{"id":744536,"date":"2026-02-11T10:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/744536\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T10:36:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:36:01","slug":"dino-vasso-turns-down-potential-dc-options-to-return-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/744536\/","title":{"rendered":"Dino Vasso turns down potential DC options to return in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 8, 2026, 12:37 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

Despite interest from other programs, Houston Texans<\/a> defensive backs coach Dino Vasso<\/a> is coming back in 2026.<\/p>\n

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport<\/a>, Vasso will pull his name out of consideration for both the Cleveland Browns<\/a>‘ defensive coordinator position and the same title with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>. While an interview was never officially set up in Cleveland or Las Vegas, the Texans<\/a>‘ longtime assistant won’t take on his first chance to serve as a defensive coordinator in his career.<\/p>\n

Per Rapoport, the Texans<\/a> plan to give Vasso a contract extension, thus upping his pay without the total responsibilities. He is still expected to have a prominent role under the current staff entering 2026 after a dominant season by his secondary.<\/p>\n

Vasso, 38, has spent the last five seasons on Houston’s staff. When the Texans<\/a> elected to hire DeMeco Ryans from San Francisco, Vasso was retained from Lovie Smith’s former staff.<\/p>\n

Ryan, who enters his fourth season as the Texans’ head coach, previously spent several seasons working under now Titans<\/a> head coach Robert Saleh as the Niners’ linebackers coach. According to Rapoport, Moken wants to bring in an assistant with a background under defensive coordinator Matt Burke.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Texans will retain Vasso, defensive passing game coordinator Cory Undlin was also discussed as a potential option for Todd Monken’s staff following his hiring.<\/p>\n

Since his promotion to defensive backs coach, Vasso has produced one of the league’s best secondaries. Working alongside All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr., nickel defender Jalen Pitre, rising star safety Calen Bullock and potential Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter, the Texans bolstered the league’s top-ranked defense this past fall.<\/p>\n

Amid a 12-win campaign, the Texans’ defense ranked second in points allowed and first in fewest yards, allowing just 277.2 yards per game. They also ranked second in takeaways, with four different defenders totaling at least four interceptions.<\/p>\n

The Texans will pick 28th in the NFL draft this April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 8, 2026, 12:37 p.m. CT Despite interest from other programs, Houston Texans defensive backs coach Dino Vasso…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[95878,7,221,253,2368,6,96520,96521,95882,97087,98553,95957,96679,96723,95953,101571,101059,95885,95896,95888,95895,95906,95975,96177,95884,95883,222,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-744536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sstssportsnfltexans","15":"tag-sstsntexans","16":"tag-tagamerican-football","17":"tag-tagbreaking-news-social","18":"tag-tagcalen-bullock","19":"tag-tagcleveland-browns","20":"tag-tagdemeco-ryans","21":"tag-tagderek-stingley-jr","22":"tag-taghouston-texans","23":"tag-tagjalen-pitre","24":"tag-tagkamari-lassiter","25":"tag-taglas-vegas-raiders","26":"tag-tagnational-sports","27":"tag-tagnfl","28":"tag-tagnfl-hub","29":"tag-tagoverall-positive","30":"tag-tagrobert-saleh","31":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","32":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","33":"tag-tagsports-news","34":"tag-texans","35":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}