Texans fire Bill O'Brien

Terez Paylor breaks down Bill O'Brien's firing and who could take over in Houston.

Video Transcript

TEREZ PAYLOR: OK, so the Houston Texans have decided to fire head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien. And O'Brien is the first NFL head coach to get the ax. And yeah, it's a little bit of a surprise. The timing of it is curious, this is a COVID season, and things are already up in the air.

So now you're adding a whole new layer of uncertainty to a team that's already 0 and 4 and on the ropes. But performance-wise, yeah, you can make a case for this. He blew a 24-0 divisional round lead in January, and he traded DeAndre Hopkins before the season, a trade that was honestly just a complete disaster.

So Romeo Crennel takes over as the interim head coach, and I'd say it's highly unlikely he keeps the job. So let's just focus on the potential replacements. First of all, one thing you should certainly know, this is regarded as a good job. League sources I talked to say, hey, this is a job candidates are going to be very interested in.

Why? Because of Deshaun Watson. Watson is regarded as a Super Bowl caliber quarterback, someone you can win with and win quickly with, actually. But just beyond the typical suspects in New England, there's some really good offensive coordinators in this league that really deserve a look and are certainly guys that might end up being head coaches sooner rather than later.

Number one on that list is in Kansas City, Eric Bieniemy, he's been the Chiefs offensive coordinator now for several years. He's also helped lead this team to a Super Bowl win, coached up Patrick Mahomes, inspires confidence and faith in his players and gets them to play hard. So he's somebody that can immediately come in, be a disciplinarian.

Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator in Buffalo, has done a great job for the Bills. They're 4 and 0, and he's done an unbelievable job coaching up Josh Allen and build an offense that suits his skill set. Another one I really like is Greg Roman from Baltimore, who has done a great job doing the same with Lamar Jackson. Their offense really fits him.

And one more to keep an eye on is Arthur Smith in Tennessee. Coaches and organizations really want guys who can-- who are from the Mike Shanahan tree. And we've seen a lot of these guys have success, from Matt LaFleur to Kyle Shanahan to Sean McVay. Arthur Smith is from this tree, his offense is creative, and it is plug and play and will be a great fit for Watson, so he's someone else to keep an eye on.

Obviously, a lot to figure out in Houston as far as what they're going to do. But they're going to start getting down that track shortly, and it should be fun to see what happens.