The Browns are looking at a candidate from the Texans for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the club has put in a request to interview Texans defensive passing game coordinator Cory Undlin for the role.
Undlin, 54, has been with the Texans since 2023, when DeMeco Ryans was hired as head coach. He followed Ryans from the 49ers, where he’d served as pass game specialist and secondary coach.
Notably, Undlin worked under former Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz with the Eagles from 2016-2019 as the club’s defensive backs coach. Undlin also worked on the Jaguars’ staff alongside new Browns head coach Todd Monken from 2009-2010.
Monken has said that he’d like to keep the same scheme Schwartz ran in Cleveland’s previous regime. Undlin’s familiarity with Schwartz would ostensibly aid in that endeavor.
Nearly five years after the first civil lawsuit against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was filed, all of them have been resolved.
Via Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today, the last two of 27 lawsuits against Watson have been dismissed. They were due to go to trial in February and March 2026. The cases were dismissed with prejudice on January 6, an indication that the lawsuits were settled.
The plaintiffs accused Watson of misconduct during massage-therapy sessions.
One of the last remaining plaintiffs was one of the first. Lauren Baxley had previously refused to settle her claim.
Baxley’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, confirmed that the case is over.
“Case is settled,” Buzbee said Monday, via Schrotenboer. “That’s all I can say about it. That’s the last case, so that ends my involvement with Deshaun Watson litigation.”
Buzbee handled 26 of the 27 lawsuits. The situation began when Watson’s lawyers refused to engage in settlement discussions as to the first claim. That led to an avalanche of cases, resulting in a 10-game suspension for Watson in 2022.
Watson has yet to rediscover the form that had made him one of the best quarterbacks in the league. His last solid season came in 2020, when he threw for 4,823 yards with the Texans. He didn’t play in 2021 while awaiting a trade, and then he missed the first 10 games of the 2022 season. Along the way, the Browns gave Watson a five-year, $230 million contract, with every penny of it fully guaranteed.
He remains under contract through 2026. The Browns intend to keep him on the roster.
Texans defensive backs coach Dino Vasso has been a candidate for defensive coordinator openings since the end of the 2025 season, but it looks like he will be staying in Houston.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Vasso has agreed to a contract extension with the team.
Vasso interviewed with the Titans and Cardinals in recent weeks. Rapoport reports he was also on the list of candidates for the Browns and Raiders.
Vasso joined the Texans as a cornerbacks coach in 2021 and took on his current title ahead of the 2024 season. He worked for the Eagles and Chiefs before making the move to Houston.
Texans defensive backs coach Dino Vasso is a candidate to become the defensive coordinator in Arizona.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the Cardinals have requested an interview with Vasso. There was also word of interview requests on Wednesday for Giants outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen and Rams assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant.
The Titans spoke to Vasso about their coordinator job after hiring Robert Saleh, but they opted to go with Gus Bradley for that role.
Vasso has been in his current job since the 2024 season and he was the cornerbacks coach in Houston for the previous three seasons. He has also worked for the Eagles and Chiefs.
An employee of NRG Stadium has been charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy during a Texans game.
Via Click2Houston.com, 21-year-old Ushay Nixon is charged with indecency with a child by exposure, and attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14. The incident has also resulted in a lawsuit.
The incident occurred during the December 14 Cardinals-Texans game. The child had been escorted to the men’s restroom by his mother, who waited outside.
After the boy had used the facility, Nixon allegedly approached him. “He said he was washing his hands and that an employee approached him and told him to go into a stall,” the boy’s mother said. “And my son said, ‘I trusted him because he was a worker.’”
In the stall, Nixon allegedly locked the door and removed the child’s pants and underwear. The child became frightened and ran out of the stall, leaving the restroom.
Back at their seats, a bystander approached the boy’s mother, saying he had seen her son with an adult in the restroom and that the interaction “didn’t look right,” according to the lawsuit.
The boy and his father returned to the restroom. When the boy identified Nixon, he hid inside a storage closet, per USA Today.
Nixon later told police he’d asked the boy if he wanted to see Nixon’s Pokémon card collection, and that the boy became scared and ran away.
According to court records cited by Click2Houston.com, Nixon previously was charged with indecency with a child by exposure and indecent assault. The lawsuit, filed against Nixon, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services of Texas LLC, and ASM Global Parent Inc., accuses Aramark of failing to exercise reasonable care when hiring Nixon.
“We are aware of this very disturbing situation,” Aramark said in a statement. “The person in question is no longer employed with our organization, and we are fully cooperating with the authorities on their investigation.”
ASM Global, now known as Legends Global, manages the NRG Stadium facility. Neither NRG Stadium nor the Texans have been sued.
Nixon reportedly remains in custody, on $650,000 bond.
