Tag: Texans front office

Texans explored option to trade DE J.J. Watt

The Houston Texans tried to trade defensive end J.J. Watt, but felt it would be best to release him prior to the start of free agency.

The Houston Texans did it again. They let an All-Pro get away and didn’t get the necessary draft compensation.

The Texans released defensive end J.J. Watt on Feb. 12. Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair told the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain that the team did explore every option, but did not elaborate when asked they didn’t try to trade him.

Chairman and CEO Cal McNair was asked Friday why the Texans didn’t trade Watt for a draft choice rather than release him.

“We did evaluate all the options and thought this was the right decision for J.J. and the Texans,” he said. “It’s one that was mutually agreed on, and we felt doing the right thing by J.J. was important.

“Not every decision is easy, and they’re not always easily understood. We want to do what’s right by our players and our fans, and the focus is on bringing a championship to Houston.”

The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport explained on the Pat McAfee Show that in order to trade Watt, they would have had to have found a willing partner that would give up fair compensation and also be willing to rework Watt’s contract, which will be in its last year with $17.5 million not guaranteed.

With the way the Texans let Watt go, it allows for the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year to pick his destination rather than have to move the heavens in order to make a situation fit around him.

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Falcons hire former Texans senior VP of football administration Chris Olsen

The Atlanta Falcons have hired former Houston Texans senior VP of football administration Chris Olsen.

Other NFL teams are retooling from the Houston Texans’ house-cleaning since June of 2019.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Atlanta Falcons have hired former Texans senior vice president of football administration in their front office. Olsen will be the right-hand man to general manager Terry Fontenot.

Olsen was named interim general manager after the firing of general manager Brian Gaine on June 7, 2019. Though Olsen was the interim, he was merely a figurehead as coach Bill O’Brien had considerably more sway over the five-man general managing council that filled the void left behind after Gaine’s firing. Like Gaine, Olsen ultimately was out of the organization by January of 2020 when chairman and CEO Cal McNair named O’Brien general manager and promoted Jack Easterby to executive vice president of football operations.

The former Texans front office member was in charge of managing the Texans’ salary cap and contracts. Olsen had been a part of the Texans since 2007.

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Report: Cal McNair says QB Deshaun Watson ‘will remain’ with Texans

Houston Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair says that quarterback Deshaun Watson “will remain” with the team.

Houston Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair has a special message for fans.

Although McNair wanted Feb. 12 to be about defensive end J.J. Watt, who will be released from the team to find a new NFL team, he fielded questions from the media about the status of disgruntled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has asked for a trade from the Texans.

According to Greg Bailey from ABC 13 [KTRK-TV], McNair says that the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback will stay a part of the Texans’ plans going forward as the team seeks to bring a championship to Houston.

The way Bailey put it, McNair stressed Watson “will remain a Texan.”

With the Texans losing the face of their franchise for the past decade, it will be important to hold on to the one player who can represent them going forward, and lead them to championships as he is one of the premier talents at his position, the very position the entire sport is built around.

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McNair family expresses gratitude for J.J. Watt’s Texans career

The Houston Texans’ ownership family expressed their gratefulness for the career J.J. Watt had with their franchise.

The Houston Texans will be releasing defensive end J.J. Watt, their face of the franchise for the past decade.

Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair said the move is one that underscores how difficult change can be.

“Change is never easy, especially when it involves the ones you love. J.J.’s impact on not only our organization, but the entire Houston community, is unlike any player in our franchise’s history,” McNair said. “I told J.J. earlier this week that we will forever consider him a Texan. We take solace in knowing that this is not a goodbye but a ‘see you soon.’

“For now, we will build upon the foundation that J.J. created here and forge ahead with our unwavering mission to bring a championship to our city, create memorable experiences for our fans and do great things for Houston.”

In addition to winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year a record three times, tied with Lawrence Taylor and Aaron Donald for the most in league history, Watt also won the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for his fundraising efforts for the city of Houston and south Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

“Simply put, there has been no person in the past decade who has made a greater impact on the Texans organization than J.J. Watt,” co-founder and senior chair Janice S. McNair said in a statement. “J.J.’s dominance on the field was unprecedented and resulted in countless moments that will go down in Texans history.

