O'Brien is promoting from within for the spot

Report: Texans to add offensive coordinator in 2019

Cody Stoots
Feb 2, 2019, 3:19 pm
Houston Texans/Facebook

The Houston Texans and Bill O'Brien are putting many Texans fans at ease with the latest report about their offensive staff.


There is no word on who will call plays but this marks the second time O'Brien has had an offensive coordinator in his tenure as the Texans head coach. George Godsey was the offensive coordinator for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The past two seasons O'Brien hasn't had an offensive coordinator.

Tim Kelly was the tight ends for the Texans the past two seasons and an offensive quality control coach for three seasons before that. He was a graduate assistant with O'Brien during his Penn State tenure.

Kelly played defensive tackle at Eastern Illinois where he started all 48 games of his playing career. Eastern Illinois is a bit of a football powerhouse. It boasts Saints head coach Sean Payton, CBS announcer and former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Super Bowl champion coach Mike Shanahan, and 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as notable alumni among others.

He was also at Minnesota State-Moorhead in 2010 as the team's defensive coordinator, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. He then went to Ball State before getting to Penn State with O'Brien.

When asked about keeping his staff together after the season O'Brien said this about Kelly.

"We've got a young guy on the offensive side of the ball – I can't mention every guy – but, Timmy Kelly, somebody that guys probably haven't heard a lot about, he's an excellent football coach."

Cody's Take

I love this move. The people who know you the best are the people closest to you and Kelly has been with O'Brien for years. The people who are also the most honest with you are the people closest when you ask for their opinion and that is where the hope in Kelly lies. If he is honest with O'Brien, and the rest of the staff, his increased input could have an immediate effect on the Texans.

I believe O'Brien will keep calling the plays but if he isn't good or the offense sputters he could hand the duties over to Kelly at almost any point.

Kelly spent a little time on defense as a coach and obviously played there as a player. I really like that aspect. Also, Kelly fits the mold of young coaches rising to success on offense. He has helped with it seems like every position group so he has experience with more than just one position group on this Texans team. Sean McVay used to be a tight ends coach ya know?

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WAKE UP NFL

Making a case for Colin Kaepernick

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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

THE CASE FOR COLIN KAEPERNICK

Over the weekend Colin Kaepernick had a workout. It was a circus and there was a lot to be said about it. Stephen A Smith and Max Kellerman could have done a whole special on the issues hovering over this one and I know there's plenty of people who say that alone is a good enough reason to not bring this guy back. If you're a fan of some teams right now though, you might need to be rethinking your position and honestly there's plenty of reasons to bring him back.

SO MANY BAD QUARTERBACKS ALREADY

If you're the Washington Redskins, you could easily absorb another controversy because as far as your front office is concerned, nothing is wrong in 1-9 Washington and maybe the O-Line won't laugh at this guy as he begs them to block. Tampa Bay keeps talking itself into giving $20 million dollars to Jameis Winston who has never shown he is worthy of this much patience. The Bengals could use anyone else at quarterback as Andy Dalton is having a meltdown on the field in real time and will this guy even be in the league next year? The Titans have already quit on Mariota and got nothing else to lose. The Chargers long time starter just threw four interceptions in a game they had to have against a division rival, so wouldn't it be nice to know there's someone behind him to look towards as they continue their LA transition? The Broncos still don't have a quarterback and just IR'ed Flacco after he said they are the problem (to be fair, he probably thinks Baltimore was the problem too). The Bears are a quarterback away from being a wild card team and the Lions are back to playing Lions football and Carolina has no clue if or when Cam Newton is coming back. That's nine teams that don't have a very good reason to not at least give a look at bringing Kaepernick onto the roster.

TEDDY BRIDGEWATER

A few years ago Teddy was the guy in Minnesota. They had him and Adrian Peterson and spent money on offensive players and really thought they were going to be the jewel of the NFC North and then Bridgewater suffers one of the most horrific knee injuries in recent major sports memory during a practice, with rampant speculation about whether or not he'd ever play again starting immediately. It takes all of the 2016 season and then in 2017 he plays in one game. He then signs in New Orleans and plays in five games and looks good and New Orleans loves him and paid him decent money to stick around and he passed up a chance to start in Miami to stay in New Orleans according to rumors. Then this year he steps in for Drew Brees and keeps the Saints season alive to hand back to Drew when he's healthy. I say all of this to say, the right team could manage the rust off of Colin like New Orleans did for Bridgewater. Kaepernick could come in on pitch counts and work his way back in if the issue is being in shape, and if he's in shape and playing then he buys a franchise a few years at starter so they can take their time in finding the next franchise quarterback.

MICHAEL VICK, TYREEK HILL AND KAREEM HUNT

There are guys who played in the league after going to prison (Michael Vick). There are guys in the league who are on video assaulting women (Kareem Hunt). There are guys in the league who have failed drug tests (Josh Gordon). There are guys in the league who have plead to DUIs and DWIs (numerous). There are guys who are accused of beating their children (Tyreek Hill). There are guys who have pled guilty to reckless assault after being charged with a felony for child abuse (Adrian Peterson). That guy recently admitted he still uses a belt to discipline his children. Greg Hardy played another year in the league after allegedly beating his then girlfriend and throwing her on a pile of assault rifles and threatening to kill her. I say all of that to say Colin Kaepernick hasn't had any of these kinds of issues, he made a political statement and it seems to say more about the people who don't want to see him come back but have been far quieter about the other guys who have come back over the years.

AND SO...

I know there's controversy to deciding to bring Colin Kaepernick back, but the reality is there are bad quarterbacks in the league now, there are bad teams in the league and there are worse guys in the league than him. So what hill exactly are we all trying to die on here? What's the point of the fight to keep him out? Because he disagreed with some people politically and chose a visible way to get their attention to show them as much? I won't get into the rights and wrongs of kneeling or not kneeling, the hypocrisy of the NFL making the US armed services pay them to recognize veterans while asking the fans to please stand and honor the troops. It's a disservice to us the tax payers and an insult to us as Americans the way the NFL has turned patriotism into ratings and therefore Kaepernick into a problem. Bring him back and prove him wrong or prove him right by how you react next time someone says something you disagree with.

Feel free to check out my brand-new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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