Nick Caserio - Pro Football Rumors

Texans Request Permission To Interview Nick Caserio

June 10th, 2019 at 4:27pm CST by Rory Parks

The Texans have requested permission to interview Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio for their vacant GM job, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 KRIV tweets. As has been reported previously, Berman confirms that Caserio is Houston’s top choice.

Houston was in the hunt for a new GM in early 2018 as well, but New England denied the Texans’ request to interview Caserio. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, in order to hire away an executive under contract with a rival club, the hiring team must offer “the primary authority over all personnel decisions related to the signing of free agents, the selection of players in the College Draft, trades, and related decisions; and . . . the primary responsibility for coordinating other football activities with the head coach.” And, even if the hiring team offers those responsibilities, the incumbent club can still block the interview if its season has not yet ended.

It sounds as though the Texans are prepared to offer Caserio full GM responsibilities rather than make him a “GM Light” who would cede significant power to head coach Bill O’Brien. As Albert Breer of TheMMQB tweets, New England was able to prevent Caserio and director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort from interviewing for the Texans’ GM job last year only because the Pats’ season hadn’t ended yet. This time around, though, the Patriots cannot prevent their executives from hearing Houston’s pitch.

That is, of course, if they are even interested. It would be difficult for an exec to leave the friendly confines of Foxborough for uncharted waters elsewhere, and the quick and unexpected firing of former Houston GM Brian Gaine would certainly be cause for concern. On the other hand, the Texans do have a roster that looks capable of immediate contention, and with a young and promising QB in Deshaun Watson, a first-time GM could certainly do worse than land with Houston.

The Texans have already interviewed Ray Farmer and plan to interview Martin Mayhew. One name that is not on the agenda as of yet is Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay, as Calvin Watkins of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Watkins expects Houston to reach out to McClay, but he does not expect McClay to leave his current position.

Latest On Texans’ GM Search, Nick Caserio The Favorite?

June 9th, 2019 at 1:26pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Texans’ GM search is starting to heat up. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle brings us a lengthy list of possible candidates that includes Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort, former Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, and former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli.

That’s in addition to former Browns GM Ray Farmer, who will apparently be the first to interview with the team. But just because Farmer is up first doesn’t mean he’s the top option. Caserio is “believed to be the leading candidate” for the job, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 (Twitter link).

As soon as the Texans fired Brian Gaine, we heard rumblings that they would again pursue Caserio in their search. When the Texans were looking to fill their GM vacancy last offseason they requested to interview both Caserio and Ossenfort, but were denied by the Patriots. It’s unclear what would’ve changed, but people seem to think they’d have a good shot at them this time around.

Further, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com examines what the situation will look like after a GM is hired. As he points out, this will go one of two ways. Either the Texans will hire another Bill O’Brien guy like they did last time, or they’ll hire an outside candidate with no connection to O’Brien, which means they could be looking for a new head coach after the season as well.

We heard on Friday that Texans exec Jack Easterby, who was recently appointed to a prominent position, will be playing a large role in the search. It was reported that Easterby is close friends with Caserio, so this latest development makes a lot of sense. The other names we’ve already seen mentioned, but this is the first we’ve heard of McKenzie as a potential candidate. After losing a power struggle with Jon Gruden in Oakland, McKenzie recently signed on with the Dolphins’ front office.

It’ll be interesting to see whether they let O’Brien run the hiring process, and that will go a long way toward showing us whether O’Brien is on the hot seat entering 2019. Caserio is apparently close with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and his presence is what has convinced McDaniels to stay in New England in the past, so many have speculated they’ll be paired together as an eventual coach/GM combo if Caserio ever leaves the Pats.

Texans To Make Another Run At Patriots’ Nick Caserio?

June 7th, 2019 at 6:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

A common figure in recent GM searches, Nick Caserio looks set to come up in another one. The Texans requested an interview with the longtime Patriots executive in 2018 and are expected to pursue him again, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter).

The Patriots denied the Texans permission to interview Caserio and college scouting director Monti Ossenfort last year. The Texans fired Brian Gaine on Friday afternoon and will begin a replacement search immediately.

Caserio and Bill O’Brien are close, and the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain tweets this is almost certainly an avenue the Texans will explore in their effort to replace Gaine. O’Brien, who is set to coach alongside a third GM in Houston, spent five seasons as a New England assistant.

