The Houston Texans have had to let almost all their stars go in recent years, the future of Deshaun Watson is uncertain. The club is facing difficult years and could even become the first team ever to play an 0-17 season

As July draws to a close, anticipation for the new NFL season is building everywhere.

Or rather, almost everywhere.

Because in Houston, the mood could be significantly better. The Texans are the worst team in the league according to almost all experts, a historic 0-17 season does not seem out of the question.

That would be a first, after all, the 2021 season is the first in which 17 games are played in the regular season.

The Texans are in a rebuild, a completely new team is to be built. But exactly how that will look is still unclear.

The Texas club is more than just a big question mark at the moment. An overarching plan is not yet apparent, with almost every position group ranked dead last in NFL comparisons. There’s not much these days to give the Texans hope.

Head Coach Culley invokes team spirit

At training camp, T-shirts were worn that read “Team. Team. Team.” were handed out. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s what we are,” Head Coach David Culley invokes the team spirit. Which is what you do when you have virtually no stars in the squad.

Culley, by the way, is a rookie head coach at the age of 65. Although he has been in the NFL for 27 years, he has never been in charge of a team. Whether the Texans are a good station for a debut as a head coach in near-retirement remains to be seen.

But the fact that Culley took over a team that was practically gutted is not his fault. In fact, it was Culley’s predecessor Bill O’Brien, sacked at the start of the 2020 season, who made some very questionable decisions as both head coach and general manager.

The trades of Jadeveon Clowney, Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills had already caused Texans fans to shake their heads ever more violently, so when O’Brien let superstar receiver DeAndre Hopkins go to the Arizona Cardinals for a second-round pick and running back David Johnson, the outrage was huge.

The trade is considered the worst in Texans history, even one of the worst in the NFL ever.

Watt and Fuller also gone

O’Brien’s successor as general manager, Nick Caserio, then also let J.J. Watt move to Arizona and Will Fuller to Miami. There is virtually nothing left of the team that still won the AFC South in 2019 and only lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round in a dramatic game.

Even quarterback Deshaun Watson is really only part of the team on paper. He totalled 388 passing yards in the remarkable playoff game against the Chiefs on 13 January 2020. Which was exactly 67 more passing yards than his counterpart Patrick Mahomes collected. And he was MVP of the season after all.

Watson has proven that he can be a good NFL quarterback, but he still has no future in Houston.

Back in January, he demanded a trade, wanting to leave Texas at any price. The Texans would probably not be averse to it either, but it will not be that easy to find a buyer for the 25-year-old.

Because since March, serious allegations of sexual harassment have been made against Watson, no less than 22 women are suing the quarterback.

Two difficult years lie ahead for the Texans – at least

Watson and linebacker Zach Cunningham are the only two players who have a contract beyond 2024. Whether Watson can be traded and what the Texans get in return for the controversial quarterback could help determine the near future.

Many players currently have only one-year contracts, so the Texans will have a cap space of $124.8 million in 2023. At least this figure gives hope for the new start, which should then take shape. Until then, however, the Texans face very difficult times.

Already on the first day of the 2021 NFL season, a thankless game looms, as the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to NRG Stadium in Houston.

The AFC South rivals played a 1-15 season last year and were the league’s whipping boy, but are clearly further ahead with their new start. After all, they drafted Trevor Lawrence, the greatest quarterback talent in recent years, and Lawrence is expected to lead the Jags to a brighter future.

For the NFL debut of the great hopeful, the Texans with their weakening defence could be the ideal sparring partner. Which would be pretty bitter for the Texans.

On the other hand, the Jaguars are a team that still has to find itself. If the Texans manage to bring the team spirit invoked by Head Coach Culley onto the field, a surprise might be possible.

That would at least be a good start to a season that will not hold many positives for the Houston Texans.