As if the Houston Texans don’t have enough on their collective plate in trying to onboard a new coaching staff, and working to put together an outstanding draft class so they can start wining more than four games a season again, this past week they had to deal with rumors surrounding the future of general manager Nick Caserio’s future with the team.
Via a handful of outlets, including his show on Vegas Sports Information Network as well as an interview on my show on SportsRadio 610, former NFL executive and Caserio coworker Michael Lombardi indicated that (a) there could be some organizational “shifting” within the Texans’ front office after the draft, and (b) flat out said he had heard rumors that Caserio may want out from his job. Other rumors circulated that Caserio might want to return to New England.
None of it really added up. While the Texans’ performance the last couple seasons is probably enough to make anybody associated at least consider finding another line of work, Caserio has indicated at every opportunity that he is thankful for his job, enjoys working with DeMeco Ryans, and knew that this rebuild of the Texans would be a “massive undertaking,” a phrase he used on my show in an interview last year.
On Monday morning, Caserio did his annual pre-draft press conference, which is normally reserved for questions centered solely on the upcoming draft. Instead, Caserio had to issue a statement at the outset of the press conference restating his commitment to the Texans the city of Houston:
“Honestly, I feel like Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ but I’m not leaving,” said Caserio, opening his pre-draft media conference on Monday with the statement. “There’s never really been any substantive discussions of the sort.”
Speculation had started to fly in recent days that Caserio, who was hired by the team in January 2021, could leave the Texans after the draft, possibly returning to the Patriots franchise where he first cut his teeth in NFL personnel.
But Caserio, who is just over two years into a six-year contract averaging a reported $6 million per year, said he was “almost embarrassed” to address the rumor.
“I feel like I have an obligation to make that statement and really try to stay ahead of (the story),” he said. “I mean, I don’t think there’s really anything else to talk about or say, any question about it.”
It’s hard to believe someone would have endured the cleanup of the nuclear fallout from the disastrous Bill O’Brien Era (not to mention the Deshaun Watson saga, as wells David Culley and Lovie Smith coaching tenures) and THEN decide that it’s time to part ways. Theoretically, the Texans and Caserio are now getting to the good part, where DeMeco Ryans and a new quarterback help bring the team to glory.
With the rumors in the rear view mirror, the questions for Caserio now will center exclusively on what the Texans plan to do in the draft. They have five of the first 73 picks, and 12 picks in total. They have a glaring need at quarterback. Tension and excitement are simultaneously on the rise.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