Caserio and Josh McDaniels pulled out of the 49ers’ GM/HC searches two years ago and remain key Patriots decision-makers. Caserio has worked as the Patriots’ player personnel director since 2008, serving as a central figure in the Bill Belichick-run operation.

Latest On Josh McDaniels’ Decision, Future

February 8th, 2018 at 6:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Josh McDaniels will be staying in New England on an unusual contract, with Albert Breer of SI.com hearing the Patriots‘ OC is expected to sign a four- or five-year extension. Coordinators’ deals typically do not run this long, but with the Patriots convincing their longtime play-caller to make this kind of a decision, it makes sense they’d want to keep McDaniels around long-term. Breer notes McDaniels’ current contract is believed to expire after the 2018 season, so the sides figure to hammer out an agreement soon.

Here’s the latest on the McDaniels saga:

Nick Caserio‘s presence was a key factor in McDaniels’ decision to spurn the Colts, Breer reports. The Patriots executive’s choice to stay in Foxborough last year likely kept McDaniels from moving to the Bay Area. The tandem would likely be running the 49ers had Caserio become their GM. The two played college football together in Ohio in the 1990s and will continue to be Bill Belichick‘s right-hand men.
As for Belichick, Breer notes he’s not operating like a coach who is planning an exit strategy. “He’s certainly not acting like he’s leaving anytime soon,” a source informed Breer. The 65-year-old coach will be entering his 19th season with the Patriots in 2018. While McDaniels may be the heir apparent, Belichick staying on for multiple years would likely drain the remainder of Tom Brady‘s historically long prime and make it more difficult for the prospective McDaniels teams to build on the Belichick squads’ legacies.
It appears McDaniels did call the three non-Patriots assistants who were set to be on his first Colts staff. Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets McDaniels phoned Matt Eberflus, Mike Phair and Dave DeGuglielmo to alert them of this seminal about-face. The three have signed deals with the Colts, leaving Chuck Pagano‘s actual successor with an interesting predicament. Chris Ballard said he wanted Eberflus to run his defense regardless of McDaniels’ arrival, however.
As for why McDaniels initially became enamored with the Colts, their second-year GM served as the chief reason he was once all set to move to Indianapolis, Breer notes. McDaniels holds Ballard in high regard, and although Andrew Luck was a prime selling point, the Colts’ top decision-maker was the primary reason behind the would-be McDaniels New England exodus.
Despite the Patriots’ offensive success under McDaniels, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com writes NFL teams were slow to offer him a second chance after how badly his Broncos tenure went. Robinson noted some around the league questioned whether the 42-year-old assistant had really matured much since his failed Denver stint. The Giants appear to have felt he didn’t. McDaniels became a hot commodity in recent years but now has effectively set a potential bridge to an HC job outside of Massachusetts ablaze. Although, Cesario landing a GM job could lead to an attempt to sell his owner on McDaniels sometime down the line.
Not only do the Colts not have any legal recourse they can take after being burned here, Mike Wells and Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com write they don’t look to have grounds for a grievance with the league. McDaniels never signed Colts contract or stopped being the Patriots’ OC.

Patriots Deny Texans’ Request To Interview Nick Caserio, Monti Ossenfort

January 7th, 2018 at 8:42am CST by Rory Parks

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.

Latest On Texans’ GM Search

January 2nd, 2018 at 12:10pm CST by Zachary Links

The Texans’ GM search is just getting underway, but we’re already getting an idea of the names that could be in play for the job. External candidates expected to receive interest include Nick Caserio and Monti Ossenfort of the Patriots, Brian Gaine of the Bills, and Brian Gutekunst of the Packers (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com).

Caserio is among this year’s top candidates for a GM position. While he rejected overtures from other teams before, a prime opportunity like the one in Houston could be the one to get him to leave New England. Some have speculated that he could wind up as a package deal with Josh McDaniels as head coach, but it sounds like Bill O’Brien will be retained by the Texans.

The Texans are on the hunt for a new GM after Rick Smith announced he would be taking a leave of absence to care for his wife, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. When Smith does return to the team, he’ll retain his Executive Vice President title, but he indicated that he will not be in charge of football decisions.

