Death to Google Ads! Texans Talk Tip Jar! 🍺😎👍
Thanks for your support!

Welcome to Houston Jack Easterby

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I guess to be fair, he never mentions winning Super Bowls. It's about the value of the business.
He’s the president of the business side of the NFL. Man’s just doing his job. Not his fault the people in charge of the football side can’t get their sht together.

It’s like you’re saying Cal should fire the guy because Ricky & BO’b can’t get their heads out their arses.
 

Lucky

Ride, Captain, Ride!
Staff member
Yahoo article on how Easterby has risen to running the football operations of a NFL team with virtually no experience.

Link

Let’s put it this way: If you were a Texans fan and saw a report that the team was bringing in as a general manager candidate someone who entered the NFL less than a decade earlier as a team chaplain, and whose professional experience previous to that centered on ministry and character development, would you look up from your screen and think, “Ah, yes, that’s exactly the person we want putting together the roster so we can maximize Deshaun Watson’s talent and finally get to the Super Bowl”?

Probably not. And yet as of this moment, that’s who is running the football side of the Texans.

Those trying to climb the front-office ladders all over the league, Black and white, are confounded and angered by Easterby’s station, and how so many of them who have worked tirelessly for a GM position, have taken nearly every chance and interview that comes their way, only to see a man whose career in the NFL began in earnest nine years ago basically get one by attrition.

A career that began as a team chaplain at that.
The Texans are now the laughing stock of the league.

A photo from the article. So Easterby used to hawk insurance, too?

 

Earl34

Hall of Fame
Yahoo article on how Easterby has risen to running the football operations of a NFL team with virtually no experience.

Link



The Texans are now the laughing stock of the league.

A photo from the article. So Easterby used to hawk insurance, too?

I wonder how frustrated are long time, experienced front office personnel who have spent their entire careers trying to work their way up the ladder and see this guy without any experience or accomplishments become EVP. After laughing at the Texans and getting whiplash from shaking their heads, they must be so frustrated.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
He’s the president of the business side of the NFL. Man’s just doing his job. Not his fault the people in charge of the football side can’t get their sht together.

It’s like you’re saying Cal should fire the guy because Ricky & BO’b can’t get their heads out their arses.
Bob McNair's goal all along was to make money, and the corporate perspective he followed when hiring men like Jamey Rootes was to create a valuable franchise with massive revenue streams that did not depend on success on the field.

Obviously having a wining team helps revenues, but they created a culture that was going to make lots of money and winning was an afterthought.

That's the entire crux of a statement like "We’re going to de-couple on field success with support for our business, fortunately for us, it worked from day one!".

As consumers of the product - i.e. "fans" - we can either ignore the reality of their corporate mission statement and just live the delusion, or, we can man up and realize that this franchise only cares about us as customers as we are one source of their mighty profits.

As a football fan, I read stuff like the following it it makes me cringe:

"Jack Easterby would continue to run football through the transition and may continue in that role if the team doesn't hire a GM. At least, that puts Easterby at the helm for several years until things settle."
Source

In the end, it's all just entertainment. But what happens when their product stops being entertaining in any sort of way?
 

Lucky

Ride, Captain, Ride!
Staff member
I find it laughable that someone wrote a book on how to make money in the NFL. His next book must be on how to capitalize on the river of gold that runs through your backyard.

Once you get an NFL franchise, you print money for life. Even the Bengals. There is no magic formula. There is a magic formula for winning, apparently. And the Texans have not found it. Or haven’t looked for it.

The only incentive to win for an NFL owner is wanting to be a winner. Jerry Jones wants to win. On his terms. Bob Kraft wants to win by any means necessary. Do the McNairs really want to win? Hard to find proof. Is it the lack of desire or the lack of expertise? Or both that is holding this franchise back?
 

