The Houston Texans fired general manager Brian Gaine this weekend after less than two years, which could have a ripple effect for the New England Patriots.
The firing seemed to signal two things in Houston. First, coach Bill O’Brien is the man in power, largely because he has survived multiple general managers. Second, O’Brien probably thought Gaine was a bad fit — or O’Brien thought he could find a better fit.
That’s why Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio entered the news cycle this weekend, with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer connecting the dots between Caserio and O’Brien — and Texans executive vice president Jack Easterby, who was a character coach in New England and confidant to Bill Belichick. Here’s what Breer is suggesting in his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column, which is littered with powerful suggestions that the Texans want Caserio:
“If you follow the above breadcrumbs, Nick Caserio, the Patriots’ VP of player personnel, is next. Or at least, that would be the outcome the Texans would want. We’ll explain.”
Caserio has made indications that he wants to stay in New England, and perhaps that’s because he and Josh McDaniels have thoughts on taking over for Bill Belichick after he retires as boss of the New England Patriots. McDaniels and Caserio have known each other since duking it out in a quarterback battle at John Carroll University in 1995. It seems like football fate that they might someday run the Patriots.
But O’Brien and the Texans may fiddle with that fate. They have a job opening, and Caserio is probably the most gifted person in personnel who doesn’t currently have the job title of “general manager” (aside from Bill Belichick). The Texans have every reason to want Caserio. It’s just a question of whether they can finally pry him away from New England, which no team has been able to do to this point.
