In all seriousness...What role did McNair play when everything was taking place with the first regime? For some reason throughout this discussion the whole Phillip Buchanon situation keeps popping in my head. If I recall Casserly had watched like one video on him before making the deal to bring him to Houston.
There is some dispute on this point.
McNair said that the Texans only watched 4 Buchanon tapes in 2004. Here is the
infamous McNair wanting to be more hands on article which is the only time he has ever blown up the team or a player in the newspaper.
For instance, McNair wasn't told Buchanon didn't like tackling people. Because his football staff apparently didn't know or didn't think it was worth mentioning.
At least that's what McNair was told. Had Casserly and his people taken the time to read Bay Area newspapers, they would have known Buchanon didn't care for contact. It was no secret in Oakland.
Nor was it mentioned to McNair that Buchanon had problems covering wide receivers, which can lead to real problems for a cornerback.
He was beaten so often by Brett Favre in one prime-time 2003 contest that he was removed from the lineup during the game. McNair said he learned of this problem only after he began asking tough questions.
Turns out, the Texans watched only four of Buchanon's 2004 games. McNair was flabbergasted.
How could such an important decision be based on so little information? Because the Texans were in a hurry. Because Al Davis hurried them to the church.
With the Redskins rumored to be in the hunt for Buchanon, the Texans acted too quickly. They traded for a player who wasn't what he thought he was.
"I think everyone blew it," McNair said. "If you're going to give up high draft choices for a player, you'd better be thorough. If you don't have enough time, you say, 'Sorry, we're not done with our due diligence.' That's what happens when you're too eager. We had a need, and we were too eager to fill it."
Charlie Casserly on the radio afterwards said that this was not true. The Texans did watch a lot of tape on Buchanon and knew what they were getting.
He said that they believed they were getting a light-hitting, speedy cover corner. They believed that they could coach him up through his deficiencies.
I do not know for a fact that this is the case, but I believe it is likely that Hoke had a lot to do with Buchanon being picked. That the Texans had a need, and Hoke believed he could coach him up. Typically, a lot of the personnel choices of the Texans in the past were picks begged by the assistant coaches. It is possible, however, that CC just wanted to screw the Redskins out of the trade, and pulled the trigger too soon, but I think my first blather on this fits the MO of last year's Texans more: the assistants acted as advocates to get certain players, and CC deferred a lot to coaching requests.
That Chronic article is probably one of the few in depth looks at what sort of owner McNair aspires to be. Obviously, he let his football people make the decision on the first pick.
would have threatened kubiak's ego.