FuzzyLogic

Mathematically Possible
I don't think we can chalk it up to lack of experience anymore - anyone I hire/manage better not have a lack of expertise after 18 years of doing the job - same for the McNairs this is no longer their first 5 (or even 10) years in the league where they could pretend 'aww shucks fella's we didn't know any better' anything they haven't learned by now, they aren't interested in learning.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
I don't think we can chalk it up to lack of experience anymore - anyone I hire/manage better not have a lack of expertise after 18 years of doing the job - same for the McNairs this is no longer their first 5 (or even 10) years in the league where they could pretend 'aww shucks fella's we didn't know any better' anything they haven't learned by now, they aren't interested in learning.
It took the Rooney family 42 years to win a championship. The McNair family is only in year 19.
 

steelbtexan

King of the W. B. Club
Contributor's Club
I find it laughable that someone wrote a book on how to make money in the NFL. His next book must be on how to capitalize on the river of gold that runs through your backyard.

Once you get an NFL franchise, you print money for life. Even the Bengals. There is no magic formula. There is a magic formula for winning, apparently. And the Texans have not found it. Or haven’t looked for it.

The only incentive to win for an NFL owner is wanting to be a winner. Jerry Jones wants to win. On his terms. Bob Kraft wants to win by any means necessary. Do the McNairs really want to win? Hard to find proof. Is it the lack of desire or the lack of expertise? Or both that is holding this franchise back?
Lack of desire, or they would participate in the top tier FA market.
 

steelbtexan

King of the W. B. Club
Contributor's Club
I don't think we can chalk it up to lack of experience anymore - anyone I hire/manage better not have a lack of expertise after 18 years of doing the job - same for the McNairs this is no longer their first 5 (or even 10) years in the league where they could pretend 'aww shucks fella's we didn't know any better' anything they haven't learned by now, they aren't interested in learning.
The inexperienced/dont want to do anything to drastic has been a lie since the franchises inception.

Fans bought the McNair's schtick from the beginning hook line and sinker. Well, atleast most of them did.
 

banned1976

sleeper mode
Does anyone believe Korn Ferry Consulting came in, conducted due diligence and came back to Cal and Janice and said, "You know what you need to do? Remove the interim label off of a 74 year old coach that is overweight and keep Jack, who obviously knows very little to nothing about football, around at least another two years, all because of COVID." Is that what the organization is trying to make us believe?

It makes no never mind to me what they do with their fortune. If that's what they want to do with their money, have at it. But don't expect fans to come back in droves. In fact, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get #CancelCal trending on Twitter. Nobody will know what it means, but we have to start somewhere, dang it!
 

steelbtexan

King of the W. B. Club
Contributor's Club
Does anyone believe Korn Ferry Consulting came in, conducted due diligence and came back to Cal and Janice and said, "You know what you need to do? Remove the interim label off of a 74 year old coach that is overweight and keep Jack, who obviously knows very little to nothing about football, around at least another two years, all because of COVID." Is that what the organization is trying to make us believe?

It makes no never mind to me what they do with their fortune. If that's what they want to do with their money, have at it. But don't expect fans to come back in droves. In fact, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get #CancelCal trending on Twitter. Nobody will know what it means, but we have to start somewhere, dang it!
Yep, what they say about wanting to bring a championship to Kirby isn't a lie. They want to bring a championship to Kirby as long as

1. They can maximize their profits, even at the expense of the on field product. This not only means not signing top tier FA's but also signing the cheapest asst coaching staffs possible. The 2 exceptions to this rule so far have been Wade and RAC.

2. They can do it with the Texans Worthy status.

So far they've accomplished their most important goal. Maximizing profits. I've said for yrs the McNair's only care about the bottom line and seeing how at Bud Adams funeral Bob McNair called Bud one of his most influential mentors, this really shouldn't be a surprise to the fanbase. Of course the fanbase the Texans are really catering to dont know the difference between a football and a soccer ball. The games are all about a corporate party of tailgaiting and beer drinking kind of drunken good times. Which is all fun but at some point you would think that the Texans org would atleast have to try to put a winner on the field even if that means having to take on a couple of players that may not be Texans worthy.
 
Last edited:

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Not that I want to defend Easterby, but dude has worked in football for a decade.

Hear me out. What makes John Lynch, or John Elway any more qualified, or Peyton Manning. There's a big difference between playing & managing.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
Not that I want to defend Easterby, but dude has worked in football for a decade.

Hear me out. What makes John Lynch, or John Elway any more qualified, or Peyton Manning. There's a big difference between playing & managing.
Just because you're employed by a football team, doesn't mean you're "in football". Amy Palcic has been "in football" since 1999. I ain't making her VP of Football Operations either, no matter how good she was at the job she had.

