The Houston Texans seemingly plateaued in the 2024 season, being good enough to win a lowly AFC South and a playoff game but not good enough to pose a true threat against the elite teams in the conference.
That makes this a pivotal offseason, especially as C.J. Stroud gets closer to the end of his bargain of a rookie contract. Houston needs to nail this draft and continue to stockpile young talent so that when their core gets expensive extensions, they're still able to field a quality 53-man roster.
They've done a tremendous job building a foundation, though could use a fresh voice to help in 2025. One former interim general manager and director of scouting just became available and the Texans should at least have a meeting with him.
The #Raiders and assistant GM Champ Kelly have mutually agreed to part ways, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 17, 2025
New GM John Spytek is making over the front office and Kelly, the onetime Raiders interim GM, will pursue opportunities elsewhere.
Texans Should Inquire About Former Raiders Exec Champ Kelly
The Las Vegas Raiders parted ways this week with assistant Champ Kelly. He'd been with the organization since 2022, serving as an assistant general manager and then interim general manager in 2023.
He has extensive experience in scouting, serving as the Chicago Bears director of pro scouting and assistant director of player personnel. Prior to joining Chicago, he began as a college scout with the Denver Broncos and was promoted to the same assistant director of player personnel role he held with the Bears.
Since 2007, Kelly has been involved in evaluating talent to some degree. Houston has a quality front office, though it never hurts to get an experienced voice like Kelly's in the room. Things didn't go well in Las Vegas for him overall, yet it's hard to blame him for that franchise's constant incompetence.
It's not clear if Kelly would be interested in a position with the Texans, but it's at least worth finding out. There's something missing to put Houston over the top. Perhaps Kelly could be the missing ingredient.