Here's a prescient comment on Easterby making a power grab in Houston, from a New England reporter. 16 months before O'Brien is fired.
No this isn't just a PFT/SI axe to grind for Amy Palcic. This is a revelation of Jack Easterby's true colors. They knew it in Foxboro. We're learning about it now, in Houston.
By Greg A. Bedard, Posted on June 18, 2019.Easterby knows all of the particulars involved intimately. He could have coaxed O'Brien and owner Cal McNair to make a play for Caserio, despite knowing Caserio's contract status. Easterby would have known that making a play for Caserio around the ring ceremony — a holy day on the Kraft Family calendar — would anger them to no end and possibly lead to warfare against the Texans. The fallout would be the Patriots drawing a hard line and holding Caserio to his contract, and O'Brien balking at sending a draft pick in compensation for Caserio when he would be a free agent in less than a year.
That would leave a power void in Houston for Easterby himself to step into once he ingratiates himself in the organization. We're only a few steps away from Easterby sidling up to McNair and being in a position to take over Texans' entire football operations whenever O'Brien is fired.)
No this isn't just a PFT/SI axe to grind for Amy Palcic. This is a revelation of Jack Easterby's true colors. They knew it in Foxboro. We're learning about it now, in Houston.