Who is David Culley?

HOUSTON – The Houston Texans are finalizing a deal with Baltimore Ravens assistant head coach and passing game coordinator David Culley to become the team’s new head coach.

Culley may be well known around the league as a longtime NFL assistant but isn’t well known among casual fans. Here’s a guide to the new Texans head coach.

Long on experience

David Culley has been everywhere. Culley began his coaching career at various colleges around Tennessee before moving to Texas and working at UTEP and Texas A&M. Culley spent much of his career coaching for Andy Reid, working with Reid from 1999-2012 in Philadelphia, then 2013-2016 in Kansas City. Most recently, Culley coached quarterbacks in Buffalo from 2017-2018, then receivers again in Baltimore for the past two seasons.

Roles

Recently, Culley has been more of a wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. Culley has never been an offensive coordinator, and according to multiple reports has never called plays.

Culley’s recent work in Buffalo and Baltimore has both positives and negatives. A positive is that Culley helped build the groundwork for Josh Allen’s rise in 2020. The negative is Allen struggled his rookie year while directly coached by Culley. The positive in Baltimore is that Culley has been part of two winning playoff teams. The negative is that Baltimore is a run-based offense that has struggled in the passing game with quarterback Lamar Jackson.

What about Deshaun Watson?

According to the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, Watson knows Culley through last season’s Pro Bowl.

That is a positive step, as Watson has been reportedly upset with the team. Although it’s been reported Watson’s determined to leave regardless of the coaching hire.

Watson had reportedly asked the Texans to hire Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who coincidentally coached with Culley. Culley’s rapport with fans may be based more on if he can cool Watson off than anything else.