It's no secret that your Houston Texans need to add a wide receiver or two to their receiving corps. Outside of Andre Johnson, there is no consistent playmaker, plus the group as a whole lacks young talent. However, a misconception that I have seen on message boards, comments sections, and Twitter is that the Texans need to draft Super-Fast Wide Receiver with a 4.3 40-yard dash because they need a fast deep-threat in this offense.



To those who hold this line of thought, I have one thing to say to you: Stop. You're lacking a basic understanding of what kind of offense is being run by your chosen professional football franchise.



I don’t intend for that to come off as mean-sounding, but hearing this chatter pick up is beginning to drive me up a wall because it's not adding to the draft conversation and I absolutely love the West Coast Offense. I mean, I grew up thinking that Bill Walsh was an unadulterated genius for his design, which focuses more on timing and precision than pure athletic ability. My childhood doesn't bias me beyond comprehension, as Walsh’s teachings are so good that his coaching tree has produced 13 of the last 29 Super Bowl champions, plus another 11 conference champions to boot (not to mention that five of the final eight coaches from this season's playoffs are branches on the Walsh tree).



As we shift into draft season, we all need to understand what makes this offense tick in order to get an idea of who may become a Texan in April. Consider the post-jump a look at the West Coast Offense and what you need to be looking for in a wide receiver.

At the start, I would like to define what the West Coast Offense is. This isn't a constant deep ball, score quick offense, and we don't see that on the field. At its simplest, a West Coast Offense is a ball-control offense that relies on that magical 4.0 yards per carry rushing average and a 62-70% passing completion rate to methodically move down the field, rack up first downs, and chew up the clock. This is why you’ll often hear head coach Gary Kubiak bemoaning the lack of offensive opportunity/number of plays in a loss.



