The Texans have requested permission to interview Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio for their vacant GM job, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports, the team has not requested an interview with New England director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort. Houston was interested in speaking with Caserio and Ossenfort in connection with its GM job last year, but as of right now, the club seems to be focusing its efforts on Caserio.

As we learned yesterday, the Patriots can deny the Texans’ request to interview Caserio (or any other exec) if the Houston job does not entail sufficient decision-making authority. And assuming Caserio is interested enough in the Texans’ gig to have an interview, and assuming New England is intent on keeping its present front office intact, the Patriots could argue that the position would not offer such authority. If there is a disagreement between the two clubs, it would be up to commissioner Roger Goodell or his designee to resolve the matter.

The league could either allow Caserio to leave New England if he so chooses, require him to stay, or compel the Texans to compensate the Patriots in some fashion if they elect to hire Caserio. Presumably, we will have word on the Pats’ decision soon, which will add a great deal of clarity to this situation.

The Texans have already interviewed Ray Farmer and plan to interview Martin Mayhew for the GM position. It is unclear who their fallback plan is if they cannot land Caserio.

In their efforts to fill their GM vacancy, the Texans asked to interview top Patriots executives Nick Caserio (director of player personnel) and Monti Ossenfort (director of college scouting). However, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports, New England denied that request.

But, Schefter goes on to say that the Patriots’ refusal does not necessarily bring the matter to a close. The ESPN scribe writes that Caserio and Ossenfort still might be able to interview for the Texans job after the Patriots’ season ends, thanks to the league’s newly-relaxed rules that govern hiring executives from other clubs. In past years, teams could block their executives from interviewing elsewhere by saying that the individual had final say on the 53-man roster. Now, the league’s anti-tampering policy provides that final authority regarding the composition of the 53-man roster will not prevent someone from accepting a position with another team.

Interestingly, the Patriots did permit Caserio to interview with the 49ers for their GM job last offseason, and as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe observes (Twitter link), they allowed him to interview with the division-rival Dolphins two seasons ago, so their refusal represents a notable change in procedure. But given that New England is about to lose defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to head coaching positions with other teams, perhaps the Pats are simply trying to maintain some degree of continuity.

If Houston is willing to wait, they could still get a crack at Caserio and Ossenfort. In the meantime, the Texans are looking at Packers director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst and Bills vice president of player personnel Brian Gaine.