And Jack and OB were hand in hand on the bad trades and contracts the last couple of years. As much blame that goes to OB for what he's done from the GM seat, just as much should be going to Pastor Jack.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
Not that I want to defend Easterby, but dude has worked in football for a decade.

Hear me out. What makes John Lynch, or John Elway any more qualified, or Peyton Manning. There's a big difference between playing & managing.
I get that. I am a firm believer that leaders lead and the great ones can delegate. I have no problem with having a "shot caller" with no GM/Personel experience, provided they have shown the ability to lead people and have shown the ability to lean on people with experience in areas they lack knowledge. I have no idea if Easterby can do that, but I prefer not to find out.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
I get that. I am a firm believer that leaders lead and the great ones can delegate. I have no problem with having a "shot caller" with no GM/Personel experience, provided they have shown the ability to lead people and have shown the ability to lean on people with experience in areas they lack knowledge. I have no idea if Easterby can do that, but I prefer not to find out.
To add to this, I want the entire stink of the past few years removed from this organization. At this point, I would not keep a single person on this staff or in the front office. Gut this team to its core and start over. No one has shown the ability to be effective.
 

CWTexansFan

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Contributor's Club
Does anyone believe Korn Ferry Consulting came in, conducted due diligence and came back to Cal and Janice and said, "You know what you need to do? Remove the interim label off of a 74 year old coach that is overweight and keep Jack, who obviously knows very little to nothing about football, around at least another two years, all because of COVID." Is that what the organization is trying to make us believe?

It makes no never mind to me what they do with their fortune. If that's what they want to do with their money, have at it. But don't expect fans to come back in droves. In fact, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get #CancelCal trending on Twitter. Nobody will know what it means, but we have to start somewhere, dang it!
Link so we can retweet
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Not that I want to defend Easterby, but dude has worked in football for a decade.

Hear me out. What makes John Lynch, or John Elway any more qualified, or Peyton Manning. There's a big difference between playing & managing.
tbh, this is probably what the McNairs are thinking, too.

From what I can gather, Jack is a very nice person. He also appears to be really good at selling himself, but in a very humble servant sort of way.

Where I would offer any comment about John Lynch/John Elway/Peyton Manning, is that they are Hall of Fame players with rings, so they have actually experienced the locker room of championship teams. And since all of them either played QB or a defensive "QB" at safety, they have a deep understanding of strategy and play-calling.

But, in the end, those organizations got lucky with their shots in the dark. There are also players that failed, like Matt Millen and Mike Singletary.

The question we have as Texans fans is how patient would we be willing to be to find out if Jack Easterby is a good GM. It will take years to find out.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Where I would offer any comment about John Lynch/John Elway/Peyton Manning, is that they are Hall of Fame players with rings, so they have actually experienced the locker room of championship teams. And since all of them either played QB or a defensive "QB" at safety, they have a deep understanding of strategy and play-calling.
Good point, if we were talking about coaches.

Again I’m not arguing Easterby is qualified. I don’t believe he is, but mainly because I don’t know. Bilichick saying he’s not a personnel guy doesn’t help.

But Elway in particular. He wasn’t hired to be GM. He usurped the role, which is kinda like what Easterby did.

We all would like for McNair to hire someone who knows what he’s doing & get out of the way. So maybe Cal didn’t get the “knows what he’s doing” part.
The question we have as Texans fans is how patient would we be willing to be to find out if Jack Easterby is a good GM. It will take years to find out.
Hopefully we never find out. From the report it sounds like McNair is being upfront & honest. He remembers the Oz.He’s still paying Ricky, Gaines, & Bo’b. Maybe he’s trying to stop the bleeding & want to wine & dine & shake hands & look a guy in the eye before he writes another big check.

the story is 2021 may be a transition year, not the Easterby is our new GM
 

Corrosion

Idealist
Staff member
Not trying to discredit you - but I will believe it when I see it.

There is still a chance McDaniels comes over. Could he bring over Caserio? Would Easterby stay?

Don’t know. But I wouldn’t put it pass anyone.

Highly Doubtful on McDaniels , as good as zero (Currently).

