Bill O’Brien Getting A Five-Year Deal From Houston

Update:

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Texans have reach an agreement on a five-year deal with Bill O’Brien to be their next head coach.

McClain adds that he still doesn’t know the total value of the deal just yet. Those details should be available at some point in the near future.

————-

ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen are reporting that the Houston Texans have reached an agreement with Bill O’Brien to be their next head coach.

• Schefter adds that the Texans are expected to introduce O’Brien as their new head coach before Saturday.
• Other candidates for the Texans job included: former Bears HC Lovie Smith, interim HC Wade Phillips and Chargers OC Ken Whisenhunt. 

John McClain of Houston Chronicle reported earlier on Tuesday that Texans owner Bob McNair wanted to get a deal done with Bill O’Brien “as soon as possible” to prevent him from signing with another NFL team.

• The Detroit Lions were reported to have O’Brien atop their candidates list.

O’Brien’s contract was reworked to reduce his buyout should he depart for an NFL coaching job. Houston will have to pay Penn State $6.48 million to hire O’Brien.

O’Brien has been a hot name in connection to NFL head coaching jobs dating back to last season, but he elected to remain at Penn State and honor his commitment to the players. He had a 15-9 record for the Nittany Lions.

Before taking the Penn State job, O’Brien served as the Patriots quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator during the 2011 season. That year, New England had the No. 2 offense in the league, so it will be interesting to see what he’s capable of doing with the Texans roster in the coming years.

You could easily make the case that the Texans job is one of the more appealing openings in the NFL given that they do have talent on both sides of the ball and will have the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft. Finding a quarterback to build around will be their top priority this offseason.