Bill O’Brien planning offensive overhaul to suit Deshaun Watson

Now that the Houston Texans know what quarterback Deshaun Watson can do, they’re happy to build their entire offense around him.

That’s coach Bill O’Brien’s goal this offseason — retool the offense to best suit his young quarterback and the other skill players at his disposal, such as wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

“It’s a very big project but it’s a lot of fun,” O’Brien told PFT Live, via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk. “It’s fun to get in there with the offensive staff and figure out how we can do things differently than we’ve done in the past. I think you have to be willing to change in this league relative to the talent you have. Deshaun has a unique skill set at the position and we’re looking at his skill set as well as Hopkins, Will Fuller, Lamar Miller, D’Onta Foreman, Ryan Griffin some of the other guys we have on offense and really trying to put it all together.”

Part of the thinking will be figuring out how to best protect Watson from injury.

“Deshaun has a style of play that allows himself to stay out of trouble most of the time,” O’Brien said. “He knows when to slide, he knows when to duck out of bounds, he’s got a good instinct for the game. The other thing we’ve tried to do is improve the offensive line and that’s something we’re going to continue to try to do. We have to do a better job of protection. We have to coach it better, we have to play better. I think that’s going to help him.”

Watson appears to be ahead of schedule in his return from injury. When he’s ready, he’ll apparently find a new offense tailor-made for him.