NEWSLETTER
Putting together the 2019 Houston Texans is going to be the ultimate group project:
The Houston Texans are not hiring a general manager for the 2019 season and instead will divvy up those responsibilities amongst existing front-office members such as Matt Bazirgan, James Liipfert, Chris Olsen and Jack Easterby, per league sources. But no GM in 2019 for Houston.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 10, 2019
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Texans are not hiring a general manager for the 2019 season. That’s right, Houston is NOT going to have one person at the top of the chain of command calling the shots for the reigning AFC South champions. Instead, it will be a collection of the organization’s top thinkers coming together to take on the responsibilities that would otherwise go to a team’s general manager.
Uhhh, that’s certainly different.
The Texans fired GM Brian Gaine in June, nearly 18 months after he signed a five-year deal with the team. Houston figured to be in the running to scoop up Patriots executive Nick Caserio when parting ways with Gaine, but New England filed tampering charges and didn’t allow Caserio to interview for the open gig. With Gaine gone and Caserio ceasing to be an option, the Texans are traveling a different path when it comes to the front office. Schefter reports Chris Olsen, the team’s Senior Vice President of Football Administration, will team up with Matt Bazirgan, Chris Olsen, James Liipfert, and Jack Easterby in dividing the GM responsibilities among each other. It’s a surprise, to be sure. But only time will tell if it is a welcome one.
For the sake of Houston’s football fans, I hope this goes better than the Cubs’ infamous College of Coaches — an eight-man committee the Cubs used after they announced they would no longer employ a single manager that had hilariously pathetic results between 1961 and 1965.
