Nick Caserio has been the Houston Texans general manager for the past calendar year, and the results don’t seem to be too different from what they were when he took over.
After a 4-12 finish in 2020 wherein Romeo Crennel finished out as the interim coach following Bill O’Brien being fired after an 0-4 start, the Texans responded in the first year of the Caserio era with a 4-13 finish under first-year coach David Culley, who was canned at the end of the season.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Caserio acknowledged to reporters on Jan. 14. “This year, I think we put a really good foundation in place. I’d say with the infrastructure and the team and the players, you all talked to the players on a week-to-week basis.”
The Texans had some favorable things happen on an individual level. Receiver Brandin Cooks recorded his second straight 1,000-yard season with Houston — something he did not do with the Los Angeles Rams, for example, from 2018-19 — and notched his sixth 1,000-yard season among his eight played. As a team, the Texans were the only team with a losing record to finish in the top-10 in takeaways with 25.
2022 appears to be better as the Texans will have more salary cap flexibility and draft picks to help complete the rebuild.
“There’s a lot of work to do in front of us and we’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves,” said Caserio. “But I think the competitive spirit and the mindset and the thought process of the people that are here in the building is overall positive.”
Ultimately Caserio knows that positivity inside NRG Stadium and going about the fundamentals correctly is immaterial if it does not lead to wins.
Said Caserio: “Those things have to transfer over into production on the field. Nobody realizes that more than I do. We’re committed to making whatever changes are necessary and trying to put together the best team possible for the 2022 season, whatever the construct looks like.”
The first step to have a successful 2022 is to find Culley’s replacement. The Texans have conducted interviews with Brian Flores, Joe Lombardi, and Hines Ward.
