BRB Groupthink: Ranking The Best Front Office Moves In Texans History

After posting the Worst Front Office Moves in Texans history, it’s time for the counter-point. While the Astros are about to bring another championship to H-Town, here’s a list of moves that could potentially lead to the Texans doing the same (or could have in the past, anyway).

BFD:

5. Trading for Chris Myers (C) for a 6th round pick in 2008. Myers was a fantastic C for the Texans for seven years after that trade, and we have yet to replace his talent there.

4. Signing Johnathan Joseph as a free agent. Remember Nnamdi Asomugha? Neither do I.

3. Tie: Drafting Andre Johnson in 2002 and DeAndre Hopkins in 2013.

2. The draft class of 2006: 1-1 Mario Williams, 2-33 DeMeco Ryans, 3-65 Charles “Barbaro” Spencer, 3-66 Eric Winston, 4-98 Owen Daniels, 6-170 Wali Lundy, and 7-251 David Anderson. Gary Kubiak FTW!

1. Trading for Deshaun Watson.

Capt. Ron:

10. Trading for Chris Myers.

9. Drafting DeMeco Ryans.

8. Drafting Jadeveon Clowney.

7. Drafting Duane Brown.

6. Finding and retaining Arian Foster as an UDFA.

5. Trading with Miami for Laremy Tunsil.

4. Drafting DeAndre Hopkins

3. Drafting Andre Johnson.

2. Drafting J.J. Watt. – Thank you, Wade Phillips!

1. Moving up to draft Deshaun Watson!

Kenneth L:

10. Trading for Jay Foreman before the inaugural season

9. Signing Aaron Glenn in the veterans draft

8. Signing UFA Arian Foster

7. Not drafting Vince Young

6. Drafting Deshaun Watson

5. Trading for Matt Schaub

4. Trading Brock Osweiler

3. Drafting DeAndre Hopkins

2. 2011 Free Agency

1. Drafting JJ Watt

Josh:

5) 2006 NFL draft

4) Signing Arian Foster

3) Tie. Drafting Andre Johnson & drafting Nuk as his eventual replacement

2) Drafting JJ

1) Trading up and drafting Deshaun Watson

Weston:

1. Drafting J.J. Watt—By doing so it made Houston football enjoyable for 6.34 health seasons or so, gave the team a transcendent player and someone that bumped the defense to the next level at the start of his career and allowed them to build around him for the rest of it.

2. Trading up for Deshaun Watson—Houston was on its way to coming up with a Browns QB jersey of their own after Matt Schaub’s arm deflated. T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, Ryan Mallett, Tom Savage, Case Keenum, NAME REDACTED, Brian Hoyer, all were around being various shades of miserable. I mean, we spent an entire season watching Hoyer and Mallett quarterback roleplay like college freshmen who get take turns on every series. By trading up for Watson all of that ended. All of that pain was gone.

3. Trading for Matt Schaub—Sure the infrastructure around him and offensive scheme allowed him to flourish, but Schaub was a very good quarterback for three seasons without a defense, it all came together for a year until Albert Haynesworth ruined it all, and then his wings finally melted at the end of 2012.

4. Signing Arian Foster—Running backs are fungible. Life is meaningless. Blah blah blah. Sure that old fox Gary Kubiak would have been able to find a running back to have 1,000 yard seasons in his scheme, but they wouldn’t have been able to find one has lovely to watch, and could carry the team all on his own: see the 2011 Divisional Round v Baltimore.

5. Signing Johnathan Joseph—He’s still pretty much the team’s cornerback number one all these years later, and all those years long ago, he helped lead the defensive flip that took this team to the postseason and made this a complete football team.

Mike Bullock:

1. J.J. Watt - having watched the NFL for decades now, it’s hard to recall a single player who has done more for their team and their city than J.J. Watt. He ignited the core of the Texans defense and turned them into a unit to be feared, then won the hearts of fans BEFORE raising over $40 million to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. The city needs to erect a statue of Watt down in the museum district so people from all over the world that visit H-Town can see what a real hero and role model looks like.

2. Drafting Andre Johnson and then DeAndre Hopkins. Just like Watt, ‘Dre has made a huge impact on the field and off. His yearly Toys R Us trips with inner city kids is one of the best “feel good” football stories out there. Having him on the sideline to celebrate with his protege, Nuk is a win-win for all. While it’s hard for wide receivers to get into the NFL Hal of Fame, these two should both be a first year lock.

3. Signing Jonathan Joseph. Along with Watt, Joseph has helped lay the foundation for this defense for a very long time. While he’s not Deion Sanders or Rod Woodson, Joseph has been the epitome of the work-pail, get your job done cornerback. It’s too bad Houston hasn’t found a protege for him the way they did with Johnson and Hopkins.

4. Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips. The pairing of these two men took Houston from an expansion team wannabe to a playoff contender and the Texans have never looked back. With a few different twists and turns to the 2012 season those two could have been hoisting a Lombardi trophy in Houston instead of Denver.

5. The trade that brought Deshaun Watson to Houston. Being a Clemson fan, I knew how special Watson was, but had little hope Houston would take him and started to get on the Deshone Kizer train, thinking he had a better chance of being around when Houston picked. Then, all the negatives came out about Watson’s pitch speed and propensity for interceptions, etc. To all those who spread that #FakeNews, Watson is most likely saying “How ya like me now?” Dabo Swinney said passing on Watson was like passing on Michael Jordan - well the national audience found out last Monday night what the Michael Jordan of the NFL can do with the ball in his hands.

Jeremy Brener:

5) Drafting Deshaun Watson

4) Signing Arian Foster

3) Drafting DeAndre Hopkins

2) Drafting Andre Johnson

1) Drafting JJ Watt

The Texans’ success has always come through the draft. They have made some stellar draft picks over the years and that’s a big part as to why the team is strong now.

***

There’s our brightest moments, but there are many more. Which ones above do you love the most? What moves didn’t make our lists that you think should have?