The Texans spent multiple offseasons trying to lure Nick Caserio from the Patriots, and he is leading a lengthy rebuild process. At 1-10-1, Houston is the only team with fewer than three wins this season. Ownership may be losing faith in this attempted climb.
Despite the extensive interest that led Caserio to Houston, the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora notes the former Patriots exec is not on nearly as stable ground as he was previously. The prospect of Caserio making another HC (Lovie Smith) a one-and-done may be an issue for the longtime Bill Belichick right-hand man.
Caserio surprisingly fired David Culley after one season, and although Smith was not believed to be a finalist, the GM promoted him this offseason. While the Texans showed late progress under Culley, they have flatlined under Smith in recent weeks. The team has lost by at least two scores in each of its past three games. Should the Texans fire Smith, La Canfora adds several GMs around the league would not expect Caserio to have the opportunity to hire a third coach in three years.
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The Texans fired the executive who helped bring Caserio from Foxborough to Houston (Jack Easterby). Caserio and Smith had frozen out the unpopular executive during his final stretch with the franchise. But the Texans are slogging through their third straight dreadful season.
Considering the shape the Texans were in when they fired coach/GM Bill O’Brien during the 2020 season, it was always assumed a rebuild would take time. While this is looking like one of the longer rebuild efforts in recent memory, Caserio is months removed from collecting a historic compensation package for a quarterback (Deshaun Watson) amid what turned out to be a near-two-year layoff. The Texans became only the second team to nab three first-round picks for a veteran quarterback, following the Patriots’ 1976 haul for Jim Plunkett, and the team made four first- or second-round picks in this year’s draft. Watson had lobbied for a trade shortly after Caserio’s hire, and while the avalanche of sexual misconduct headlines dented the Pro Bowl QB’s trade value last year, the Texans stood pat by deactivating the former franchise centerpiece last season and relaunching the awkward sweepstakes in 2022.
The Texans did not have first- or second-round picks in Caserio’s initial draft, but they have two firsts in 2023 and ’24. Derek Stingley and Kenyon Green became the team’s first-rounders this year, and fourth-rounder Dameon Pierce has been one of the league’s top rookies this season. The second of Houston’s Round 2 picks — wideout John Metchie — is out for the season due to a leukemia battle. The Texans are in pole position for the No. 1 overall pick next year, where they will assuredly be linked to a quarterback. Their Mills-Kyle Allen setup does not seem likely to last beyond this season.
It would be interesting to see the Texans pull the plug and try another reboot. Both Caserio coaching searches did involve Josh McCown as a finalist, but the longtime quarterback’s lack of experience became a factor late in each. This year’s interview process also included Brian Flores as a finalist, despite his lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams (the Texans were subsequently added to that list), along with Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon. Caserio instead went with Smith, a third-chance coach who never seemed particularly likely to be with the team when it was ready to contend. The team’s struggles under Smith certainly appear to be affecting Caserio’s status.
i still haven’t forgiven Houston for firing Bum Phillips.
As a Steeler fan I loved Bum Phillips. Hated his team, loved his players because they epitomized him: tough, no-nonsense, and really good.
I definitely would have preferred Wade Phillips over the last several Texans coaches.
Wade Phillips was the head coach of the Texans he failed to bring results with great talent
Umm… That’s the Tennessee Titans, not the Texans.
Methinks the the Houston Texan dumpster fire might be starting to spread a little…
Bum Phillips was awesome. I still can’t believe people don’t remember Earl Campbell. No RB ever took on hits or dished out hits like him!
if we are talking about RB and Fbs I’ll take FB Larry Csonka any day in his prime. He would run u over and he would target instead of taking the easy run. dude was awesome.
I’m really old and all, but let me toss Jim Brown’s name into the discussion.
Jim Brown was a beast. I only was around for last few years but still.
Overall best RB I watched play was a guy in Detroit maybe you have heard of him Barry Sanders. My dad was from Detroit so that was our team base until we got a team in town. Too bad they couldn’t build a winner for him.
You watch those old Jim Brown highlights and your first impression is that you’re seeing him play against college kids. You see defenders quitting well before the whistle because they realize Jim is unstoppable. He made it look entirely too easy.
Tell me he’s alive. That pic…
Stupid.
He inherited a mess and set them up for long term success.
Not his fault metchie has cancer or his 1st draft he didn’t have a 1st or 2nd rounder.
Best of all he hasn’t put them in cap hell.
They have 2 1sts potentially 1st overall. They should trade back and acquire as many assets as possible. Trade Cooks too.
Signing someone like Garapollo, Brissett, Bridgewater, , for 2 years in free agency while developing a guy like Hendon Hooker and surrounding your offense with some capable WRs, TEs, and a long term answer at center goes a long ways.
Kinda hard to put Hooker on the bench for two years of development when he’s turning 25 in a month.
