New HC David Culley on Deshaun Watson: 'He's the QB of the Houston Texans'
By all appearances, a stalemate seems to have developed between the Houston Texans and star quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Watson has officially asked to be traded and has removed any mention of the Texans from his social media accounts. However, team management is reportedly telling any team that calls with interest in Watson that they have no interest in moving the disgruntled quarterback.
If reports are accurate, it seems that with every move the Texans make, the further the divide becomes between the two parties. Despite all of the turmoil, new head coach David Culley says part of what attracted him to the job was knowing that Watson was the team's quarterback and that is the way he wants it to stay.
"He's the quarterback of the Houston Texans," Culley said. "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. And the reason I'm in this position today is because I knew he's going to be a Houston Texan."
Culley isn't the only new face in town. Nick Caserio was also just hired as the team's new general manager and says that while the organization is attempting to take a day-by-day approach to the situation with Watson, the next thing on the agenda is finalizing the new coaching staff.
"We're focused on putting the best team together possible for the Houston Texans," Caserio said. "The most important thing is for us to just take it one day at a time. David and I have had a lot of discussions about a lot of different things. We'll continue to have discussions. And again, our focus is trying to do what we always feel is right for the Houston Texans, which that's what David believes in and that's what I believe in."
"I think the next thing for us is to work through some of the staff construction, which David (Culley) and I have already had some discussions on that," Caserio said. "I think once we have the staff in place, the staff's going to have an opportunity to go through our team and evaluate our team. There will be decisions that we have to make on some different areas and some different things relative to start of the offseason, which is March 18th or whatever it is."
The Texans' new general manager says that he is fully aware that there are some tough decisions looming. Caserio says the team is planning to take a slow approach to some of those and attempt to focus on the things that are currently within their control.
"I think one thing that's pretty consistent when you look at the NFL," Caserio said. "Especially where we are, kind of organizationally, there's a lot of transition that's taking place from front office to coaching staff and there's going to be some player decisions that we're going to have to make. So, I think right now we're just going to take it one day at a time, focus on what we can control and what we can handle."