To me, what best represents J.J.’s connection to Houston is his tradition of playing catch with the fans before every home game. The number of people who wear No. 99 jerseys with smiles on their faces totally encapsulated J.J.’s passion for bonding with Texans fans at every possible opportunity. His commitment to the community is unlike any player in NFL history. We are forever grateful to J.J. and his family.”

Watt shared in an Instagram post how much the city of Houston meant to him and how he will never take it for granted.

“The connection I have with the people of Houston is special, and I will never take that for granted because I know how rare it is. I just want you to know that I love you and I appreciate you,” Watt said. “I want to thank the McNair family for drafting me and giving me my first opportunity in the NFL. Thank you, Houston.”

The Texans selected Watt in Round 1 of the 2011 NFL draft, and he finished as the franchise’s leader in sacks with 101.0.

What is next for Texans with president Jamey Rootes resigning?

With Houston Texans president Jamey Rootes resigning, where does the club go from here?

Houston Texans president Jamey Rootes will be resigning from the team in the coming weeks, which leaves another void in leadership the club will have to fill after addressing the general manager and coaching vacancies in January.

Chairman and CEO Cal McNair is confident they will be able to build upon the rudiments of success Rootes laid in his tenure with the club from 2000-21 — essentially the entire existence of the franchise.

“We will now build upon this foundation and move forward with a bold and unwavering commitment to winning championships, creating memorable experiences for our fans, and doing great things for Houston,” McNair said.

According to a statement from the Texans, the club will start a search for a new president immediately, and it will include, “a diverse slate of candidates,” that will also include internal candidates from the business side of the Texans.

Jamey Rootes says it was an ‘honor to serve’ the Texans, McNair family

Outgoing Houston Texans team president Jamey Rootes expressed his gratitude for being able to work for the team and the McNair family.

Houston Texans president Jamey Rootes will be leaving the organization in the coming weeks, and the team’s top executive, who has been with the team since 2000, publicly expressed his gratitude to the franchise and the McNair family.

In a statement from the outgoing president, Rootes mentioned how much of a blessing it was to work for the McNairs.

“It has been an honor to serve them in this capacity for as long as I have,” Rootes said. “I want to thank my teammates as we could not have had so many successes without their hard work and dedication to the team.”

Rootes also thanked Texans fans for being, “best fans in the National Football League.”

Said Rootes: “Your passionate support created a tremendous homefield advantage, established the best tailgating experience in the NFL and sold out every home game. I will always be a proud Texan and I look forward to continuing to support our team.”

Rootes will be pursuing his interests as a writer, public speaker, consultant, and professor at the University of Houston.

“We sincerely appreciate Jamey’s multiple contributions to the Texans franchise over his tenure and look forward to seeing him succeed in his new ventures,” Texan chairman and CEO Cal McNair said.

According to co-founder and senior chair Janice McNair, late founder Bob McNair was impressed with Rootes from the outset.

“When Bob first met Jamey, he knew immediately Jamey would be the one to help us build this franchise from the ground up,” said McNair. “I am so thankful for Jamey, Melissa and the entire Rootes family for their constant dedication to the team since its inception. He’s had a great influence on this organization and we wish him continued success in the future. We respect Jamey’s decision to pursue other opportunities.”

Rootes wrote about his approach to leading a business to sustained success in “The Winning Game Plan,” which was released in late 2020 and became a best-seller on Amazon, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

Texans president Jamey Rootes resigning from the team

The Houston Texans will undergo another change at the top as team president Jamey Rootes has officially resigned.

The Houston Texans continue to see more changes at the top of their management structure.

According to multiple reports, team president Jamey Rootes is resigning from the team.

The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that the Texans will search for a new team president, and that, “the organization moves forward with a new leadership structure.”

Rootes had been rumored to leave the Texans for a few weeks, but the rumor has now become reality for a team that has seen a bevy of changes over the last two years.

The Clemson alumnus had been president of the Texans since its 2002 inception.

In April 16, 2020, meeting with the Houston media, then-coach and general manager Bill O’Brien said that Rootes “ran the business side” of the Texans while he and executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby ran the football side.

Prior to coming to the Texans, Rootes had been the general manager of the Columbus Crew for Major League Soccer.

