Texans Fans Should Be Furious With Nick Caserio Hiring

The Houston Texans organization is in disarray. The team finished 4-12 in 2020 despite mortgaging its future to go all in on this year, leaving Houston without its first (No. 3 overall) and second-round picks (No. 35). Aside from having Deshaun Watson locked up, the Texans don't appear to have any discernible plan to rebuild this franchise successfully.

Because the first step of that much-needed rebuild, hiring former New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, is not exactly an encouraging start.

The #Texans have zeroed in their next GM: Nick Caserio of the #Patriots, sources tell and @TomPelissero. One year after NE blocked the move, Houston gets it man.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 6, 2021

For one, the New England connection raises a lot of questions. Jack Easterby appears to have a mysterious amount of influence and power within the organization, and hiring a former Patriots executive has his fingerprints written all over it. The hiring seems to confirm Easterby is here to stay.

Plus, the Patriots aren't the gold-standard franchise teams should look to emulate any more. There are a ton of defensible reasons for this, but in Tom Brady's first season away from New England, the Patriots fell apart, missing the NFL Playoffs with a 7-9 finish.

The 43-year-old, meanwhile, went on to have one of the most prolific seasons of his career, leading the new-look Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an 11-5 record. Point being, the Patriots' significant offensive decline over the past few seasons wasn't a product of Brady regressing. It was the product of a weak supporting cast on offense.

And that all comes back to the NFL Draft, where New England has been horrendous in recent years. In fact, the Patriots have only drafted one Pro Bowler (punter Jake Bailey) in the past seven seasons. That includes whiffing on high-profile picks like N'Keal Harry and Sony Michel, just to name a few.

The Patriots have drafted literally one Pro Bowler in the last seven years and it's a fucking PUNTER and their team fell apart the second Tom Brady left to go play on a better built roster...but sure yeah let's keep trying to mimic them down in Houston.

We're god damn BRILLIANT.
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) January 6, 2021

Of course, the buck stops with Bill Belichick in New England. It's fair to wonder just how much say Caserio had in the process. But even so, hiring the director of player personnel from a franchise that hasn't drafted a Pro Bowler at any position other than punter since 2013 does not exactly feel wise, to put it lightly.

Maybe Caserio will prove the doubters wrong, but he's got an uphill climb ahead – and thanks to the previous regime, not a lot of resources to do it.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.