New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick spent time with the Houston media on a conference call Monday afternoon, and he shed some interesting light into Houston Texans executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby.
Easterby used to be with the Patriots starting in 2013 as a character coach. According to Easterby’s biography on the Texans’ official website, Easterby’s role expanded to include the title of “team development director and management responsibilities over several sub-programs within the organization.”
The Texans hired Easterby as their executive vice president of team development in April 2019.
Belichick was posed the following question: Did you think Jack Easterby would ever want to pursue a career on the football personnel side?
Belichick’s reply: “Jack’s not a personnel person, no.”
After the firing of coach and general manager Bill O’Brien, the Texans promoted Easterby to the role of interim general manager.
Belichick was complimentary of Easterby’s role with the Patriots for six seasons wherein the club won three Super Bowls at the end of the 2014, 2016, and 2018 campaigns.
“Jack did a great job for us,” said Belichick. “His role was a varied one. He worked with a lot of different aspects of the organization — players, coaches, support people, so forth.
“He was a person who could connect well with everybody, from the owner of the team to the equipment manager or equipment guy that picks up towels and all the people in between. He was a very valuable person in this organization in the time he was here.”
Quarterback Deshaun Watson has been impressed with Easterby thus far.
“He’s a man of God who cares about this organization, these players,” Watson told reporters on Nov. 4. “He cares about players in that locker room to be the best of their ability and get whatever they can out of their careers. Having that good positive energy and spirit around the locker room is definitely good.”
The Texans haven’t been as fortunate with Easterby as the Patriots were. After Easterby joined the team in 2019, the club won a wild-card playoff game over the Buffalo Bills, but are currently 2-7 after a horrendous 0-4 start that cost O’Brien his job on Oct. 5.
According to chairman and CEO Cal McNair, Easterby will revert back to his role in football operations once the club hires a full-time general manager.