Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio is still working through the draft classes from the Brian Gaine era (2018-19). Caserio let the only player from Gaine’s first draft walk in free agency in safety Justin Reid.
The Texans’ 2019 draft class is now under the microscope throughout the 2022 season. The club picked up the fifth-year option for right tackle Tytus Howard, which buys them some time. However, guard Max Scharping, the last remaining player on the roster from the 2019 draft, is entering the final year of his deal.
Caserio joined “Payne & Pendergast” on Sports Radio 610 [KILT-AM] June 16 to talk about how the club handles players who are starting to round the corner into their contracts being expired.
“I think really after a couple years you might start to think, all right, what makes the most sense, how we’re going to handle it,” Caserio said. “But I would say the CBA has been agreed and the way the contracts are structured, there are certain parameters and limitations in place in terms of when you can actually have a negotiation with that player about a contract. Everything will kind of come in due time, but ideally with younger players, you’d like to have after a couple of years you hope, whatever you think you have in that player, hopefully you have a pretty good sense and an idea.”
Caserio noted that the organization looks at the cost associated with the position, and that the team works within the framework of two-year windows.
Said Caserio: “I would say from our perspective, from the Texans’ perspective, we try to look at things sort of two-year windows and two-year increments. So, we’re in the 2022 season. So, 2022, 2023, look at our team, look at our salary cap, look at where are we positioned because if you get too too far ahead, there’s too many moving parts. You start to talk yourself in circles if you’re not careful. So, just look at it in a two-year window, worry about this year.”
The tale of the 2022 season will help the Texans determine who needs to be a a part of the team’s future beyond the current two-year window.
