Why Lovie Smith may face an unfairly short leash in Houston, plus grading all of the NFL's head coaching hires

Happy Tuesday, everyone.

Let's get right to it.

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Good morning to everyone but especially to...

DENNIS ALLEN

The New Orleans Saints have their new coach, and it's an old friend. Dennis Allen, who has spent the last six years as the team's defensive coordinator will reportedly take over as head coach in the Big Easy. Allen has previous experience as a head coach.

He went 8-28 in charge of the Raiders from 2012-2014 and was fired after an 0-4 start to the 2014 season. It was a tough time in Oakland as the team was reeling from former owner and GM Al Davis' death. It's Allen's work as an assistant that earned this job. He returned to New Orleans in 2015 as a defensive assistant, was elevated to interim defensive coordinator late that season and served as full-time defensive coordinator since.

Over the last two seasons, Allen's defense ranks:

First in yards per rush allowedTied for second in interceptionsThird in yards per play allowedFourth in passer rating allowed

The Saints have plenty of stalwarts on the defensive side of things, including defensive lineman Cameron Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis and cornerback Marshon Lattimore. They nearly made the playoffs in 2021 despite starting four different quarterbacks. Outside of that, there's lots for Allen to tackle, writes NFL guru Cody Benjamin:

Benjamin: "While Allen is vaunted for his defensive work, he takes over a roster with a number of big-picture questions following a 9-8 season... The Saints are currently projected to be at least $75 million over the 2022 salary cap, and they also have no clear answers at quarterback, where injured starter Jameis Winston is scheduled to hit free agency."

Honorable mentions

And not such a good morning for...

THE HOUSTON TEXANS

Listen, before I get too far into this, I want to congratulate Lovie Smith for getting another NFL head-coaching opportunity seven years after his last one. After all, there are only 32 of them on Earth, and Smith should be proud and excited to have one.

Having said that, the Houston Texans just finished one of the most perplexing hiring processes in recent memory, and the result is a guy who went 8-24 in his last head NFL gig (with the Buccaneers) and 17-39 in his last head gig anywhere (at Illinois) and wasn't even in the running for this job until after Houston had reportedly narrowed it down to two finalists -- neither of whom were him.

To recap, the Texans initially interviewed five candidates:

Former Dolphins coach Brian FloresFlorida Atlantic University special assistant Hines WardChargers offensive coordinator Joe LombardiFormer NFL QB Josh McCownEagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon

They narrowed that field to three -- Flores, McCown and Gannon -- and then just Flores and McCown. But then the Texans ran into a conundrum:

So in comes Smith, who was the Texans' associate head coach and defensive coordinator last season. This comes less than a month after Houston came under fire for firing David Culley after just one season at the helm. The Texans were likely looking for someone who could turn the page in what may be the post-Deshaun Watson era and kickstart a true rebuild.

Instead, they narrowed it down to two candidates, both of whom it couldn't really hire, and backtracked to an experienced stabilizer who wasn't on the radar for head-coaching opportunities elsewhere: basically what Culley was last season. Unfortunately for Smith (and Texans fans), I fear he may suffer a similar fate to Culley, too.

The Texans remain in the very early stages of a massive organizational overhaul, and unless Smith produces extraordinary results, he could face an unfairly short leash. For those reasons and more, the hiring earned a "D" grade from NFL expert Cody Benjamin; you can check out all of his grades here.