This doesn't move the needle for me but I will say Jamey Rootes rubbed me the wrong way for promoting his own self-interest / book about a "Winning Game Plan" during one of the worst Texans seasons in recent memory. I can't say I'm sad to see him go.
The company line at the time was that Easterby would not be involved. They very clearly either lied at that moment, or they were sincere at that moment... and yet were somehow convinced (by him) to go another way. Either scenario is extremely troublesome as there is no way you can just "get rid of Cal". That remains the biggest source of everybody's current frustration... even Watson's frustration.
justtxyank has staked out a position as a militant #enlightenedcentrist in regards to the Texans. It's pretty funny.
Like I said, I struggle to reconcile all of the statements. You have some players who have said that the culture has been horrible here and they always make the wrong decisions for years. You have other players (like Andre) who say it's only been bad since Easterby walked in. I got chastised in here for saying they didn't have a bad rep for working with players in the past. Then others say they've been a garbage organization forever. This board was split over whether Bob McNair was a racist POS because of a stupid quote. They had to postpone his statue because of the backlash against the organization. Arian Foster says they never knew how to talk to people. But yeah, the old way DID have Duane Brown demand a trade and sit out. JD Clowney anyone? And was it Easterby who ran off Andre Johnson and told him he couldn't play anymore? Remember the article that slandered the Texans because they didn't commit insurance fraud for Rick Smith's wife?
What is the rep for owners hiring GMs in general, with or without Korn Ferry? Not very good, so I guess no one should have hope at any GM hire ever? Yes, it would have given people more hope if Cal would have followed the process that he laid out at the beginning and hired the candidate that came about through that process instead of the one that came through the meddling of an ex character coach that was seemingly only looking out for himself.
Just so I am clear...are you of the position that anyone that Easterby thinks highly of should be off limits? Do you think it's possible there is any overlap between who he likes and who you like?
“I think the organization is in a great place from a business perspective,” Rootes said Wednesday morning
Oh absolutely - and if there was an objective person doing the housecleaning, I'd entrust those decisions to them. But if you're going to clean house, but let one malicious tumor not just remain but also influence all the new hires, I can say with 95% confidence the end result will be worse than the starting point. The Texans were a body composed of a mix of healthy cells and cancerous cells. If a doctor was doing the surgery and deciding what cells to keep, great. If you're giving that power to one of the cancerous cells, well, you can guess what will happen.
That's fair. Let me state my position clearly. - The current path is likely to be a disaster - The Korn Ferry path was stupid. They shouldn't have hired them to begin with. - The original "sin" of the Cal era was trying to keep BOB when he couldn't work with anyone. Everything stems from that - What I reject outright is that all the moves since then are proof that things are a disaster. Running in 110 degree heat without water is probably going to be a disaster but wearing Nike running shoes wasn't a disaster just because the first decision was.
Foster and Andre caught a brief glimpse of the BOB era... but they also didn't really have a whole lot of perspective from different teams as they both spent the vast majority of their careers in Houston. Brown was in a contract dispute. Clowney was never going to be worth a franchise-level extension, and there was zero trade market for him. All of that is vastly different (and happens with all teams) compared to what is happening now.... in part because there are incompetent, inexperienced, unqualified, and depending on who you talk to, stalkers! running the team.
They say this is the worst move the Texans have done as an organization. Bob McNair would never let this happen.
My understanding has always been that the Texans were very good on the business side and the PR portion of the organization but they were a mixed bag on the field. Not everything wrong with the Texans is because of Jack Easterby and honestly any ill feelings towards him should be directed at the owner that essentially stated he will not fire Easterby. Having said that, what people inside the organization have said about Easterby is not positive, and we know he has a very limited background in the NFL as a decision maker so that is a concern. I personally do not believe the Lance Z story that Easterby realized he would lose his job so he prayed with Cal and manipulated him into hiring Caserio. It is pretty clear to me that Cal would want Caserio if he could get him, he tried to get him at an earlier time.
It’s not the hire itself that bothers me, it’s the process that Cal took to make the decision. Why hire a search firm and then decide to ignore the decision? I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes and I wasn’t privy to the interviews, but it caught me off guard when Casserio was hired. Maybe he wanted Casserio all along, and the search firm wasn’t his idea. I just have become cynical of the Texans after all of the self inflicted drama they have created.
Cal tried 3 times to hire Caserio and finally got him on the last one which is why I struggle to accept this story, just like you. I think Easterby is CLEARLY a problem, but I think he's also a scapegoat. Easterby = bad and therefore everything that happens while he is around is also bad.
Here's a reason..maybe he wanted to hire Caserio but wanted to be sure so he hired a firm to review all of the other candidates and then after reviewing their stuff decides he liked Caserio better.
