Romeo

Crennel

Crennel, 74, who broke into the league as a special teams coach for the Giants in 1981, served as the Browns’ head coach from 2005 to 2008 and as Kansas City’s head coach in 2012. Crennel won three Super Bowls with the Patriots in the early 2000s as the team’s defensive coordinator. He’s been on Houston’s coaching staff since 2014. He was the team’s defensive coordinator until 2019, and most recently operated as the organization’s senior advisor for football performance.

As always with positive tests, the Texans will shut down its facilities and force the player who tested positive (to be revealed on tomorrow’s transactions wire) to keep at home. Any players who were deemed in close contact will also quarantine and be ruled out for Sunday due to the league’s five-day window. As it stands, Sunday’s contest between the Texans and Jaguars is still scheduled to occur.

O’Brien comically promoted himself to play-calling duties right before owner Cal McNair stepped in and ended the former’s reign of terror altogether. Romeo Crennel was promoted to interim coach effective immediately. O’Brien, +2,500 to be the first coach fired heading into the year, was reportedly not seeing “eye to eye” with EVP/character coach Jack Easterby, who remains close to McNair. Whatever the case, O’Brien leaves behind a mishmash of veteran pieces he (and only he) envisioned could contend long-term without a single dynamic rookie, DeAndre Hopkins, or a 2021 first- and second-round pick. It won’t be a blemish on Crennel’s resume if he’s unable to right the 0-4 wreckage left behind. Deshaun Watson’s desire to stay in Houston throughout his career is suddenly trending up.

Whatever that means. Crennel was not retained as defensive coordinator, with DL coach Anthony Weaver promoted to take his place. Crennel has been with the Texans since coach/GM/everything Bill O’Brien arrived in 2014. Five months shy of his 73rd birthday, Crennel served as “assistant head coach” in 2017 before once again taking the Texans’ defensive reins following Mike Vrabel’s departure for the Titans.

Crennel’s unit underachieved this year, allowing the league’s fifth-most yards per game. Houston couldn’t protect a 24-0 lead in last week’s Divisional Round loss to Kansas City, which saw the Chiefs score seven straight touchdowns en route to a 51-31 victory. With his contract set to expire, Crennel could consider retirement or perhaps staying on as a senior assistant. Per Pelissero, DL coach Anthony Weaver has emerged as the leading in-house candidate to replace Crennel as defensive coordinator.

Marvez adds that new coach Bill O’Brien has decided to let all of the assistants from Gary Kubiak’s staff out of their contracts, and that includes former defensive boss Wade Phillips. Crennel has been out of the league since “leading” the Chiefs to a 2-14 record in 2012. Long a two-gap 3-4 defensive coach, we hope Crennel doesn’t turn J.J. Watt into a block-occupying defensive lineman, and rather allows Watt to continue to create havoc.

Crennel, 66, was out of the league this season. New head coach Bill O’Brien and Crennel both have Patriots ties, but the two were never on the same staff. Crennel worked in New England from 2001-2004, while O’Brien was there from 2007-2011. Longtime beat writer John McClain mentioned Crennel. McClain doesn’t simply throw stuff against the wall and hope that it sticks. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport chimed in and agreed there’s a “good possibility” Crennel gets the gig. Crennel runs a 3-4 scheme.

The Texans finally make it official, inking Crennel to a three-year deal. It’s a natural fit as he runs the 3-4 scheme Wade Phillips used for the last three seasons and Crennel is a Bill Belichick disciple -- just like new offensive-minded head coach Bill O’Brien. Fueled by J.J. Watt, the former Browns and Chiefs head coach will have an excellent chance to turn around a Texans defense that gave up the eighth-most points in the league last year. They ranked seventh in yards allowed.

LBs coach Mike Vrabel is being promoted to defensive coordinator, but Crennel, whose contract expires next week, is expected to stay on staff. That way the Texans don’t lose any important coaches, and Vrabel gets a promotion out of it to keep him away from teams still searching for defensive play-callers. Crennel will turn 70 later this year (in June).

The question is important because Crennel just finished the final year of his contract in Houston. One of the best coordinators in the game, re-signing Crennel should be one of the Texans’ first priorities this offseason, and it sounds like coach Bill O’Brien knows it. “I can tell you Romeo is a great coach and just means a lot to me personally,” O’Brien said. “We would love to have Romeo back here.” The two sides should work something out.