The Houston Texans have shaken up their front office in the aftermath of the 2019 season coming to a close.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans have fired senior vice president of football administration Chris Olsen, who was serving as the interim general manager since the club fired general manager Brian Gaine on June 7, 2019.
Olsen had been with the Texans since 2007 where he started out as a vice president of football administration. Olsen had been a key part of helping the Texans manage the salary cap and negotiate player contracts.
Prior to Olsen joining the Texans, he worked in the NFL league offices for 13 years, including as manager of labor relations on the NFL management council from 1999-2006, where he gain extensive experience working with player contracts as he had to make sure player contracts teams submitted were in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement and salary cap. Olsen was also the NFL’s liaison to the NFLPA as it related to player contracts.
Firing Olsen means more shakeup in the front office, and it could be more influence from the part of executive vice president of team development Jack Easterby, who helped evaluate the Texans from an organization standpoint during the 2019 offseason, even when the club’s nine-week workout program started in April.
Coach Bill O’Brien had influence over the five-man general managing council, even though Olsen was the interim general manager. Now with Olsen out of the way, O’Brien has even more sway that he did before.
The Texans have a bevy of offseason moves to be made, including whether to retain receiver Will Fuller, keep cornerback Bradley Roby, or start negotiations with quarterback Deshaun Watson on his well-deserved contract extension. Houston will have to negotiate some of these new contracts without the benefit of Olsen’s 12 years of experience.