The Houston Texans have hired Nick Caserio to be their general manager. Caserio, 45, has spent his entire career with the New England Patriots, arriving in 2001 and serving as director of player personnel since 2008.
Caserio will reunite with Jack Easterby, who spent six seasons in New England before becoming Houston’s vice president of football operations in 2019.
But Easterby, Houston Chronicle NFL reporter John McClain said, was not responsible for Caserio’s hire.
“He has not made a decision in this organization,” McClain said on The Zach Gelb Show. “I’m amazed at the national media that doesn’t understand what he does here. He’s never had the power to make a decision. He worked for Bill O’Brien. Every decision that was made was signed off on by O’Brien. As the interim GM, the only thing he did was work with the coaching staff and the personnel department to get practice-squad players [and] sign free agents recommended by them. So it’s amazing to me how people think he’s got all this power when he’s never made a decision.
“Now Caserio is coming in here,” McClain continued, “and like Easterby was with O’Brien, he will be his right-hand man and handle the things that Caserio doesn’t want to do. Not personnel – that’s Caserio’s responsibility, just as it was O’Brien’s responsibility.”
Still, there are those who find Easterby’s NFL rise peculiar. McClain, however, does not.
“Peculiar? No, because I know exactly what’s going [on],” he said. “I know what the situation is here. I’m not making this up. I remember before they played New England and I did talk shows and pregame TV, I was amazed, and I had to explain to them, ‘Guys, you’re giving him way too much credit from what he deserves based on what he’s done here, all behind the scenes, all not making decisions, working for other people – and that’s a fact.”
Now that they have a GM, the Texans, who went 4-12 this season, need to find a head coach.
“I think it could be Brian Daboll,” McClain said of Buffalo’s offensive coordinator. “He worked with Caserio for years, won five Super Bowls; Caserio had six. I know they really like Jim Caldwell. They have others: [Colts defensive coordinator] Matt Eberflus, [Titans offensive coordinator] Arthur Smith. I hope they interview [49ers defensive coordinator] Robert Saleh. So they’ve got a long way to go in their coaching search.”