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Report: Texans ‘weeding out’ employees not hired by Jack Easterby, Nick Caserio

The Houston Texans are getting rid of employees who weren’t hired by GM Nick Caserio or football ops boss Jack Easterby, according to ESPN.

The Houston Texans are making changes, not just to their coaching staff, but to their other aspects of the football operation.

Hidden inside Adam Schefter’s report on the Texans’ insistence to other teams that they will not trade quarterback Deshaun Watson was a paragraph regarding the dismissal of employees.

One player privately commented to ESPN that the Texans are weeding out employees who were not hired by executive vice president Jack Easterby and new general manager Nick Caserio, replacing them with employees who will be indebted to them for their work.

The Texans have gotten rid of director of football administration Kevin Krajcovic, equipment manager Mike Parson, and Doug West — at least, these are employees whose dismissals have been leaked to the public.

If the Caserio-Easterby regime is assembling a column of individuals loyal to them, it could make the Watson situation worse given the lack of communication between the three-time Pro Bowler and his new general manager and his new coach, David Culley.

Former Browns LT Joe Thomas ‘so happy’ to see QB Deshaun Watson hold the Texans accountable

Former Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas is very pleased to see Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson hold ownership, the front office accountable.

Joe Thomas spent a lot of time on losing teams and playing for a bad organization.

The 10-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro left tackle spent his entire career with the Cleveland Browns from 2007-17. Never once did Thomas consider leaving the franchise that drafted him in the first round, no matter how many coaching changes, front office changes, and even ownership changes the AFC North club endured.

Needless to say, Thomas is siding Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, and appreciates his attempts to hold chairman and CEO Cal McNair accountable.

“I am so happy to see that a player of his caliber with his leverage is finally holding his franchise accountable to things that they have promised that they were going to do for him,” Thomas said. “Because he’s held up his end of the bargain. I think for too long we’ve seen players as these pieces that are less important than the coaching and the general managers and these ownership sides of things, but when you look at it, is Deshaun Watson not easily the most important person to the success or the failure of the Houston Texans. Shouldn’t he hold his employers accountable in the same way they would hold him accountable if he wasn’t living up to his contract?”

McNair told Watson he would seek his input when it came to the hiring of the general manager and coach. Instead, it appeared McNair went with favorites of executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby and hired his friend, Nick Caserio, as general manager and Baltimore Ravens receivers coach David Culley.

The top brass didn’t deliver for Watson, who signed an extension in September of 2020 that keeps him under contract through the 2025 season. Will his time in Houston be more of the same 4-12 seasons? Will they be content with AFC South titles and not playoff wins?

“So, I think it’s great he’s saying, hey, if you guys aren’t going to live up to what you say you’re going to do, then I’m going to go somewhere else because I have the ability as an employee to extract that leverage that I certainly have for being one of the youngest, greatest quarterbacks in the NFL,” said Thomas. “So, I love what he’s doing, and I think some of the pushback that he’s getting from some of the Brett Favres and the Dick Vermeils is they come from that old school mentality. They don’t understand how in today’s NFL how important a quarterback is to a franchise in 2021.”

McNair may not understand how significant that is either. On Jan. 29, Caserio has at least said the club has “zero interest” in trading Watson. Springtime will unfold whether the Texans keep their franchise quarterback and take a step back towards their expansion days from 2002-10.

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Texans personnel purge continues under GM Nick Caserio

The Houston Texans have let go their salary cap specialist in Kevin Krajcovic and made other personnel moves as new GM Nick Caserio settles in.

The Nick Caserio administration is starting to take shape in the Houston Texans’ front office.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans will be moving on from Kevin Krajcovic, who was their director of football administration. Krajcovic oversaw the negotiation of contracts and was the team’s salary cap manager, a job that he had to undertake after longtime senior vice president of football administration, Chris Olsen, left the team following Bill O’Brien’s promotion to general manager and Jack Easterby’s promotion from executive vice president of team development to executive vice president of football operations. Krajcovic had been in his most recent role since February of 2020.

Houston also let go equipment manager Mike Parson and his entire staff, which included Doug West, who was the director of practice facility development and special projects.

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