Pats File Tampering Charges Against Texans

nattysez

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This is interesting.

The Patriots filed tampering charges Wednesday against the Houston Texans for the attempted general manager hire of Nick Caserio, league sources told ESPN. The NFL now is expected to gather relevant informant to open its investigation against Houston, per sources.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1138917275816345606
My understanding from the CLNS Pats Podcast is that the only way the Texans could make an offer to Caserio for a position without the Pats' permission would be to offer him, without otherwise interviewing or contacting him, the GM job. Any other contact with him would require permission from the Pats. So I believe BOB or anyone else from the Texans calling Caserio to feel out his interest in the GM position would be considered tampering.

I just hope none of this is pissing off Caserio. He feels like an important part of the post-BB era. Hopefully this is a case of the Texans doing something dumb and Caserio (and then the Pats) calling them on it in order to get some compensation for the Pats (or just to hurt a conference rival).
 

PedroKsBambino

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URL unfurl="true"]https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1138917275816345606[/URL]

My understanding from the CLNS Pats Podcast is that the only way the Texans could make an offer to Caserio for a position without the Pats' permission would be to offer him, without otherwise interviewing or contacting him, the GM job. Any other contact with him would require permission from the Pats. So I believe BOB or anyone else from the Texans calling Caserio to feel out his interest in the GM position would be considered tampering.

I just hope none of this is pissing off Caserio. He feels like an important part of the post-BB era. Hopefully this is a case of the Texans doing something dumb and Caserio (and then the Pats) calling them on it in order to get some compensation for the Pats (or just to hurt a conference rival).
I wonder about how Caserio feels too...I'd hope that they only file tampering charges if he's on board. Perhaps there's ill-will from the Easterby departure? It's surprising they went to tampering here, rather than just saying "no". Curious what else might come out.
 

pappymojo

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I wonder about how Caserio feels too...I'd hope that they only file tampering charges if he's on board. Perhaps there's ill-will from the Easterby departure? It's surprising they went to tampering here, rather than just saying "no". Curious what else might come out.
They already said no.
 

leetinsley38

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This is awesome. There is definitely bad blood with Easterby and Kraft - tug gate was why he quit and he made some Twitter comments about RK. Now the Morality Coach (who is somehow now very high up in the Houston org chart) got caught breaking the rules and the Pats are slapping his hand for it publicly.
 

PedroKsBambino

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They already said no.
They said no a year ago---the reporting I saw suggested they had not yet said no to the request made this week. But I may have missed something there?

One possibility is that something improper occurred and then they made the request after the fact to try and paper the misconduct over---that would fit a timeline where Pats filed tampering charges before saying anything else, I guess.
 

leetinsley38

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Right - Hou asked, NE hadn’t responded yet. The Ethics Coach tried to poach their employee literally at the ring ceremony where he received a $30k ring.
 

5dice

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So, uh, isn’t the biggest problem that Caserio likely wants the job in Houston, aside from the tampering and comp sideshow? They dumped their GM the day after they talked to Caserio. Next man up and all, but that’s a big loss.
 

TheoShmeo

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Has there been any indication or reports that Caserio actually wants to interview for the job? Or take the job?

I have not seen that.
 

SMU_Sox

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Has there been any indication or reports that Caserio actually wants to interview for the job? Or take the job?

I have not seen that.
Most of the pods I listen to with guys who are tapped in like Mike Lombardi, Matt Miller, and I know I’m missing another guy but all three have the same report. He is interested in the job.
 
Apr 24, 2019
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If so, that’s unfortunate. It’s going to be ugly. Because all I’ve heard from a friend in the building is that the Patriots are pissed. Probably a Mangini-ish dead-to-me situation. For Caserio AND B O’b. Shame. And pretty much the worst time for this, as in the worst off-season. Hemorrhaging brain trust. All of that said...

BB. TB12. AFCCG. YAWN.

Edit typos
 

nattysez

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It's over, Johnny.

I wonder how Caserio feels about this. It certainly seems like the Pats are stunting his career growth.
 

Mystic Merlin

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It's over, Johnny.

I wonder how Caserio feels about this. It certainly seems like the Pats are stunting his career growth.
What makes you think he wants the Texans job?

If Caserio really wants the Texans job (or another GM job where he holds ultimate personnel authority) the Patriots won’t be able to stop it. A guy like him isn’t getting held hostage.
 

nattysez

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What makes you think he wants the Texans job?

If Caserio really wants the Texans job (or another GM job where he holds ultimate personnel authority) the Patriots won’t be able to stop it. A guy like him isn’t getting held hostage.
There is literally a post a few above yours saying that it's been widely reported that he is interested in the job.

And you are completely wrong that he "can't be held hostage." He's been prevented from interviewing with the Texans for two years now.
 

Gash Prex

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Or he has some unique provisions in his contract that he agreed to that make it more complicated
 

nattysez

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It sounds like the #Texans plan to sign Nick Caserio, but when his contract runs out. His contract runs through 2020, which means the #Texans will simply wait a year for him to be a free-agent.

They don't want to hire another GM like Brian Gaine just to fire him after 1-year.
https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1139658205225717762?s=19
Seems Nick Caserio has a clause in his contract that says he can’t interview with other teams. If so, I hope he got millions for that clause.
https://twitter.com/McClain_on_NFL/status/1139661028734775296?s=19
 
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Soxy

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This whole thing is kind of weird, right? I'm not alone in that thinking?
 

Harry Hooper

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The Texans fired their GM after one year. Caserio wants to go there? O'B is going to run out of runway with that club soon.
 

