2019 has been a whirlwind for Brian Gaine.
After spending all offseason carefully managing the Houston Texans’ salary cap situation, trying to replace safety Tyrann Mathieu with another Pro Bowler in Tashaun Gipson, not spending big money to keep 30-year-old Kareem Jackson, and taking Tytus Howard after the Philadelphia Eagles drafted Andre Dillard in the first round, Gaine found himself out of a job.
On June 7, the Texans fired Gaine as general manger — the Friday before the club was to hold its veteran mandatory minicamp, the last offseason workout before a month hiatus, the advent to training camp.
Usually front office personnel gets canned at the end of the season, or midway through a disappointing campaign. The Texans were taking a Jets-esque approach and firing Gaine after all of their offseason moves had been made.
In late July, Gaine returned to the franchise that he spent the 2017 with as its vice president of player personnel, the Buffalo Bills. Of course, Dan Morgan has that job now, and Gaine is a nebulous “senior personnel advisor.”
Regardless of pro football and the money and lifestyle involved, getting fired out of nowhere is disruptive on an individual. To think you’re safe for at least the next five months and have the rug pulled out from under you is jarring.
Could Gaine have the last laugh over Texans coach Bill O’Brien?
In the absence of a full-time general manager, senior vice president of football administration, Chris Olsen, has taken on the role as interim general manager. However, that is nothing more than a title. A five-man general managing council makes the front office decisions for the Texans, and O’Brien has considerable influence. Make no mistake: his six trades from Aug. 8 to Oct. 21 were timely and helped fill voids along the roster.
However, it was Jack Easterby, the executive vice president of team development, part of the New England Patriots’ colonization of the Texans, who arrived in the 2019 offseason, who helped Texans chairman Cal McNair realize Gaine needed to go. Getting rid of Gaine helped O’Brien win yet another power struggle over a general manager.
If the Bills pull off the upset and take down the Texans at NRG Stadium, they will be a team that Gaine had very little influence over, not compared to Houston, who has O’Brien’s fingerprints all over them by this stage of the postseason. And if they lose, it will only be that much sweeter to Gaine.