The unraveling of the Texans that would lead to hiring a fifth general manager began in March of 2020 whenO’Brien traded DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. When the Texans started 0-4, O’Brien was fired as head coach and general manager and replaced by Romeo Crennel and Easterby on an interim basis.
McNair started to think about hiring Caserio a third time, according to two people close to the owner. When the NFL changed a rule in May allowing front office executives under contract to interview for other jobs that would give them more responsibility — like control of personnel — Easterby stumped for Caserio again.
The search firm that McNair headed included Rootes and Korn Ferry’s Jed Hughes. McNair added a five-man advisory group to aid in the process.
The Texans interviewed four candidates and had two more in their sights. When Caserio started lining up interviews, McNair didn’t want to take a chance that he’d get another job before the Texans had a chance to interview him.
McNair and Easterby left Houston on Monday morning. They flew to Bedford, Mass., to pick up Caserio and bring him back to Houston for an official interview.
McNair and Easterby kept their trip secret because they didn’t want another team to hear about their pursuit of Caserio and expedite the interview process in a stepped-up effort to hire Caserio.
On the flight back to Houston, McNair was finally able to talk with Caserio for the first time. He was impressed with the longtime New England personnel director who had made nine Super Bowl appearances and earned six rings. But something else stood out to McNair during the 3½-hour trip: Caserio’s devotion to his family and his religion.
On Tuesday morning, Caserio had his official interview lasting three hours. By that time, McNair was certain he had found his next general manager. He didn’t want to do any more interviews.
Late Tuesday afternoon, McNair and Suzie Thomas, the Texans’ executive vice president and chief legal and administrative officer, started contract negotiations with agent Bob Lamonte, who also reps Easterby.
That night, Caserio reached an agreement on a six-year, $30 million contract and signed it the next day. The Texans were going to introduce Caserio as their new general manager on Wednesday, but the events in Washington D.C. caused them to delay the announcement for a day.
On Friday, Caserio met with the media for the first time on a Zoom conference call. He was articulate, intelligent, humble and insightful, making a strong first impression.
Now the hard part starts. Caserio has to revitalize a team that finished 4-12, has an unhappy quarterback in Deshaun Watson, a salary cap problem and no draft choices in the first two rounds.
With a six-year contract, Caserio will have plenty of time to prove to McNair the third time was a charm