Tag: nick caserio

Here’s a look inside Patriots’ virtual war room during 1st-round trade

Nick Caserio and Bill Belichick make the call to trade out of the first round.

The New England Patriots did what most fans hoped Bill Belichick would not do. In the biggest sporting event in weeks, the Patriots provided anticlimax. The team traded out of the first round, moving back from 23rd overall and getting the Los Angeles Chargers’ second and third-round picks.

New England was barely on the clock. As soon as the Minnesota Vikings selected LSU receiver Justin Jefferson, the Patriots executed a trade to move out of the first round. They finished the evening with 13 pick in the draft, including five picks on Friday night when they should be in range to pick a number of talented prospects. Here’s a snippet of video from the Patriots’ war room during the trade on Thursday night.

Nick Caserio is quick with the trigger.

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Retaining Josh McDaniels, Nick Caserio will prove essential for Patriots future

Life for the Patriots will go on, with or without Tom Brady. 

Life for the New England Patriots will go on, with or without Tom Brady.

The organization has been built on foundational pieces and it starts with the man who governs every aspect of the team — Bill Belichick. Robert Kraft has given Belichick free rein to make any decision that’s best for the team. Ultimately, making Belichick the head coach, general manager and de facto defensive coordinator.

This isn’t sustainable for one person without reliable counterparts that run autonomously. This is where Nick Caserio and Josh McDaniels come in, both of which have been retained by the Patriots this offseason. McDaniels went out on a head-coaching interview tour for numerous teams, but came up empty. Caserio, who reportedly wanted out of New England last season, agreed to a multi-year contract extension with the team.

The foundational pieces are now set in stone for 2020 at minimum. Belichick will oversee the team and defense primarily. McDaniels will make sure the offense operates optimally and Caserio will find the right pieces to string together a contending team.

So, why are Caserio and McDaniels so important for the team’s future?

Caserio has played an instrumental role in all six of New England’s Super Bowl titles. He’s been with the team since 2001 and has been the director of player personnel since the 2008 season. Similar to the players that come into New England, Caserio has become a versatile piece who makes an impact outside of his job title. He’s been Belichick’s sidekick at the general manager position and he’ll be the key to a potential future without Brady.

Brady, 42, is set to hit free agency this offseason and it’s very possible that he ends up in a different uniform. If this is the case, Caserio will be the man in charge of replacing the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. It will be a daunting task if push comes to shove, but the combination of Belichick and Caserio will be best fit for the job.

NESN’s Doug Kyed summed up Caserio’s significance to the team perfectly.

He oversees the Patriots’ pro and college scouting departments. He sets up signings and trades. He’s in the coaches’ booth during games talking to offensive coordinator — and former college teammate — Josh McDaniels. He’s a coach on the practice field during the week. Oh, and he’s the Patriots’ in-house arm for any free agent wide receiver workouts.

Now for McDaniels, who spent 16 of his 19 years as an NFL coach with the Patriots. He’s the NFL’s highest-paid assistant coach for a reason and the potential departure of Brady could implode this offense without the revered offensive coordinator. Belichick was looking at a potential scenario where he’d have to abruptly get a new quarterback and offensive coordinator up to speed — while filling to role of two NFL greats.

It’s easy to say New England is better off with McDaniels around. Similar to both Belichick and Caserio, McDaniels has six Super Bowl titles with the team. He joined the Patriots in 2001 as a personnel assistant and climbed his way up the ladder to become the offensive coordinator in 2006. In 2009, he left for a few years to experiment as a coach outside of New England, but he made a return for the 2012 season.

McDaniels’ tasks go far beyond his position as well and his vast knowledge of the Patriots’ system has been imperative to the team’s success.

The Patriots lost their longest-tenured coach in Dante Scarnecchia this offseason, who did an incredible job of keeping the offensive line intact. In order for the dynasty to continue, they couldn’t afford to lose anymore foundational pieces. They’re off to a great start in terms of the key cogs in the coaching staff — now it’s on to the players.

If the Patriots can retain Brady this offseason, they’ll be right on track for another Super Bowl run in 2020. If not, they’ll have to prove they can keep the ship running without the face of the franchise. With these pieces in play, it’s very likely Belichick will conjure up a winning team going forward regardless of Brady’s decision.

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Report: Nick Caserio, Patriots agree to multi-year contract extension

Nick Caserio is staying put in New England.

The New England Patriots and director of player personnel Nick Caserio have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, according to Ben Volin of The Boston Globe.

The Houston Texans made their attempt at Caserio last offseason, but things got messy and he remained with the Patriots. There was speculation that Houston would try again to attain Caserio, but that was quickly shut down this offseason.

Caserio has been with the organization since 2001 and has remained in his current role since 2008. The return of Caserio and Josh McDaniels will help keep structure and familiarity that will benefit Bill Belichick greatly. With the potential departure of Tom Brady this offseason, the Patriots will need to keep the core intact to remain a contender.

Now that New England’s brought back two of its most important pieces — the focus will be put on its legendary signal-caller.

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5 options to be the next Patriots’ wide receiver coach

Five guys who could be the New England Patriots wide receivers coach in 2020.

Prior to the 2019 season, there had been a lot of consistency in the positional coaching ranks in New England. In one year, a lot of that changed. Defensive line coach Brendan Daly, who had been in New England since 2014, left for Kansas City. Brian Flores, who was in Foxboro since 2004, became the new head coach in Miami. There, he took assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski (2013-18), wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea (2009-18), and cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer (2006-18).