Caserio , I think that's a possibility , especially considering the absolute zero information about the GM search. They don't want more tampering allegations. There is the NE south angel that might keep them from going that direction.

Easterby will have "some role" with the team (unfortunately) but he won't be "GM" - not a "player acquisition" role , more administrative. Problem is the culture aspect ..... he'll have a hand in that along with Cal and Janice and that's the major problem here.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Good point, if we were talking about coaches.

Again I’m not arguing Easterby is qualified. I don’t believe he is, but mainly because I don’t know. Bilichick saying he’s not a personnel guy doesn’t help.

But Elway in particular. He wasn’t hired to be GM. He usurped the role, which is kinda like what Easterby did.

We all would like for McNair to hire someone who knows what he’s doing & get out of the way. So maybe Cal didn’t get the “knows what he’s doing” part.


Hopefully we never find out. From the report it sounds like McNair is being upfront & honest. He remembers the Oz.He’s still paying Ricky, Gaines, & Bo’b. Maybe he’s trying to stop the bleeding & want to wine & dine & shake hands & look a guy in the eye before he writes another big check.

the story is 2021 may be a transition year, not the Easterby is our new GM
Great questions, man. And fun stuff to chat about during another absolute garbage of a season.

Denver got lucky with Elway, who got lucky with John Fox, Gary Kubiak, and Manning. Since their SB in 2015, his track record has been below average. They had one winning season (9-7) in 2016, but have failed to even make the playoffs since 2015.

The Easterby thing is strange, and it's all clouded with the O'Brien era and all that that entails. Most of us thought Easterby was an O'Brien connection, but they never crossed paths in New England. Easterby was hired by the Patriots after O'Brien was gone.

And the stuff about Easterby from Belichick could be some kind of Machiavellianism to get other teams to invest too much power in a guy that he knows is not qualified. I never underestimate the mind games that Belichick is willing to play to gain any sort of competitive advantage.

Highly Doubtful on McDaniels , as good as zero (Currently).

Caserio , I think that's a possibility , especially considering the absolute zero information about the GM search. They don't want more tampering allegations. There is the NE south angel that might keep them from going that direction.

Easterby will have "some role" with the team (unfortunately) but he won't be "GM" - not a "player acquisition" role , more administrative. Problem is the culture aspect ..... he'll have a hand in that along with Cal and Janice and that's the major problem here.
Do you know what, exactly, is the type of culture they are trying to foster on Kirby? I'm sure it's more about character than actual football skill based on their history. But do you know if it's a mission statement type of thing?

Other teams try to create a WINNING CULTURE. The Texans, it seems, want a culture that always reflects positively on the Texans brand in spite of whatever happens on the field.
 

Corrosion

Idealist
Staff member
Do you know what, exactly, is the type of culture they are trying to foster on Kirby? I'm sure it's more about character than actual football skill based on their history. But do you know if it's a mission statement type of thing?

Other teams try to create a WINNING CULTURE. The Texans, it seems, want a culture that always reflects positively on the Texans brand in spite of whatever happens on the field.

The statement on culture was my own , not something I'd heard from within the organization.

That culture , as you well know is less about talent and more about them being able to sell "Character" as it has been since day one .... drafting HWWNBM over Peppers who was clearly the best player.
Its the same thing that got the best WR in the NFL shipped out of town ..... He's a bad influence on a certain someone.
 

steelbtexan

King of the W. B. Club
Contributor's Club
Highly Doubtful on McDaniels , as good as zero (Currently).

Caserio , I think that's a possibility , especially considering the absolute zero information about the GM search. They don't want more tampering allegations. There is the NE south angel that might keep them from going that direction.

Easterby will have "some role" with the team (unfortunately) but he won't be "GM" - not a "player acquisition" role , more administrative. Problem is the culture aspect ..... he'll have a hand in that along with Cal and Janice and that's the major problem here.
In other words is although there will be a new regime. The people pulling the strings behind the scenes aren't changing the Not Texans Worthy theme.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
You can choose to believe or not.

CnD knows people.

When you're at the top of your field in this country these type of people tend to know each other.
I have no doubt, someone, he knows told him that. My question really is, how would they know? Even if Jack is relaying information to Cal, why do we assume he is the reason for those things? Easterby could simply be relaying information to Cal based on his interaction with players. That doesn't mean he is the main driving factor.