“In whatever role that is, I am going to maintain Executive Vice President title. If we hire a GM and have a guy to run the personnel, then we’ll do that,” Smith said. “So, again, it’s a fluid process, but I am absolutely intend on coming back, I will maintain that at least the Executive Vice President title and if Mr. McNair feels like he wants to hire a general manager, then he will hire a general manager and that will be just fine.“

East Notes: Giants, Collins, Cutler, Jets

December 27th, 2017 at 1:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

A day after referring to Eli Apple as “a cancer,” Landon Collins has attempted to walk that back. While that might be difficult, the All-Pro Giants safety issued an apology (on Twitter) today and confirmed he did so in person in a meeting with Apple and Steve Spagnuolo. The interim HC confirmed the meeting, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post (on Twitter).

“I met with Coach Spags and Eli this morning and I apologized for the things I said yesterday,” Collins said. “I never stop supporting my brother/teammate Eli and the rest of my teammates as we move forward. Just want him to know I’m always here for him.”

On Tuesday during a radio interview, Collins said Apple “needs to grow up.” Wednesday’s apology marks the latest chapter in a weeks-long saga involving the two defensive backs. Earlier this month, Collins said he’d talked to Apple — who has taken a step back this season — and told media the cornerback’s issues were mental and that he was dealing with “significant” personal struggles. Apple then denied Collins spoke with him, and the third-year safety — according to NJ.com — had to be restrained by teammates as he attempted to confront the second-year corner. Apple has not been suspended like Janoris Jenkins or Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie were, but he’s been benched and reportedly nearly left the Giants’ facility because of a harsh film-room session earlier this season.

Here’s the latest out of the Eastern divisions.

Josh McDaniels remains linked to Patriots exec Nick Caserio regarding GM/HC arrangements, but Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports the New England OC could also be interested in pairing up with Louis Riddick as a GM. Riddick interviewed for the Giants’ GM job last week, although Dave Gettleman is viewed as the favorite. McDaniels and Caserio were a sought-after tandem last year, with the 49ers having shown interest in bringing them to the Bay Area.
Adam Gase said Wednesday he has not spoken to Jay Cutler about him returning to the Dolphins in 2018, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes. Jackson adds the Dolphins remain committed to having Ryan Tannehill return as their starter next season, but he reported last week the Fins would be open to Cutler coming back as the backup. Cutler will start this weekend’s regular-season finale against the Bills.
Davis Webb will rise to the Giants‘ No. 2 quarterback role and take Geno Smith‘s place as Eli Manning‘s backup, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. It will be the first time Webb suits up as an NFLer. Smith will be inactive Sunday, and Webb could see time off the bench in the game under the format Ben McAdoo broached with Manning upon benching him earlier this year. Spagnuolo, however, said (via Schwartz, on Twitter) there are “no guarantees” the third-round rookie makes his NFL debut against the Redskins.
The Jets are likely to land a pick in the lower part of the top 10, and Brian Costello of the New York Post ranked the most- to least-likely scenarios involving offseason quarterback plans. Most likely is a setup where the Jets draft Josh Allen with their first pick and re-sign Josh McCown to continue his better-than-expected stopgap work. Costello notes the Jets’ top competition for the Wyoming passer could be the Broncos. John Elway trekked to the Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, last week to observe Allen in person. The Jets, though, have put in the most work on Allen to this point. Gang Green’s No. 2 scenario? Kirk Cousins, whom Costello recalls the team showing interest in after Smith was sucker-punched in 2015.

East Rumors: McDaniels, Bridgewater, Martin

December 17th, 2017 at 9:12am CST by Rory Parks

Ben Volin of the Boston Globe and Phil Perry and Mike Giardi of NBCSports.com take a look at some of the potential landing spots for Patriots OC Josh McDaniels should he depart New England for a head coaching gig this offseason. The NBC scribes suggest that some of the coaching opportunities may not be as desirable as they were earlier this season — given the increased concerns over Andrew Luck‘s shoulder and the mess that the Giants recently made of their quarterback situation — but both pieces suggest that now might be as good a time as any for McDaniels to make his second run as a head coach (and for director of player personnel Nick Caserio, who is typically marketed along with McDaniels, to get his first crack at a GM job).

