RARE COMBO
GM Nick Caserio gets on the field as helpful assistant coach.
I’ve never seen a general manager like Nick Caserio.
Before I explain, let me say I like the job Caserio is doing with the Texans as he overhauls the roster. He’s been given power over personnel — trades, signings, releases, claims and, of course, whatever transpires in the Deshaun Watson saga.
People in the organization like and respect Caserio. They say he’s private but polite and treats them with respect. No phoniness. He’s a workaholic who’s direct and to the point. He’s zeroed in on personnel decisions, and he’s got a way of doing business — the Patriot Way because that’s all he’s known over the last 20 years.
What fascinates me about Caserio is watching him handle the dual role of GM/coach at practice.
In more than four decades of covering the NFL, I’ve seen head coaches who were general managers, but I haven’t seen general managers who were assistant coaches.
Until chairman and CEO Cal McNair hired Caserio and gave him a six-year contract to rebuild the team and become a Super Bowl contender.
The first Oilers team I covered had Bum Phillips as the coach and general manager. When he was fired last year, Bill O’Brien was the coach and general manager.
Now the Texans have a general manager/assistant coach at practice every day.
During practice, Caserio has boundless energy. He can’t stay still. Either the fridge in his office at NRG Stadium is stocked with Red Bull, or he’s got ants in his pants because he’s almost always on the move.
Before practice, Caserio stretches, limbers up his arm before throwing to receivers, then watches, listens and sometimes instructs players — all the while taking notes on a sheet of paper on things he wants to address later.
Caserio isn’t loud at practice. He’s nothing like the boisterous O’Brien, his good friend and former colleague with the Patriots. If you took the four-letter words out of O’Brien’s vocabulary, he’d have to communicate with sign language.
Caserio is the anthesis of Wild Bill. If you weren’t watching Caserio, you might not notice him because there are so many others on and around the field besides players and coaches.
When Caserio wants to tell a player something after a drill, he’ll walk over and quietly offer constructive criticism that might include showing the player a way to do something. The player nods appreciatively before Caserio returns to the middle of the field.
This is no revelation to anyone who works for the Patriots or covers the Patriots for the New England-area media outlets.
They watched Caserio grow into the director of player personnel role and become Bill Belichick’s right-hand man.
During his career with the Patriots, Caserio was an offensive assistant two times. Coaching might have been his first love after playing quarterback at John Carroll University, but he was wise enough to know — perhaps because of Belichick’s recommendation and support — that he was best-suited as a personnel expert.
When he was with the Patriots, Caserio threw passes at practice to receivers, attended offensive meetings and sat in the coaches booth during games, wearing a headset to communicate with Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
Knowing all that, I’m enthralled watching Caserio every day. I’m not talking about what he does in his office, where he might gulp Red Bulls. I’m talking about what he does on the practice field and if his game-day routine is going to change now that he’s a general manager for the first time.
During games, will Caserio recommend plays to offensive coordinator Tim Kelly? Will he tell coach David Culley when to challenge a call or when to call a timeout?
Caserio took a huge chance on Culley, who spent 27 years as an assistant coach. Caserio and his right-hand man, executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby, recommended Culley to McNair.
The general manager/assistant coach has a good working relationship with the head coach he hired.
“We talk every day,” Culley said about his relationship with Caserio. “We talk every night. We leave for home at night talking to each other. We come back in the morning, we’re talking to each other.”
It’s essential for Caserio and Culley to be able to work together as they try to accomplish the goal McNair entrusted with them.
No behind-the-scenes battles like O’Brien had with Rick Smith and Brian Gaine as he tried to wrestle control of personnel away from them.
That’s not Culley’s style. He knows who’s in charge, and it’s not an issue.
Maybe one reason they work well together is because they’re so different. At New England, Caserio mastered the art of talking while saying little or not talking at all. That’s the Patriot Way.
Culley has worked for different teams and knows there are more ways than one to be successful. He has an effervescent personality that puts people at ease. He’s happy to talk to fans and media when he’s needed. He’s always smiling, friendly, energetic and cooperative.
“We have a plan,” Culley said. “We’re on the same page. We have the same idea of how this thing should go and how it should be run. It’s been really, really good.
“When you look at the players we’ve got out here that Nick and his staff brought in, they’re quality guys, the kind of players we feel we need to go where we need to go.”
Culley, who’s happy to have an extra pair of eyes helping evaluate and instruct players at practice, likes to tell the story about the first time he met Caserio.
It was in 2007 at Indianapolis. Culley worked for Andy Reid at Philadelphia and was in his 14th year as an NFL receivers coach. Caserio was in his sixth year with the Patriots.
“My first interaction with Nick was at the combine,” Culley said. “He had just got moved to coaching wide receivers. I used to run the wide receiver drills at the combine. I always knew all the coaches that were there helping.
“All of a sudden, I saw this one guy back there, and he was just kind of looking at everything. I went up to him (and) introduced myself. I knew who he was. I said, ‘Look, come on up here, this is what we want to do. I want you to get involved with this.’
“That coaching has never left him.”
It’s a good thing Culley was nice to Caserio.
“Yeah, I was nice to him,” Culley said with a laugh. “I was the only guy at that point that went and talked to him.”
And 15 years later, they’re still talking, only this time it’s multiple times a day as they try to transform the Texans into a Super Bowl contender.
When asked if he’s reminded Caserio he was nice to him in 2007, Culley smiled and said, “I haven’t yet, but I know at some point I’m going to have to remind him when things aren’t right. But right now, everything is good.”