The Houston Texans will not hire a general manager for the 2019 season. Instead, the club will divvy up the responsibilities among existing front office and scouting personnel.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Texans will have senior vice president of football administration Chris Olsen, executive vice president of team development Jack Easterby, director of player personnel Matt Bazirgan, and director of college scouting James Liipfert filling each of the roles vacated by Brian Gaine, who was fired June 7.
The Texans did make a play to fill the general manager void by seeking New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio. However, after the Patriots filed tampering charges with the NFL, and Texans chairman and chief executive officer Cal McNair saw Caserio’s duties as specified by owner Robert Kraft, Houston backed off.
Houston interviewed former Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer and former Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew for the role. However, there was no interest beyond the interviews.
Among the foursome, Olsen is the one with the title of interim general manager. As the resident expert with the salary cap and player contracts, Olsen is the most qualified in the group to keep negotiating for a long-term contract with edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. Olsen has until July 15 to get the deal completed, or else the Texans and Clowney will be precluded from negotiating until the end of the season, just when the Texans will also be looking to hire a new full-time general manager.
The Texans will now join the ranks of the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, and Washington as the only teams to have de facto general managers. Dallas and Cincinnati have owners Jerry Jones and Mike Brown as general managers while the Patriots have coach Bill Belichick and Washington has team president Bruce Allen.