Now for more rumors from the league’s east divisions:

In the same piece linked above, Perry and Giardi suggest that Patriots corner Malcolm Butler — whose play has suffered this year and who has generally been a “pain in the butt” — foreclosed any chance of a return to New England in 2018 when he retweeted a Pro Football Focus graphic showing Dolphins QB Jay Cutler‘s success against the Patriots’ blitzes in the aftermath of the Pats’ loss to Miami last week.
The Jets have been frequently connected to impending free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins and to some of this year’s top collegiate signal-callers (i.e. Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen), but Manisha Mehta of the New York Daily News suggests that current Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater could also be in play for Gang Green. After all, Bridgewater — who will also be a free agent at season’s end — is younger than current Jets starter Bryce Petty, he could be had for a reasonable multi-year deal, and he managed to win in Minnesota without much of a supporting cast. This is just an opinion piece, but as Mehta suggests, a Bridgewater signing could be a low-risk, high-reward move that would not necessarily preclude the cash-flush Jets from also pursuing a QB in the first round of the draft.
The Cowboys and guard Zack Martin were deep in extension talks over the summer, but they could not get a deal done before the unofficial late August deadline that the two sides set for themselves. However, they are expected to revisit those discussions this offseason, as Martin is only under club control through the 2018 campaign (via the fifth-year option of his rookie contract). Hardik Sanghavi of OverTheCap.com looks at Martin’s case in excellent detail and projects a six-year, $84.6MM deal for the Notre Dame product.
James Kratch of NJ.com says the Giants‘ handling of Davis Webb makes no sense, and that New York should start the rookie quarterback over the last few games of the season. After all, if he plays poorly, it won’t ruin his career, and the 2-11 Giants actually stand to benefit from losing out. If he plays well, obviously that would be good for the team, and even though the talent around him is poor, he can still be evaluated, which Kratch says the Giants owe to their new regime. Kratch makes a number of good points, but it sounds as if Eli Manning will remain under center for the duration of 2017, which Kratch says smacks of a desperate campaign to appease Manning.

Giants Eyeing Eliot Wolf, Nick Caserio For GM

December 13th, 2017 at 6:40pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Although former Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman is considered the favorite for the Giants’ GM position, the club also has other candidates in mind. Packers director of football operations Eliot Wolf and Patriots vice president of player personnel Nick Caserio are on New York’s radar as it seeks to replace Jerry Reese, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Wolf, 35, has long been considered a future general manager, but never actually interviewed for an opening until this year (partially because Green Bay denied permission for him to meet with Philadelphia and Detroit in recent hiring cycles). Although he was viewed as a strong contender for the 49ers’ GM job this offseason, Wolf ultimately accepted a new contract with the Packers. He subsequently interviewed with the Colts.

Caserio, who has spent the entirety of his 17-year NFL career in New England, has been linked to other vacancies in the past, but has never shown much willingness to leave Foxborough. Since 2014, he’s declined an offer from the Dolphins and an interview from the 49ers in order to remain with the Patriots. However, Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com recently indicated Caserio is “willing to listen” to general manager proposals, and noted the Giants job could hold particular interest.

Each of the candidates for the New York gig could have potential head coaches in mind: a source tells Florio that Gettleman or Wolf could attempt to hire Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, while Caserio could unsurprisingly look at Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Nick Caserio “Willing To Listen” To Offers

December 8th, 2017 at 7:19pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Patriots vice president of player personnel Nick Caserio is “willing to listen” to offers that would make him a general manager with another club, according to Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com.

Caserio, who has spent the entirety of his 17-year NFL career with the Patriots, would particularly be interested in the Giants’ general manager position, per Breer. New York, of course, is the only club currently without a permanent GM after firing Jerry Reese on Monday. The Browns, notably, went roughly 11 hours without a general manager on Thursday, as they parted ways with Sashi Brown and hired ex-Chiefs GM John Dorsey on the same day.

Caserio has been linked to other vacancies in the past: he interviewed for the Dolphins general manager job in 2014 but declined an offer, and also declined an interview with the 49ers earlier this year. San Francisco was interested in hiring both Caserio and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in a package deal, but both ultimately stayed put in New England.

While Caserio doesn’t have final say on the Patriots’ roster (head coach Bill Belichick calls the shots in New England), he has contributed in variety of roles during his time with the club. The 41-year-old Caserio has not only worked as a scout and a personnel executive, but spent the 2007 campaign as the Patriots’ wide receivers coach. His current contract is believed to tie him to New England through 2020, but he’d be allowed to take another position if it offered him full roster control.