HOUSTON – For the second straight press conference, questions about the future of Deshaun Watson with the Houston Texans dominated the conversation.
David Culley, who officially became the fourth head coach in franchise history, and new General Manager Nick Caserio, shared thoughts on the Watson’s rumors.
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Caserio’s opening statement
“Organizationally, (I) just want to reiterate our commitment to Deshaun Watson,” said Caserio. “He’s had a great impact on this organization, a great impact on a lot of people, a great impact on this team, and we look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with him here this spring once we get started. And we have zero interest in trading the player. We have a great plan, a great vision for him and for this team and his role on our team and we look forward opportunity to spend more time with him here this spring.”
Culley believe he’ll be coaching Watson
The Texans were the final team to make a head coaching hire, and hired an assistant coach who had been in the league 27 years without being a coordinator. Whether or not Culley ends up being the right coach for the job, building around a franchise quarterback makes his job easier. Culley said Friday he took the job believing that Watson will be his quarterback.
“The only thing I knew about this whole situation at that point was is that I was being interviewed for this job to be the head coach. And I did know at that point Deshaun Watson’s a Houston Texan. He’s the quarterback of the Houston Texans. That’s all that I was concerned about, and that’s all I knew. And whatever has been said about what was, what he wanted to do or he didn’t want to do, all I knew is this, having been in this business this long, he is a Houston Texan and I want him to be a Houston Texan,” said Culley. “The reason I’m in this position today is that I knew he’s going to be a Houston Texan. And so that, the outside stuff that was being said was irrelevant to me because the most important thing to me is that, at that time, was figuring out what can I do, after talking with Nick (Caserio) and this family, to become the head coach of the Houston Texans.”
Why Culley took the job
Culley has a tough task ahead of him, working alongside Caserio to remake a team that went 4-12. He has the duty of making the moves to get Houston under the salary cap and put the right players on the field for Culley to work with.
Either way, Culley is excited about being one of 32 NFL head coaches.
“I took this job simply because there’s 32 of these in this league. It is a pleasure, it is a privilege, it is an honor to be the head coach of one of these franchises and I happen to have that opportunity to do that now. Again, obviously, I’m here simply because this is a bottom-line business and regardless of what had happened in the past, I’ve been put in a situation here to be the head coach of this football team,” said Culley. “Our goal, every team’s goal in this league is to win a Super Bowl. Every year. Every team thinks that that can happen every year, regardless of what happened the year before, it’s always the goal. That’s always the goal that we’ll have when everybody walks through that door, everybody in the building. Everybody here, that’s our one goal. When the season is over, you start over. You evaluate, you look at things, you see what you need to do to be able to get better.”