In sports, winning is the deodorant that makes everything smell better. Nobody knows that better than Nick Caserio, the Houston Texans general manager. Caserio spent two decades in New England collecting Super Bowl rings, six in all, as a front office employee and, for a season or two, as a coach.
Caserio is feeling the importance of winning once again, here in Houston. To be clear, winning has been a rare occurrence since Caserio arrived in January 2021. In 2021, the team won four games. in 2022, the team won three games. In 2023, the team started out 0-2, with two double digit losses.
Exacerbating the situation was the fact that Caserio’s top two picks in the 2022 draft, cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr. and guard Kenyon Green, both suffered injuries. Green is out for the season with a shoulder injury, and Stingley suffered a hamstring setback for the second time in two seasons. At 0-2, the Texans fan base was floating words like “fireable offense” for these selections, two players who had injury histories in college.
Now, at 3-3, there’s nary a peep about either young player. Caserio did a 30-minute press conference, sort of a state of the union from a GM perspective, on Tuesday, and there were exactly zero questions about Stingley or Green, because when you’re winning, people tolerate mistakes much better.
So congrats to Caserio for getting a chance to operate in a world where his team is viewed as competitive, ascending, and improving. Here are five important responses from Caserio in that press conference, with my commentary after each one:
On the maturation of QB C.J. Stroud:
“I think the big thing with him is just his confidence, his belief in himself, his competitiveness, his pride, and the respect that he’s earned with his performance from his teammates. Being a captain is not a popularity contest, but when you’re a captain as a rookie, which both he and Will are, it’s really more about what you do and how you handle your job necessarily than what you say. But he cares a lot. He has a lot of pride, and he wants to go out there and perform well and do the best thing and the right thing for the team, and he’s shown the propensity to do that.”
SP: It’s hard to come up with more superlatives for Stroud. We’ve gushed about him on the radio, and in this space. The bottom line is that he has been everything the Texans hoped for when they drafted him, and more. Stroud’s ability to command a locker room of grown men at the age of 21 might be a more impressive feat than anything he’s done on the field so far.
On the possibility of extending some players’ contracts in season:
“DeMeco and I visited this morning, just going through the roster, kind of where we are currently, talking about some players potentially for next year. As long as we have a clearly defined role or what we think the role is going to be, then — but it’s something that we’ll look at or do. In the end, you’re talking maybe, maybe a handful or less of guys that may fit that bill, and a lot of it is they just trust in themselves and want to bet on themselves a little bit, which you have to respect that. Reality is we’re probably going to lose some players after the season. Might be able to keep some. But we’ll just kind of keep moving, focus on ’23 but start to have an eye a little bit on ’24.”
SP: This topic probably deserves its own post. Caserio got VERY enthusiastic when he was asked about this by Cody Stoots of Houston Football, probably because he actually has players on this version of the Houston Texans that are worth extending! I don’t know which players in contract years will return next season, but I do feel like, for the first time maybe since the Gary Kubiak Era, free agents will openly want to play for the Texans. Call it the DeMeco Effect.
On young players focusing on what matters:
“I think those are the things that you have to establish, especially early in your career. Focus on being a great player. Don’t worry about your marketing deal, how many social media hits you have, because it doesn’t matter. What matters is are you diligent, purposeful about your work, and if you want to be great, are you doing things to reinforce that notion. From that perspective, I think C.J. — football is extremely important to him, and he cares a lot about it, and that’s a good place to start.”
SP: Call me crazy, the mention of “marketing deals” and “social media hits” made this feel like a thinly veiled shot at Deshaun Watson. Hey, I’m here for it!
On the vibe with head coach DeMeco Ryans:
“I think he tells the truth. He keeps it real. I think the players respect him. It’s been outstanding. I have a lot of respect, appreciation, admiration for him, and it’s only grown over these last however many months that we’ve been together. Anything that I can do to support him, then I’m going to be there for him.”
SP: I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Caserio was that he would want to control EVERYTHING about the Texans’ operation. I think this is largely based on (a) Caserio coming from the tree of Bill Belichick, who liked to control EVERYTHING, and (b) the need for Caserio to be VERY hands on with David Culley as the head coach in 2021. It’s very clear, Caserio is good with his role of making sure DeMeco Ryans has everything he needs to achieve RYANS’ vision of the team.
On players embracing Ryans’ “SWARM” mentality:
“It’s about a mindset. It’s about a mentality. DeMeco has talked about it from day one, it’s more mindset and it’s more mentality. I think the players have embraced that, probably some more than others. There’s some players that probably have some catching up to do in that area.”
SP: I need to know which players are having a hard time backing the DeMeco Ryans “SWARM” ethos, and then I need the chance to ask them “What the hell is wrong with you??”
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
