Nick Caserio Is Not Impressing Anyone

When Jack Easterby and Cal McNair pulled their “coup” to bring Nick Caserio to the Houston Texans, there wasn’t a lot of excitement outside the organization. Allegedly, the Texans already had a deal in place with Pittsburgh Steelers Vice President of Football Operations, Omar Khan, to become their new general manager. It was a deal they dropped in the grease to fawn over Caserio.

On paper, Caserio seems like a great general manager candidate, but his hiring triggered Deshaun Watson. Since that fateful moment, Caserio hasn’t really done anything to convince the Houston fans or media he’s the right man for the job. Neither Caserio or his most significant hire, new head coach David Culley, have convinced Watson to stay.

The best general manager in the short history of the Texans was Rick Smith. While Smith wasn’t the greatest general manager to ever draft a player, more often than not he nailed his first round picks. Smith also made some glorious trades, often getting something for apparently nothing, including the time he traded away T.J. Yates for Akeem Dent just to re-sign Yates for less money soon thereafter when the Falcons cut the quarterback.

This is not the sort of smart move we’ve seen from Caserio thus far. While he’s not bargaining from the same place Smith was, thanks to the work of best buds Bill O’Brien and Jack Easterby, if Caserio is truly worth his pedigree as Bill Belichick’s #1 front office disciple, we should have seen evidence of it by now. To date, Caserio has made no obviously positive moves. He has cut bait on a few players Smith might have acquired something, anything, for in trade, like center Nick Martin and running back Duke Johnson Jr. He’s also made some questionable decisions that don’t involve roster cuts.

While neither Martin nor Johnson is a future hall of Famer, both are certainly going to contribute to another team in 2021, which means someone would have parted with at least a sixth or seventh round pick for each player. Maybe?

Nick Caserio’s Notable Texans Roster Cuts:

• Nick Martin
• Duke Johnson Jr.
• Senio Kelemete
• Peter Kalambayi
• Josh McCown

Nick Caserio’s Notable Texans Roster Additions:

• Paul Quessenberry
• Jordan Steckler
• Anthony Kukwa
• J’Mon Moore
• Curtis Bolton

While these players might all make good roster filler or practice squad additions, none are milliseconds away from SportsCenter glory.

Nick Caserio’s Notable Texans Roster Re-Signings:

• David Johnson
• Dontrell Hilliard

Not only has Caserio completed zero trades, he’s actually poured salt in the still festering wound of the worst trades in NFL history. By handing David Johnson a contract guaranteeing him $4.25 million for one season, it appears Caserio has no sense or ability to read a room at all. Kind of like his owner, Cal McNair.

For a baseline, the average running back in the NFL makes roughly $1.5 million a year. Running backs like David Johnson are a dime a dozen in today’s NFL. Johnson landed 22nd on the 2020 rushing yards rankings. That’s hardly above average, much less nearly three times the average. Brought in for his ability to help out in the passing game, Johnson landed 16th in the league for receiving yards among running backs. His quarterback was #1 in passing yards, yet he was #16...handing him a pile of guaranteed money makes total sense, right?

It seems while some teams wheel and deal to radically improve their 2021 fortunes, others don’t do much and stand pat. The third camp, which the Texans are in, continually shoots themselves in the foot. Nick Caserio, along with Jack Easterby, are dead set on firing live rounds into the collective shoes of Houston’s faithful. In a state full of men who know how to handle firearms, someone needs to show these boys how to aim.

We’ll leave you with this:

Wouldn't sending Caserio to Houston to help out look about the same?