Does anyone disagree that it was time for those guys to be fired? OB pushed Gaine out the door to have sole decision making and then he flopped hard so he was canned. Nothing earth-shattering happened here. Cal has slowly been firing people since he took over. He is going to make his own print on this team, for good or bad. That's to be determined.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I was just given confirmation that Easterby was the main driving factor in Cal making the decision to fire both Gaine and O'Brien. Easterby was hired by the Cal April 2, 2019. Brian Gaine was fired June 7, 2019.

Extrapolate this to a non political scenario:

View attachment 7038
Then I owe the man a beer for ousting BO’b.

If he’s behind cutting Carter too, a steak dinner.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
OB pushed Gaine out the door to have sole decision making and then he flopped hard so he was canned. Nothing earth-shattering happened here. Cal has slowly been firing people since he took over.
BO’b & Gaine weren’t seeing eye to eye. BO’b wanted to trade Clowney when it made sense. Gaine wanted to extend him.

Point for O’Brien.

O’Brien couldn’t get along with anyone & that list kept getting longer & longer. IMO, we should have let him go a long time before Gaine.

Maybe Ricky wasn’t the guy to lead this team, I’m not saying he was. But we fired Kubiak. Then totally switched direction & followed O’Brien.

From the get go he couldn’t work with Rick, couldn’t work with Oz, couldn’t work with Gaine, couldn’t...

It would have made more sense to me, to get rid of O’Brien & find someone who could work with Rick.

If I had my way, they would have listened to Kubiak & replaced Schaub instead of extending him.

not that I thinkKubiak was/is a great coach. But replacing Schaub was the right thing to do. & we spent so much time & resources trying to replace Schaub.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Mike Florio had one topic for his Airing of Grievances segment on PFT this morning, and that topic was Jack Easterby.

Many in the national media see Easterby as fake, especially when caught padding his resume to appear more qualified than he actually is. He even got the Texans in on the act recently when they openly lied about taking his fake credentials off their website last year. Florio has screen caps of the website from March 2020 when he first reported the resume discrepancies.

Easterby was just a chaplain with the Patriots and got an agent that specializes in representing football executives (GMs and HCs). Dude obviously wants more than he's willing to admit. Now even Belichick has come out and basically said he's not qualified to be a GM. He's never worked personnel in his life.

I don't buy that Cal is thinking of him for the GM position. I just can't. Hopefully Cal wakes up and kicks the dude to the curb after he finds his new GM. Maybe we get lucky and Gangsta' Cal comes out.

CalGangsta.jpg
 

Mr teX

Hall of Fame
Rick was dealing with his wife’s situation so it’s entirely plausible that Rick wasn’t “locked in” to his job here the last few years. As far as Kubiak, he used all of his get out of jail free cards on the front end of his tenure trying to get a DC worth a damn and it took Old man Bob to step in and do it for him. Both weren’t long for the job and likely needed a fresh start elsewhere.

And as far as experience, look, not many people here had a problem when Gaine was promoted to be the GM...and like Ricky, he didn’t have any experience at the job either...only as a scout and player personnel guy. Still, if it were left up to Gaine, we would’ve been watching Clowney steal 20 mil for the next 3 years and our ability to extend DW4 could’ve been compromised if everything proceeds exactly as it had to this point.

point is the experience angle here against Easterby is very much overplayed. Not saying I want the guy to be a personnel and/or GM guy, but let’s be real. There are only 32 of these jobs available and even the guys with tons of experience flop hard. truthfully, You need a certain amount of luck to strike a good GM/HC combo. Les Snead, another guy with no GM experience became the GM for the Rams in 2012. And rather than hire the young up and comer right away who had pretty good experience and had shown something as an OC in Houston and Washington with 2 different types of QB’s (Kyle shanahan) he went with the experienced blah pick of........Jeff Fisher....oops. and even after Kyle Shanahan had led the Falcons to a SB in 2015, he still didn’t go after him. Instead, he chose a guy that was just a TE coach in 2012 when he took over the Rams & had only been an OC for 2 years with some “ok” offenses before Snead took a flyer on him...and luckily for Snead, it worked out...go figure.
 
Top