The Houston Texans have won seven games in the past two seasons with Nick Caserio as general manager. At some point, the team’s struggles to get out of the mud would sully Caserio.
According to Gregg Rosenthal from NFL.com, the Texans’ general manager ranks No. 24 overall in his power rankings of all GMs across the league. Even though Rosenthal notes that Caserio dealt with a year-long fiasco surrounding the franchise quarterback, the fact Houston is now on their third coaching hire in as many offseasons is a scarlet letter.
Caserio’s first two drafts have been average for the picks he had to work with. The volume of free agents brought in over the last two years rivals any team in football, with a decent hit rate. It’s up to new coach DeMeco Ryans and the incoming No. 2 overall pick to make all those moves look better.
The next general manager was the Denver Broncos’ George Paton, and then a crop of seven front office bosses in a “too new” category. In other words, Caserio is the second-worst general manager in the NFL among qualifiers.
What will help Caserio is having a great draft at the end of the month. Houston has tremendous optimism to complete the rebuild as they also have the No. 12 overall pick — obtained via 2022 offseason trade with the Cleveland Browns, thanks to Caserio no less — to either provide Ryans with a talented pass rusher on defense or take a spectacular wideout who can pair up with the quarterback Houston will presumably take with the second overall pick.
Thus far, Caserio has enjoyed the ride with Ryans and the new coaching staff as they prepare for the draft.
“It’s been a lot of fun to come to the office,” Caserio said at the NFL combine on Feb. 28. “The staff has been great to work with to this point. We know we have a lot of work in front of us. Nothing is going to happen overnight, but it’s been great to have him around. It really has.”
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