Good QBs play well into their 30s these days. Esp now that they are protected like no other. So thats not as big of a concern to me esp if he’s not taking wear and tear for 2 years.
Him sitting for 2 years wouldnt be the worst idea. Ideally it’d be 1 but if Houston is feeling stressed about rebuilding from owner they can sign an interim QB to “compete” for a 2 year window. I’d give Garapollo 2 year 50-70 mill. Doesnt clog up the finances long term and they still have draft picks to build the roster.
Right, but how often do you see a team investing in an old rookie, then sitting him for two seasons? Teams already have concerns about his age, so I can’t imagine a team giving him two redshirt years and then a legitimate shot. If he’s drafted as a backup and sort of forced into duty, sure. But I don’t think anyone is grooming him for two seasons with the expectation of being a franchise QB.
The Texans are this decade’s Browns/Lions.
Ownership on down has shown a disconnect from staff to coaches to players for years and it’s not going to change.
Even before Watson’s…eruption they were trading away top talent and pretty must ostracized their star QB. Even Rodgers disgust with The Packers wasn’t that severe.
That’s a pattern that tends to have a habit of showing up over and over unless major changes are made. They can fire Caserio, but bigger more historic odds would suggest it’s a revolving door.
People complain similar things about the Raiders, that when they get something to work they find a way to meddle with it.
Jacksonville is finally figuring their way out of that ugly cycle. It starts with the owner.
The Browns are still this decade’s Browns. Lol.
I agree with what you’re saying though. A franchise can’t overcome bad ownership, no matter what it does. As a Raider fan, seen it firsthand for years.
Yeah, you’ve got a point. Haslam’s foaming-at-the-mouth at-all-costs sell-the-farm private jet cannonball run to sign a QB with over 20 sexual misconduct complaints takes the cake.
That’s one for the record books. I’m not sure who else would do that. LOL
Give him a break this season, his rebuild was set back a full year by Watson’s sexual assault investigation. He still landed a huge haul and will most likely have 2 top 15 picks. He can get either Stroud or Bryce young and then get a defender at the 2nd pick. He can get right quickly with the right QB pick and a couple 2nd round picks to solidify the OL.
The McDummies who own the team have to be one of the worst owners in pro sports. Along with Bidworse in Arizona. Who would want to work to for them?
Bum Phillips was fun to watch. Earl Campbell was a wrecking ball. If you haven’t seen him or don’t remember I am sure there are YouTube tapes to watch worth it.
Houston’s problem is they should have kept the Oilers name. They pissed off the football gods and now they are cursed. Change the name to Oilers and ask forgiveness or you will never win. You don’t want to piss off yhe football gods.
I agree. They totally did. They should sill be the Oilers.
They can’t change the name
They tried. Tennessee wouldn’t let them have the name, as they still own the rights to it.
How lame, they should offer to sell it to them at least.
This organization is making Bill O’Brien look like Bill Parcells. That’s not good.
well he was screwed last yr with Watson and the team and this yr they were essentially forced by I’m sure ownership to get Lovie Smith due to that bs lawsuit and they were set to hire a white guy or maybe he was half white but that got scrapped cuz the lawsuit so they went for the experience Lovie had which I get he has a lot of knowledge and has been a HC in the nfl.
The issue is Lovie isn’t geared to HC in the NFL anymore things changed but he’s very knowledgeable coach but he’s on the back leg of his career I think and college seemed to suit him at this junction as it less stress for him I’d believe.
It’s nice to see him in the NFL again but I think he can help the college kids more and have less stress. just my opinion
I dunno. This picture kind of makes Caserio look like a character from the old Highlander movie. Almost expect him to say, “There can be only one!!!!”
Someone needs to start a list of NE flameout’s. Exactly what did Bill do, besides be sub 500 w/o Tom?
Romeo Crennel
Charlie Weis
Josh McDaniels (x2)
Matt Patricia
Eric Mangini
Joe Judge
Bill O’Brien
There’s a few to get the ball rolling.
The real issue is that the Texans traded away all their picks in the O’Brien era and now cannot entice free agents to sign due to their lack of a quality QB and overall roster voids.
Their rebuild will thus take longer than usual.
Its a shame. This guy can definitely sniff out talent.
Two years ago:
Caserio: We’re going to tank.
Texans: Sounds good, Nick. We trust you.
Today:
Texans: Why are we losing so much…?
Fans have no patience and zero vision. All they want is warm fuzzy feelings that superior talent and winning brings. These Texans have little talent and will not win without talent.
The guy inherited a mess. Give him time. Changing head coaches again will not help. It will only prolonged the rebuilt. They should have kept Coach Culley I saw more progress under him than under the current coach. In fact they have regressed from last season, unless if course, they are tanking.
It’s been two seasons. He’s got a haul of picks to work with. They have awful QBs at play. Let him go draft a top end QB next season and make a real go at it next season.
Caserio should be heralded for converting an alleged rapist into 3 first round picks.