Exec Rumors: Caserio, Peters, Aponte

With Bill Belichick perhaps coaching his last game for the Patriots today, the club could have head coach and general manager vacancies in relatively short order (Belichick, of course, has operated as New England’s de facto GM throughout his tenure). Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post hears that Texans GM Nick Caserio, whose 20-year stint in the Pats’ personnel department earned him the Houston gig, would be open to a return to Foxborough, but Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) says Caserio does not want to leave the Texans.

Russini points out that Caserio, who squeezed an excellent return from the Browns in the 2022 Deshaun Watson trade and who appears to have hit a home run in drafting quarterback C.J. Stroud and hiring head coach DeMeco Ryans last year, has laid the groundwork for sustained success in Houston and wants to see it through. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine Caserio leaving a young and talented HC-QB pairing for the uncertainty that would await him in New England.

Here are a few more rumors relating to league executives:

• 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters is once again expected to be a hot name in the upcoming hiring cycle, as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes in a subscribers-only piece. Peters turned down GM interview requests from the Cardinals and Titans last year, and it has been rumored for some time that he is the heir apparent to current San Francisco GM John Lynch. Per Fowler, it remains possible that the Niners will simply promote Peters to general manager now that Lynch has been given the additional title of president of football operations.
• Like Peters, Falcons assistant GM Kyle Smith has been viewed as a future general manager, and as Albert Breer of SI.com notes, Atlanta GM Terry Fontenot promoted Smith to his current role this year partly to dissuade rival clubs from trying to poach him (a team can block an assistant GM from interviewing for anything other than a GM job). While the Falcons have yet to find a long-term answer at quarterback since Fontenot and Smith joined the team, they have injected a great deal of talent into the rest of the roster, and Smith appears poised to generate serious GM interest.
• We recently heard that the Commanders may wish to add a president of football operations to oversee both their head coach and general manager, and Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post reports that Dawn Aponte‘s name has come up in connection with that role. Aponte, who presently works as the league’s chief administrator of football operations, was mentioned as a potential candidate for the Giants’ GM job in 2022, though she was not interviewed for that post. Aponte has, however, served in high-ranking executive positions for the Jets, Browns, and Dolphins.
• In another subscribers-only piece, Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN.com compiled a list of other top candidates for GM jobs, a list that includes Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham, Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz, and Browns assistant GM Catherine Raiche. Cunningham was offered the Cardinals’ GM job last year but turned it down, while Hortiz and Raiche have both taken GM interviews in recent years.