The Key To Offensive Success: Pep Hamilton

Pep Hamilton is getting another opportunity to be an offensive coordinator in the NFL. The last time Hamilton was an offensive coordinator in the league was with the Indianapolis Colts and Andrew Luck in 2015.

After the Colts moved on from Hamilton in 2015, he would go on to be the associate head coach and quarterbacks coach for the Cleveland Browns in 2016. In 2017, Hamilton signed a four-year deal with the Michigan Wolverines. A couple years later, Hamilton would receive the opportunity to be the head coach and general manager for the DC Defenders throughout the 2020 XFL season.

In 2020, Hamilton made his way back into the NFL and signed a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers to be their quarterback’s coach. Hamilton was a huge part of the success Justin Herbert had throughout his rookie year.

2021 had Hamilton on the move again, this time it was to Houston to be their new quarterbacks coach. Hamilton helped rookie Davis Mills in the same way he helped Justin Herbert throughout his rookie year. Mills clearly wasn’t ready in the beginning of the year to be the starting quarterback but when he received another opportunity to start after the benching of Tyrod Taylor, you could see the progression from Mills every single week. A large part of that success the second half of the year was due to the coaching of Hamilton.

This offseason, Lovie Smith was hired to be the new Houston Texans head coach and the first thing he did was promote Hamilton to offensive coordinator. Hamilton is highly respected around the league and had significant interest from at least five other teams. Hamilton decided to stick with Houston because he believes the Texans have something in Mills. If Mills takes another significant step forward in 2022, Hamilton could be getting head coaching opportunities in 2023.

The Texans offense was awful for a majority of 2021. Whether that was due to a lack of talent, poor play calling or a combination of both, the Texans knew they needed to make a change and they believe Hamilton could revitalize the Texans offense.

It’s been quite a while since Hamilton was an offensive coordinator in the league, therefore we won’t know too much about the specifics for what they will run offensively in 2022 until the season starts but it is safe to say they will find new creative ways to run the ball efficiently and build the offense around Mills strengths. Execution is key and with Hamilton’s broad coaching background and experience, the Texans offense is in good hands moving forward.

Hamilton has known about Mills since his high school football days and followed his career throughout Stanford. It’s safe to say that Hamilton and Mills will be on the same page. It will be fun to watch the two of them build the offense from the ground up and give the Texans offense a new identity.