The Houston Texans hire Nick Caserio as new general manager.
The Houston Texans, for the first time in over a year, have finally filled their major void at the general manager position with the hiring of Nick Caserio, who formally was the Director of Player Personnel with the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
Caserio spent 20 years within the Patriots organization, serving a variety of roles as he eventually ascended the ranks to become Bill Belichick’s right hand man and a significant leader within the organization.
Although the Houston Texans made Caserio’s hire as general manager official late this week, the news of his hiring spread Tuesday night. The initial reaction to the news of Caserio’s hiring was not received very positively as many Texans fans, and media members ripped Texans CEO Cal McNair’s decision to hire the former Patriots exec.
Adding more fuel to the very negative reaction to his hiring, the night that the news was released, Houston Texans starting quarterback Deshaun Watson posted a cryptic tweet stating:
"“Some things never change…”"
That tweet by Watson could be interpreted in many different ways, but there was an overall negative reaction by Houstonians to the news.
Next, we will be analyzing the Caserio hire as we discuss the positives and negatives of his presence on the Houston Texans front office.
Positives of Nick Caserio’s football resume
New Houston Texans GM Nick Caserio was one of the most experienced and knowledgeable general manager candidates available. His resume is certainly very impressive and difficult to overlook. He spent 20 years helping build one of the most formidable and legendary dynasties in NFL history.
Caserio played a key role in assembling the Patriots roster and making a plethora of key front office decisions that were critical to their several Super Bowl wins and their dominance within the league for the past two decades.
An important strength about Caserio is his vast experience within the NFL. After joining the Patriots in 2001 as a personnel assistant, Caserio steadily rose up the ranks in both executive and coaching levels.
From an executive standpoint, Caserio grew to become an area scout to the Director of Pro Personnel and then to the Director of Player Personnel in 2008, a post that he held until 2020. From a coaching standpoint, Caserio went from being an offensive coaching assistant in 2002 to a wide receivers coach in 2007.
This experience clearly shows how Caserio is strong in both an executive level and a front office capacity to the coaching realm as he will be able to talk and communicate with his players.
Houston Texans: Caserio’s positive traits as a leader
Nick Caserio’s reputation as a leader and his work ethic provides more towards his character and why he would be a great hire for the Houston Texans. Caserio, throughout his time as a member of the Patriots and even dating back to his time as a quarterback for John Carroll University, has been known to be the hardest worker in the room, always focused on his goals and always working towards success.
This culture of success and determination will be key in an uninspiring and unsuccessful Houston Texans front office. Caserio will bring the right attitude and outlook that can definitely inspire the Texans organization. Furthermore, Caserio has been known to be a well-respected and admirable person throughout the GM circles throughout the league.
This level of esteem and regard for Nick Caserio will be key in not only changing the terrible and lowly reputation that the Houston Texans have had for their moves in the past couple of years, but will also bring a culture of winning and respect towards the organization.
Caserio’s unique hands-on approach is something that will definitely be beneficial towards the Texans. Despite holding a high executive position with in New England, Caserio was known to be on the field watching players during Patriots practices and also sitting in the coaching booth during Patriots games.
That unique hands on approach will help create a level of accountability and trust within the Houston Texans organization as Caserio will serve as a liaison, bridging the players and front office together.
With a roster as talented as the Houston Texans, this hands-on approach will be significant in helping Caserio identify weaknesses, utilizing the strengths of his players, while also creating a friendly and cooperative environment where Texans are felt welcome within the organization.
Negatives of Caserio’s NFL Draft past
One main weakness of Nick Caserio in his general manager capacities would be his drafting abilities. Over the past eight years, the Patriots have drafted quite poorly as they have been unable to land good talent in the NFL Draft, especially during the first couple of important rounds.
Finding talent is incredibly important in building a franchise towards success. Especially for a franchise that lacks cap space and draft capital, it is critical that a front office is able to find good talent during the draft using their limited opportunities.
Caserio’s track record in the past has not indicated that he would be successful in such an important area of his job. An argument can be made as to how much those draft decisions were based upon Caserio or Belichick. Because the Patriots front office situation was so precarious in that Belichick played such an important role in the executive position, it is hard to differentiate between what was Caserio’s influence and what was Belichick’s influence.
Despite that, it is still important to note the weaknesses that Caserio has had in this department. If the Houston Texans can hire some strong scouting candidates and improve the holistic approach towards evaluating young collegiate talent, Caserio might be able to change his unsuccessful track record and ensure that the Texans have a strong future and foundation to build upon.
Another negative for Nick Caserio hiring
Another major negative about Nick Caserio is not even about himself, but rather the approach taken by Houston Texans owner/CEO Cal McNair.
McNair took a baffling route in hiring Caserio, an executive from the Patriots tree. Hiring from the Patriots organization has not been fruitful for the Houston Texans in the past as shown through Bill O’Brien and Jack Easterby, and hiring Caserio casts more doubt on this decision.
The Texans were in great need of building its own identity and starting with a clean slate. By hiring Caserio, McNair made a strong statement by simply refuting those needs as he, once again, tries to cultivate a winning culture by simply following the Patriots lead to try to emulate the Patriots franchise.
Furthermore, despite Easterby’s clear negative role within the organization and the calls by fans to fire Easterby, McNair simply ignored these pleas by hiring Caserio, which all but ensures that Easterby will hold an influential role within the organization.
Despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars by hiring Korn Ferry, an independent organization, McNair ignored all of those suggestions and went back to hire Caserio, a candidate that was not even on the Korn Ferry shortlist.
These decisions are just simply puzzling, making fans simply angry about the pure disregard for their pleas and the public request for a culture change by Texans players.
Overall Rating: 6/10
Despite Caserio’s strong resume and experience in bringing championships and winning culture, a big need for the Houston Texans was to get rid of Eaterby and his toxic culture.
The Caserio hire mostly guarantees that Easterby is here to stay making this hire have a bad taste in my mouth. Although Caserio is bound to be a great GM, I am appalled by the fact that the Texans failed to clean slate and start with a completely new culture.