No one can accuse of the Houston Texans of being soft.
According to Dan Graziano from ESPN, Texans coach Lovie Smith was fined $50,000 due to prohibited one-on-one drills between the offensive and defensive lines during organized team activities.
It is plausible that the rules changed between the last time Smith led an NFL team with the 2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was a different collective bargaining agreement than the one that was agreed upon in 2020. However, Smith was in the league as the Texans’ defensive coordinator and associate head coach last year under David Culley.
Rough OTAs and performance in the regular season do not always correlate. The Jacksonville Jaguars were similarly hit in 2021 for OTAs infractions, but ended up firing coach Urban Meyer en route to a 3-14 finish.
There is a common theme between the Jaguars’ fine and the Texans’: new offensive line coach George Warhop, who coached in the same capacity for Jacksonville from 2019-21. However, the Jaguars’ 2021 violation involved the receivers and defensive backs, not the offensive line.
