Texans Players Reportedly Lost Faith In Key Member of 2024 Staff

DeMeco Ryans and the Houston Texans decided to go in a new direction this offseason with the offense. He made the hard decision of firing a friend of his, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who he had coached with back to his time with the San Francisco 49ers.

At the time, Ryans admitted that the firing was tough due to their friendship. However, Houston quickly moved in a new direction, hiring Nick Caley as their offensive coordinator shortly after. Caley previously served as the pass game coordinator and tight ends coach for Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams.

On the surface, it seemed like a team looking to take the next step in the stacked AFC trying to find a new direction on offense. New reporting from DJ Biene-Aime suggests that there was something deeper at play in regard to Slowik's firing, though. In fact, he's reporting that by the end, there was a lack of belief in Slowik.

"Before Ryans fired Slowik, Ryans asked players for their opinions and didn't get many ringing endorsements, multiple team sources confirmed," Biene-Aime reported.

Beine-Amine also quoted a player who told him, "I don't think we had a true identity of what the f--- we wanted to do."

Those are damning inditements of Slowik, if true, but the numbers did suggest that the Texans were a bit rudderless on offense in quarterback C.J. Stroud's second season. Many attributed it to a "sophomore slump" for Stroud while injuries were also another factor.

Stroud was sacked 52 times in 2024, though, which was the second-highest mark in the league behind the 68 sacks rookie quarterback Caleb Williams suffered with the Chicago Bears. The Texans also went from averaging 342.7 yards and 22.2 points per game in 2023 — Stroud's rookie season — to 319.7 yards and 21.9 points per game last season.

Those don't seem like huge drops offs, but when you consider the lack of protection Stroud faced as well as the apparent lack of faith in Slowik, and it makes sense why Ryans made the hard decision to move on.

Building an explosive offense around Stroud has to be the top priority this offseason for the Texans, and that starts with the play caller. Now we have to wait and see if Ryans made the right hire.