After another disastrous three-game opening stretch to begin an NFL season, the Houston Texans are stuck wondering about where they could've possibly gone wrong after an offseason full of hype, rebranding, purposeful roster alterations, painful familial loss and ultimately, Super Bowl aspirations.
While blame has found offensive coordinator Nick Caley (don't worry, his article will be next), head coach DeMeco Ryans, quarterback C.J. Stroud and even special teams coordinator Frank Ross, the one executive who's managed to avoid the bulk of public criticism is that of general manager Nick Caserio. Being hired in 2021, Caserio was tasked with helping navigate a disaster of an organization even back then, which included reworking a butchered salary cap structure (thanks Bill O'Brien) and fixing an anemic roster (again, thanks O'Brien), while helping set the course for the return of prosperous football in the city of Houston once again.
After hiring and firing multiple head coaches (David Culley, Lovie Smith) and cycling through a small continent's worth of players and position coaches, it finally seemed like Caserio struck gold when he landed on Ryans as the head man, Stroud as the signal caller of the future and All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr. as the "J.J. Watt" of a new generation of franchise defenders.
Except, after a second consecutive 0-3 start to a season (2025-2026), Caserio's previous tenure and long-term viability as of today are under more scrutiny than ever before. And if ownership is really serious about not wasting one of the more successful rebuilds of the modern era, the team's recent failures may lead to Caserio being shown the door in the offseason at the latest.
The Houston Texans may be forced to let Nick Caserio walk in the offseason after a potential disaster of a season
For the sake of organization, let's go through various components of Caserio's tenure in Houston thus far, as well as how each piece helps to complete the current puzzle of where the organization should stand on the former Patriots executive moving forward.
Nick Caserio cleans up Bill O'Brien/Jack Easterby's mess from 2021-2023
For his first act, Caserio had to pick up the pieces after the smoldering trash heap of a chronically problematic run of both former Texans head coach/general manager Bill O'Brien and former Executive VP of Football operations Jack Easterby. From the roster construction, to the salary cap, Caserio had to spend his first season or two rebuilding the team from the ground up.
In 2021 we saw Caserio's very first draft pick be former Stanford quarterback Davis Mills (third-rounder) and his follow-up selection be former Michigan wide receiver Nico Collins (third-rounder). From then on, we saw Caserio snag both All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley (third-overall pick) and hard-hitting safety Jalen Pitre (second-rounder) in the 2022 draft and quarterback C.J. Stroud (second-overall pick), defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (third-overall pick), wide receiver Tank Dell (third-rounder), linebacker Henry To'oTo'o (fifth-rounder) and wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson (sixth-rounder).
Three months before the 2023 draft though, Caserio hired his third head coach in former San Francsico 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans to help captain the ship on a six-year contract. Caserio's moves in 2023 helped launch Houston into the best three-year stretch in franchise history, going from 11-38-1 from 2020-2022 to a 32-19 mark from 2023-2025, which included three AFC playoff berths, two division titles and end-of-season awards for both Stroud (NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year) and Anderson Jr. (NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year).
Except, even with much success, Nick Caserio has severely missed the mark when it's come to truly building out the entirety of the roster and coaching staff.
Poor offensive lines have defined Nick Caserio's tenure while crushing Houston's Super Bowl chances
If you noticed throughout the previously mentioned roster successes of Caserio, I didn't once attribute him with building an effective offensive line. In fact, I didn't mention a single offensive linemen in my breakdown of Caserio's endeavors, simply because he has yet to actually construct a consistently competent line since his hire six seasons ago.
Since his tenure began, Caserio has contributed to line groupings that have featured at least one different name in the starting rotation in every season. Literally, Houston has had six different starting centers since 2021, along with three different starting left tackles, four different starting left guards, four different starting right guards and four different starting right tackles. In short, Caserio's efforts to build an offensive line has been one collective abject failure, and it's one of the main reasons why the Texans have yet to break through to greater heights as an organization.
According to the statistics, Houston has sported a bottom-three offensive line in one way or another since the 2024 season. They haven't been able to run-block or pass-block effectively well for years now, which is instrumental for why Stroud and co. have struggled to consistently pass or run the football throughout a normal 60-minute NFL contest. In 2024, the line was actually responsible for allowing a tie for the third-most sacks in the NFL with 54 (Seattle Seahawks), and as of this moment are responsible for allowing Stroud to be sacked 10 times through three games, which is tied for second-most in the league (New Orleans Saints).
What makes things worse for Caserio is the perception that he doesn't really even prioritize the group, as evidenced by his tendency to continue pumping money into an already stout defense while continuing to go bargain bin shopping for his ailing front line. Additionally, Caserio's statement on the offensive line development in the offseason looks all the more passive and problematic when looking back. In an article by Sports Illustrated Texans Analyst Jared Koch, he quoted Caserio's perception of the developing offensive line in the Summer,
"So it'll take a little bit of time. Probably wouldn't read too much into who lines up where the first day of training camp. It's gonna be an evolution. It's gonna be organic, and there's gonna be things that happen. A guy gets injured, something happens, we're gonna have to make an adjustment."
Even though this statement was given way back in July, the reality is I don't sense a level of urgency and/or intentionality in words like these. For a man as meticulous and calculating as Caserio is, his words and actions for myself send a loud message of either, "I don't care", "I don't know what to do" or, "it'll sort itself out." His decisions have looked an awful lot like just throwing any and all ideas up against a wall and seeing what sticks, which is not the plan you want from an executive who's supposed to have effective game plans for chronic issues like this.
Unfortunately, another poor offensive line performance reared its ugly head this past Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Against a historically poor Colts defense through its first two games, Houston's crumbling line allowed three sacks and seven quarterback hits en route to a paltry 17-point output.
The line's egregious play was why Houston could only muster a total of 223 yards of offense, which included another abysmal rushing performance of only 70 rushing yards on 3.3 yards per carry. Again, this was against a defense allowing over 500 yards of offense per game, which featured over 170 rush yards per game. There's no sugar coating it, Caserio's decisions have cost this franchise dearly over the least three years.
And now, Caserio is on the final year of his six-year contract that he signed with the Texans in 2021. As much as he's help to build one of the best defenses in the NFL over the least couple of seasons, along with maintaining a fluid and flexible salary cap, his on-field mistakes with the offensive line and the running game have submarined any real chance of this Texans team making nay real noise in the playoffs this year.
If you're the McNairs (the owners), the question you have to answer is, what has Caserio shown you over the last three seasons that would justify bringing him back for more on another multi-year deal? The reality is, with how the season has began in Houston, it's more likely than not that Caserio will be managing his final roster with the Texans in 2026.
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