These moves left a lot of openings in New England. Daly was replaced by former Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema. Former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo slid in for Flores. Mick Lombardi, son of former Patriots assistant Michael Lombardi, would take over for Schuplinski. Mike Pellegrino, previously an assistant, was promoted to replace Boyer. And, special teams coordinator Joe Judge took on a new role, becoming the wide receivers coach.

For obvious reasons, Judge was one of the coaches in the biggest spotlight. Working with Tom Brady’s weapons is always a job that will attract attention. So, it wasn’t a total surprise when a guy who had been in a successful organization for eight years and was finally getting some media coverage due to the extra duties was getting calls to be a head coach. This off-season, the New York Giants took a swing on Judge, once again leaving the Patriots with a hole in the coaching staff. Who could fill those shoes as the next wide receivers coach?

Chad O’Shea

O’Shea spent 10 seasons as the Patriots wide receivers coach. Last offseason, he left for Miami to make the jump to offensive coordinator for the first time in his career. The move didn’t exactly pan out the way he expected. With less than ideal weapons, the Dolphins would finish 25th in points per game (19.1) and 27th in yards per game (310).

Surprisingly, after only one season, O’Shea was fired. This decision was reportedly made because Flores wanted to separate himself from what he did in New England. If O’Shea wants to continue working and perfecting a Patriots-like system, maybe going back to New England would be best.

The red zone struggles the Patriots had this year could certainly be helped by the man who was “incredibly responsible for any and all of our success in the red zone,” as Josh McDaniels put it in 2018. O’Shea could be used to help guys like N’Keal Harry and Mohamed Sanu find their roles in the scoring offense, and that’s something that would be extremely important to the future success of the team.

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Report: Texans won’t hire a GM, leaving one less option for Nick Caserio

The Patriots may have caught a break with Josh McDaniels and Nick Caserio.

The likelihood of Nick Caserio staying with the New England Patriots in 2020 has increased.

Rumors floated around last summer that Caserio was prepared to depart from New England and take a general manager position with the Houston Texans. The situation got messy and Caserio remained as the Patriots’ director of player personnel.

Houston went into 2019 without a general manager, and they still haven’t filled the position. But, it looks like they’re sticking with the same recipe and keeping the group that they have currently, according the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson.

The report also said that former Patriots character coach Jack Easterby will continue in his de facto assistant general manager role.

 

Similar to Josh McDaniels, the likelihood of Caserio staying with the Patriots has dramatically increased. McDaniels and Caserio play fundamental roles in the organization and New England will be a lot better off with them in the mix.

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Report: Nick Caserio no longer in the mix for Texans’ GM job

Where might Nick Caserio land?

New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio doesn’t seem to be the leading candidate for the Houston Texans’ opening at general manager. The Texans aren’t going to hire anyone, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Houston will stick with what they’ve got: Coach Bill O’Brien (and acting general manager) and executive vice president of team development Jack Easterby. They have been managing the team’s personnel decisions over the last season since they tried and failed to pursue Caserio during the 2019 offseason. That hiring process ended after the Patriots filed tampering charges.

Some thought Easterby might have tampered with Caserio during the Patriots’ ring ceremony in New England this summer. Belichick, however, said this week that the tampering had nothing to do with Easterby.

Caserio is set to be a free agent next offseason. His contract will expire in 2020. Of course, the Patriots could retain him with an extension. But it’s possible that he is interested in taking over the general manager role outside of New England, where he has a bounty of responsibilities but — as far as we know — ultimately defers final decision-making to Belichick.

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Texans coach Bill O’Brien: ‘No hard feelings’ over not getting Patriots’ Nick Caserio

Bill O’Brien says there’s “no hard feelings” over the Houston Texans unable to get New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio.

The Houston Texans tried. After firing general manager Brian Gaine after one season, they put all their focus on plucking one of the NFL’s most respected and coveted front office men in New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio.

Led by vice president of team development Jack Easterby, the Texans made an all-out push to hire Caserio. The Patriots blocked all attempts, with owner Robert Kraft settling on the threat of tampering charges to take away their employed, general managing protegé.

Before their Week 13 matchup with Caserio’s Patriots, Texans coach Bill O’Brien spoke on the matter, using 134 words to say, it is what it is.

“I think in the NFL — there’s only 32 teams,” said O’Brien. “Sometimes you work in an organization where you know a lot of people and you have a respect for their jobs and what they do and at the end of the day you try to do the best you can to, at times, communicate and maybe you get a chance to work together. In that instance it didn’t really work out. Whatever happened, happened. There’s no hard feelings.”

“We have a lot of respect for the Patriots,” said O’Brien. “I have a lot of respect for [coach] Bill (Belichick). I’m very grateful to Bill for the opportunities he gave me, and then obviously I have a lot of close friends on the staff over there that I worked with. So, there’s none of that, not on our end.”

Ultimately, the Texans chose to entrust O’Brien and four others as general manager. Since, the O’Brien-led front office has made their fair share of team-altering trades, including shipping off a treasure trove of picks to South Beach for tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills.

If O’Brien and Co. remain interested in Caserio, he will be contractually available soon. However, not until after the 2020 NFL Draft.