeveon Clowney, one of the NFL’s most disruptive defenders, for a third-round draft pick.
O’Brien has been excoriated for giving up two first-round picks to acquire Laremy Tunsil, who’s perhaps the best young left tackle in the sport. In the short run it was not an Obie blunder. The Texans gained a talented wide receiver in Kenny Stills. The flaw with this deal was that O’Brien failed to work out a contract extension. Tunsil will earn $10 million this season, but unless he’s extended, he will be an unrestricted free agent a year from now.
O’Brien apparently does not like negotiating contracts or does not know how. Now he’s stuck with David Johnson, clearly past the prime for his debilitating position and salaried at $11 million for 2020 and $9 million for 2021.
O’Brien this week reaffirmed his ignorance of value when he awarded a 3-year, $20.5 million contract to Eric Murray, an undistinguished backup safety for Kansas City and then for Cleveland.
More than anything else, O’Brien must worry about keeping his franchise quarterback. Watson is now the betting favorite to quarterback the Patriots in 2021, which is the final year of his contract. The thinking in Las Vegas is that Watson will be so disenchanted with Obie’s coaching and general managing that he will want out of there, later if not sooner. Looks like a good bet to me.
