Houston GM needs to prove himself in 2023
Nick Caserio has been the general manager for the Houston Texans since January 2021. With Caserio at the helm, the Texans have a 7-26-1 record. Granted, it would be unfair to blame this on Caserio. The executive inherited a mess and was forced to navigate the team through the Deshaun Watson fiasco. However, criticizing some […]
Nick Caserio has been the general manager for the Houston Texans since January 2021.
With Caserio at the helm, the Texans have a 7-26-1 record. Granted, it would be unfair to blame this on Caserio. The executive inherited a mess and was forced to navigate the team through the Deshaun Watson fiasco.
However, criticizing some of the coaching and roster decisions under Caserio's watch is certainly understandable.
NFL analyst Gregg Rosenthal recently revealed his power rankings of NFL general managers. General managers were only considered in the rankings if they have had at least two drafts with their team. This stipulation removed seven general managers from the list.
Of the 25 general managers ranked, Caserio came in at No. 24, ahead of only Broncos GM George Paton. Regarding Caserio's low rating, Rosenthal said the following:
Caserio inherited a broken situation that got worse when Deshaun Watson asked out of town and was subsequently accused of sexual misconduct and suspended by the NFL. Caserio has hired three head coaches in his first three years as a general manager. That is a massive strike against him. I couldn't find another example of this in league history.
Caserio's first two drafts have been average for the picks he had to work with. The volume of free agents brought in over the last two years rivals any team in football, with a decent hit rate. It's up to new coach DeMeco Ryans and the incoming No. 2 overall pick to make all those moves look better.
These are certainly fair points made by Rosenthal. The tumultuous coaching situation seems to finally be resolved with the hiring of DeMeco Ryans, and this is the draft where Caserio can really make his mark.
And that mark might need to be a big one- rumors are flying that Caserio could soon be heading out of town.
The theory shared by Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk implies that Caserio is the one who wants out of Houston. I would be very surprised if Caserio willingly bolted after seemingly surviving the roughest patches.
I do not see the logic in leaving a team after the draft. Why would Caserio bother drafting players for a team he is preparing to leave?
Regardless, it's clear that Caserio has to hit it out of the park in this draft. If the Texans struggle again in 2023, Caserio could very well be in a new city in 2024.
