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Rick Smith enters his fourth season as Texans general manger after being named to the post on June 5, 2006. The Texans have accumulated 22 wins over the three seasons since 2006, giving him the most wins for a general manager in Texans history. Houston has posted 16 wins over the last two seasons, which ranks fifth among AFC teams.

As general manager, Smith oversees all aspects of football operations, salary cap management and budgeting. He works closely with the coaching and scouting staffs to build the club roster via free agency as well as overseeing the annual college draft.

Smith has assembled a front office staff that has the Texans pointed towards sustained success in the NFL. Smith has established himself as a prominent voice around the league in his three years at the helm with the Texans. Smith was honored 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 that 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 game before being appointed to the NFL’s prestigious eight-man Competition Committee by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Dec. 5, 2008. Watch video

In 2008, the Texans had to overcome the devastation of Hurricane Ike, which ravaged the Gulf Coast region during Week 2 of the NFL season. Smith and his staff were forced to keep the Texans moving forward during this difficult time, adjusting schedules, stadium repairs and changing travel plans during the regular season. Despite the 0-4 start the Texans earned their second consecutive 8-8 seasons by winning eight of their final 12 games. The Texans became the 10th team in NFL history to start a season 0-4 and finish at .500 or better. 

Smith has assembled a team that has closed the season by winning seven out of nine games in the month of December over the last two seasons, the fourth-most in the NFL. In his first big move as general manager, Smith acquired QB Matt Schaub via trade from the Atlanta Falcons during the 2007 offseason. Schaub has paid off by posting a 90.3 QB rating and ranks fourth in the NFL with a 66.2 completion percentage since arriving in Houston. Schaub led the NFL in passing yards in December in 2008 with 1,281 yards and had a 95.2 QB rating while guiding Houston to a 4-1 record in December.  Houston’s four wins were the most wins in team history in a month.

Ever since his arrival, Smith’s main philosophy has been to build through the draft. The Texans drafted DT Amobi Okoye in the first round of Smith’s initial draft as general manager in 2007. Okoye started 14 games as a rookie and was named the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month in September 2007 when he set a Texans record for sacks in a month with four. During his career, Okoye has appeared in 30 games with 26 starts. In the third round that year, the Texans drafted WR Jacoby Jones, who is the only player in Texans history to return multiple punts for touchdowns in a single season, returning a pair for scores in 2008. CB Fred Bennett, the team’s fourth-round selection in 2007, leads the team with five interceptions over the past two seasons. 
 
Smith  executed a trade to move back eight spots in the first round of the 2008 draft to select LT Duane Brown with the 26th pick and picked up additional third- and sixth-round picks where Houston found value. Brown became the first rookie to start all 16 games on the Texans offensive line since G Chester Pitts accomplished the feat in 2002. With the additional pick in the third round, Smith selected RB Steve Slaton, who re-wrote the Texans rushing records. He became the first Texan to lead all rookies in rushing by accumulating 1,282 yards, became the first to rush for 100-yards in three consecutive games and led the AFC in yards from scrimmage with 1,659. Slaton led the NFL with 687 yards from scrimmage in December en route to being named the NFL Rookie of the Month. Slaton and Okoye are the only teammates drafted over the last two years to be awarded with the honor. 

This offseason, the Texans acquired DE Antonio Smith from the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals to balance the Texans defensive front four. Last year, the 27-year-old Smith played in all 16 games and started 10 for the NFC Champion Cardinals and recorded 31 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Smith started three of the Cardinals’ four playoff games, including Super Bowl XLII, and notched eight tackles (seven solos), a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

The Texans added an additional fourth round draft pick when they dealt QB Sage Rosenfels to the Minnesota Vikings. Houston signed QB Dan Orlovsky as their primary backup from the Detroit Lions. Orlovsky spent the first four seasons of his career with the Detroit Lions. He has completed 150-of-272 career pass attempts for 1,679 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has appeared in 12 games with seven starts in his career.

In the 2009 draft, Smith greatly improved the Texans' defense by using the team’s first two selections on LB Brian Cushing and DE Connor Barwin. Cushing, the team’s first-round selection, was a consensus first team All-American from USC. He started 38 of 44 games for the Trojans, finishing his career with 178 tackles (101 solos) that included 8.5 quarterback sacks for minus 57 yards, 27.0 stops for losses totaling 106 yards, two pressures, one interception, 12 pass deflections and two blocked punts. 

Barwin was selected in the second round and is a versatile athlete who made a successful transition to defensive end from tight end during his senior year. He recorded 53 tackles (27 solos) and led the team and Big East while ranking tied for seventh in the nation with 12.0 sacks for minus 74 yards. His 12.0 sacks rank third on the school season-record list. 

In his former role with the Broncos, Smith was responsible for evaluating players from around the NFL, as well as those in NFL Europe, the Canadian Football League, the Arena Football League and other professional leagues. He also played a central role in the club’s preparation for the college draft and was one of the Broncos’ primary negotiators for player contracts.

With Smith heading the pro personnel department, the Broncos posted the league’s fifth-best regular-season record from 2000-05, going 61-35 (.635). The 61 wins were the most of any AFC West team over that span, 10 more than the next closest team, Kansas City. Not surprisingly, Denver was one of only four teams in the NFL to reach the playoffs each season from 2003-05.

Before moving into the front office, Smith spent four years as the Broncos’ assistant defensive backs coach and earned two Super Bowl rings while helping guide a unit that consistently ranked as one of the league’s best. The team won more games from 1996-98 (46) than any club in NFL history over a three-year period.

Smith joined the Broncos on April 3, 1996, following a two-year stint as defensive backs coach at his alma mater, Purdue University. He left Purdue in February to accept a coaching position at TCU but spent just one month at the school before being hired by the Broncos.

A 1992 graduate of Purdue, Smith began his coaching career with the Boilermakers shortly after his graduation, serving as the school’s assistant strength and conditioning coordinator as a grad assistant. After serving as the team’s tight ends coach for one season, Smith was hired as the secondary coach, becoming the youngest position coach in the Big Ten Conference at the time at the age of 24.

Smith was a starter at strong safety and defensive captain for Purdue as a senior in 1991. A native of Petersburg, Va., he attended Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio. Smith also is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Smith and his wife, Tiffany, live in Houston with sons Robert LaMar and Christian LaMar and daughter Avery Jordan.