Rise of a Legend: Bo Vandy's NFL Coaching Career

[bovandy]

The Houston Texans are hoping that the rebuild this time around won't take nearly as long as it has in the past. After a season that saw the losses pile up and controversy surround the team's superstar starting quarterback, a new head coach will try to pick up the pieces.

Bo Vandy, a relative unknown in the annals of the NFL coaching ranks, will attempt to take the franchise where it's never been before. To the Super Bowl.

The offensive minded head coach knows that he was hired because of what he can do with the football, but he also knows that the Texans have long been a franchise that was known for its defense. During his introductory press conference, he made it clear that in order to win this season, defense would need to be a focus yet again.

"We've got plenty of weapons on both sides of the ball," Vandy said. "But while people think our offense is going to be head and shoulders better than everyone, our defense needs to gain some respect."

Someone needs to tell Vandy that one reason the defense is so disrespected is because it finished 31st in the NFL last year. That was before JJ Watt was given his release. The defensive line, especially appears to be needing a reboot.

Then there's the issue of the star quarterback.

While he's still on the roster for now, he appears on his way out. Of course, on the other hand, Houston had the entire offseason to trade him. He's still a member of the team. It's simply a question as to whether the preseason is when he'll finally get dealt, or whether the new head coach will attempt to win him over.

Stay tuned on that note.

[bovandy]

The Houston Texans have finally parted ways with one of the best players to ever don the uniform for the franchise.

While there was some hope inside the team's facility that new head coach Bo Vandy could convince Deshaun Watson to give the Texans one more chance, it turns out that Vandy instead convinced ownership it was time to move on and try and find the next Watson.

In exchange for one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, the Texans received the Tennessee Titans 2nd, 3rd and 7th round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Now, the starting quarterback position falls to another. When Watson was dealt in the preseason, it was thought that veteran QB Tyrod Taylor would be the one who would step in, at least in 2021. However, Vandy upended those expectations by naming Davis Mills the starter for the Texans' week one contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mills is an interesting piece of Houston's apparent future. He was a third round pick out of Stanford but is not someone who put up eye-popping numbers in college. In fact, he had 14 starts for the Cardinal over three years in college.

Over the course of his career, he threw 18 TD passes and 8 INT. While he did complete 60 percent of his passes, it's a safe bet even Mills didn't expect to be named QB1 for the season opener when this preseason kicked off.

Vandy did stop short of saying that Mills was the starter for the entire season. He said that he wants to see how the rookie handles the pressure in week one and go from there.