Rick Smith oversees all football-related operations and the player acquisition process as Houston Texans Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager. Smith is in his 12th season as General Manager and seventh as Executive Vice President of Football Operations.
Named general manager by owner Bob McNair on June 5, 2006, Smith’s appointment made him the youngest general manager in the NFL at 36. Since then, Smith has assembled and led a football operations staff that prides itself on providing players and coaches with the tools needed for success on and off the field.
Smith’s leadership, vision and success have garnered recognition by the league. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appointed Smith to the NFL’s prestigious Competition Committee on Dec. 5, 2008. His peers honored him with the Tank Younger Award in 2008, presented annually by the Fritz Pollard Alliance for outstanding work in an NFL front office. Smith was an original member of the General Managers Advisory Committee, which provides advice and other feedback to the NFL Football Operations department on the integrity of the game, expansion of technology and other ways to improve the league.
The Texans are coming off three straight winning seasons for the first time in franchise history and have won back-to-back AFC South Division championships for the second time under Smith. The Texans’ four division titles over the last six seasons are the fourth most in the NFL during that span and their 14 division wins since 2014 are tied with Kansas City for the most in the league. Houston posted a 5-1 record against AFC South opponents in 2016, which tied the best single-season winning percentage against the division in team history.
Houston advanced to the AFC Divisional Round for the first time since 2012 and finished last season with the NFL’s top-ranked defense for the first time in franchise history, surrendering an average of only 301.3 total net yards per game. Of the 20 players who started at least one game on defense for the Texans last season, 15 were either drafted by the Texans or signed as a college free agent. The team also posted a 7-1 record at home during the regular season, which set a single-season franchise record and tied for the best home record in the NFL.
Former No.1 overall pick DE Jadeveon Clowney earned Pro Bowl honors for the first time in his career after posting personal bests in tackles (52), sacks (6.0), tackles for loss (16), quarterback hits (17) and games played/started (14). Second-year ILB Benardrick McKinney led the Texans and finished 11th in the NFL (sixth in the AFC) with a single-season career-high 129 tackles, making him the only player in the NFL in 2016 and the second in Texans history with at least 100 tackles and 5.0 sacks in a season.
On offense, the Texans finished with the eighth-most rushing yards in the NFL in 2016, averaging 116.2 per game. RB Lamar Miller, who was signed as a free agent in the 2016 offseason, became the fourth player in franchise history with a 1,000 yards rushing in a season. As a team over the last three seasons, Houston ranks third in the AFC and sixth in the NFL in rushing yards.
From day one, Smith and his staff rolled up their sleeves and scoured the free agent, draft and trade markets for players who would thrive with the Texans, solely focused on transforming their 2-14 team in 2005 into a perennial contender. The transformation culminated in back-to-back AFC South crowns and the franchise’s first two playoff berths in 2011 and 2012.
Smith and his staff have been able to adapt and find the right personnel to fit changing schemes and coaching staffs throughout his tenure. He was faced with both heading into the 2014 season following a disappointing 2013 season. However, the Texans posted the greatest single-season turnaround in franchise history and became the sixth team in the last 36 years to post a winning record of 9-7 after having two wins or less the previous season.
Houston also forced a franchise-record 34 turnovers in 2014 and became the third team in the last 20 years to lead the NFL in takeaways after finishing last the year before. On offense, the Texans’ 135.1 rushing yards per game ranked fifth in the NFL and was the second-highest mark in franchise history.
This past spring, in his 11th draft with the Texans and fourth with Head Coach Bill O’Brien, Smith selected seven players who fit the credo he established when he arrived in Houston, “We’re looking for tough, smart, physical players with high character who are competitive and passionate about football.”
The Texans traded up 13 spots in the first round to select QB Deshaun Watson (12th overall) from Clemson. Houston drafted ILB Zach Cunningham (57th overall) from Vanderbilt in the second round and RB D’Onta Foreman from Texas with the 89th overall pick in the third round. Houston took Bucknell T Julién Davenport with their first selection in the fourth round (130th overall) and Clemson DE Carlos Watkins with their second fourth round pick (142nd overall). Oregon State CB Treston Decoud was the Texans fifth-round pick (169th overall) then Houston closed their draft by taking Baylor C Kyle Fuller in the seventh round (243rd overall).
Collectively, the Texans’ current roster, all acquired by Smith, has earned 20 Pro Bowl selections, 21 first- or second-team Associated Press All-Pro distinctions, three Defensive Player of the Year awards and one Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
Watt, the 11th overall pick in 2011, has already tied an NFL record with three Defensive Player of the Year awards (2012, 2014 and 2015) and became the first player in NFL history to have 20.0-or-more sacks in separate seasons. Hopkins, who was taken 27th in 2013, has the second most catches (317) and third most receiving yards (4,487) in NFL history for a player age 24 or younger. Hopkins also has the most receptions and receiving yards by a Texans player in the first four years of his career. Cushing was selected 15th overall in 2009 and went on to be named the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and earn second-team All-Pro honors in 2011. Brown (26th overall in 2009) has been widely considered one of the best left tackles in the NFL and is the first lineman in franchise history to earn All-Pro recognition, doing so in 2011 and 2012.
Smith places a premium on college free agents. The most well-known college free agent success story in Texans history is former RB Arian Foster. Undrafted out of Tennessee in 2009, Foster signed with Houston and spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad. Foster started 2010 with a 231-yard effort against Indianapolis and went on to have the best season ever by an undrafted running back, winning the 2010 rushing title, All-Pro honors and the first of three consecutive Pro Bowl nods. He rose from practice squad player to one of the most complete backs in the NFL and the franchise’s all-time leading rusher with 6,472 yards (2009-15).
Smith joined the Broncos on April 3, 1996, following a two-year stint as defensive backs coach at his alma mater, Purdue University. He spent a short time at TCU prior to joining the Broncos.
A 1992 graduate of Purdue, Smith began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Boilermakers, serving as the school’s assistant strength and conditioning coordinator. After serving as the team’s graduate assistant tight ends coach for one season, Smith was hired as the secondary coach, becoming the youngest full-time position coach in the Big Ten Conference at the time at the age of 24. In 2012, Smith was honored by his alma mater with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Smith started at strong safety and was a defensive captain for Purdue as a senior in 1991. A native of Petersburg, Va., he attended Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio. Smith is also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Smith supports several schools in the community, including The Awty International School and The Regis School of the Sacred Heart, and serves on the Board of Directors for Pro-Vision Academy, a charter school that provides young people in the greater Houston area with academic, social and economic opportunities in hopes of inspiring purpose and optimism. He and his wife, Tiffany, co-chaired the charter school’s first Cornerstone Luncheon in May 2014, helping raise more than $300,000 at the event. The Smith Family also gives time and resources to many other local charities throughout Houston, including the Linda Lorelle Scholarship Fund, Susie Bean Gives, the United Way and the Children’s Museum of Houston.
Rick and Tiffany Smith live in Houston with their sons, Robert LaMar and Christian LaMar, and daughter, Avery Jordan.