Anthony Weaver has never been a defensive play-caller in the NFL, but he's been groomed for years to take over his new position.
Weaver, who had been the Texans defensive line coach since 2016, was promoted to defensive coordinator in January.
Texans head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien spoke about the promotion publicly for the first time Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
O'Brien said he spent a lot of time with Weaver and had interviewed him before about what he would do if he ever became the defensive coordinator. Weaver did a good job in those meetings, O'Brien said.
The Texans could use something different from 2019. They ranked 29th in passing defense, 25th in rushing defense, 27th in sacks and gave up the eighth-highest quarterback rating to the opposition.
Only the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions had fewer tackles for loss.
"Weave (Anthony Weaver) has a great presence. He was a former player and has coached for a long time, he's been in different schemes, he's done an excellent job with our D-line. He's been in front of the unit before because they divide up responsibilities during the week, so he's been in front of the unit before. He’s very smart, and the players have a lot of respect for Anthony and he's going to bring a lot of different ideas and creativity to our defense."
Weaver played as a defensive lineman under Rex Ryan for the Baltimore Ravens from 2002 to 2005 before joining the Texans as a free agent in 2006.
In 2010, he joined Urban Meyer's staff at Florida as a graduate assistant. Weaver became the linebackers coach at North Texas in 2011; assistant defensive line coach for the New York Jets in 2012, coaching under Ryan; defenisve line coach for the Buffalo Bills in 2013 and the same position later for the Cleveland Browns and Texans.