O'Brien the general manager seems to react personally and with hostility to player demands for more money. That's a counterproductive tendency for a general manager, whose job includes handling player demands for more money.
Of course, O'Brien isn't a full-time general manager. He's also the head coach. Head coaches don't want to hear about money or holdouts; they want to (to borrow a phrase from every coach ever asked about a player holding out during camp)
focus on the guys who are here. O'Brien appears to have a hard time switching hats, which would be more excusable if he wore the head-coaching hat well at all.
In 2018, the Texans went 11-5 with Hopkins, Clowney, Watson and
J.J. Watt leading an otherwise ordinary roster before O'Brien became team emperor. Last year, they went 10-6 with Hopkins, Watson and Watt leading the charge. This year, they are down to Watson and Watt, with no first-round pick thanks to Tunsil.
What happens if Tunsil begins exercising his leverage as the player O'Brien mortgaged the future for? What happens if the Watson contract situation turns into something Dak Prescott-like? Will O'Brien trade them both in a fit of pique for middle-round picks and spare parts? Could Watt lead the Texans to a 9-8 record and the seventh wild-card slot (see how seamlessly we adjusted to the new CBA rules?) supported by nobody but running backs named D. Johnson?
Even O'Brien cannot be so shortsighted that he would continue dealing away assets for pennies on the dollar. But the Texans are clearly an organization with no plan whatsoever, and O'Brien doesn't appear to realize just how hard it is to replace talent like Hopkins and Clowney. Hopkins was nearly irreplaceable for a playoff team with no other top-tier offensive weapons and no first-round pick with which to grab one. He knew it. We knew it. O'Brien didn't.