RetractableRoof

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I don't know how these sorts of contracts are constructed or play out, so I'm just ruminating. If Caserio allowed (or was compensated for) a clause that says he can't interview with other teams then it wouldn't be cool for him to be answering positively when a team is trying to gauge his interest. Suck it up and complete the contract - lots of everyday people have what is essentially non-competes in their contract. The fact that it is actually in his contract (and was a surprise to the Texans) seems unique, so clearly both parties understood the interest/value/intent of the clause. I guess an end run to get out of it is part of the american way and all, but it's there for a reason. I would guess it is so that other organizations can't simply interview Pats staff as a means to fish for organizational approach/strategy while doing so.

That all said, if the guy DOES want to go, that's clearly a situation that is sub-optimal. Ugh.
 

DavidTai

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That all said, if the guy DOES want to go, that's clearly a situation that is sub-optimal. Ugh.
I feel like if Caserio had wanted to go, he would have made sure Houston -knew- that he couldn't talk to them based on that contract. It would be a very dumb, dumb thing for a guy who wanted to go to Houston to cost his team picks, and to wait it out till his contract expired.

I'm also having a very difficult time with that Caserio and Easterby -have the same agent- and that Easterby's agent couldn't have just quietly passed this info about Caserio's contract on if he had actually wanted to go.

This just seems more like -someone- tampered and then Goodell did what Tagliabue would have done and quietly settled it.

.... I'll give you, that's the part I have the most difficult time with.
 

SMU_Sox

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On mobile but PFT just tweeted the rumor is the Texans won’t hire a GM and Caserio’s contract expires next year. In terms of non coaches he’s part of the holy trinity: BB, Ernie, and Caserio. Really not looking forward to his seemingly inevitable departure.

Also, side note, this feels like Luke and Owen arguing over one more season.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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On mobile but PFT just tweeted the rumor is the Texans won’t hire a GM and Caserio’s contract expires next year. In terms of non coaches he’s part of the holy trinity: BB, Ernie, and Caserio. Really not looking forward to his seemingly inevitable departure.

Also, side note, this feels like Luke and Owen arguing over one more season.
I keep hearing the Pats have very good bench depth in the front office. Trust in Bill.

I'm guessing (though what the hell do I know) this is a maneuver to try to squeeze a draft pick out of the Texans.
 

snowmanny

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And the Texans response is similar to when the Jets bluffed that they were going to make Belichick the HC. The first time.
 

RetractableRoof

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This comment is from the comments of the article dcmissle linked:
mikespillane337 says:
June 15, 2019 at 2:08 pm
BB has final say over the roster…
O’Brien has final say also..

Will you uninformed haters explain to me how this is a promotion for Caserio? Lateral moves are allowed but requires permission, that is why the Texans were denied by the Patriots last year. They tried to come through the back door this year only to inadvertently run into a wall of Lombardi trophies.
That about sums it up - except what Caserio's real preference would be.
 

dcmissle

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This comment is from the comments of the article dcmissle linked:


That about sums it up - except what Caserio's real preference would be.
Anyone willing to give Caserio final say on personnel gets him. If that’s what he wants.

In any case, it’s probably moot if Caserio’s contract expires at the end of this season. He’s then a free agent.
 

Harry Hooper

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What if "higher-level" means something like being one of the 5 highest-paid people in the organization?
 

djbayko

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So the contract clause binding Caserio to Pats may not be enforceable. And maybe the Texans backed off because the Pats has them on the tampering charge?

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/15/does-the-caserio-clause-comply-with-league-rules/
Interesting.
Here’s the key passage from the policy: “If . . . the inquiring club is prepared to offer a position as a high-level employee . . . the employer club may not deny the employee the opportunity to discuss and accept such employment.”
Are the Patriots really considered to be preventing this if Caserio willingly agreed to the clause and is being compensated for it? Probably something which would never make it to a hearing for us to find out an arbitrators decision, I suppose.
 

dcmissle

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Interesting.

Are the Patriots really considered to be preventing this if Caserio willingly agreed to the clause and is being compensated for it? Probably something which would never make it to a hearing for us to find out an arbitrators decision, I suppose.
There are reasonable arguments on both sides of this, but I’m not going to invest any energy drilling down on them. Nobody is likely filling a GM vacancy at this stage of the preseason, and if they were the Texas dustup would probably send them in another direction. Anyone who really wants Caserio will probably wait, and after February, Caserio is in the driver’s seat.
 

TheoShmeo

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There's undoubtedly a lot we don't know.

But if Caserio wants to go to the Texans and will in fact go there when he is able to, then I agree with the comments that this is not the best situation. Seems like it would make a strange working relationship for the time being with Bill, particularly as it pertains to longer term planning.

Bill has often spoken about how valuable Caserio is. My assumption is that the most important coaching/front office types in the building after him are Dante, Josh and Nick. And that each of them is extremely important, especially in light of the coaching flight we've seen this past off season.

I wonder if they can solve this with an enhanced title and, way more likely to be important, money.
 

lexrageorge

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There's undoubtedly a lot we don't know.

But if Caserio wants to go to the Texans and will in fact go there when he is able to, then I agree with the comments that this is not the best situation. Seems like it would make a strange working relationship for the time being with Bill, particularly as it pertains to longer term planning.

Bill has often spoken about how valuable Caserio is. My assumption is that the most important coaching/front office types in the building after him are Dante, Josh and Nick. And that each of them is extremely important, especially in light of the coaching flight we've seen this past off season.

I wonder if they can solve this with an enhanced title and, way more likely to be important, money.
Money, maybe. Title, probably not. Because, outside the Krafts, there is one person with the final say, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
 

snowmanny

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He's currently Assistant to the De Facto GM,, how about "Assistant De Facto GM."
 

dcmissle

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People act professionally because they are professional. Especially high level Patriots. I’m not worried about Caserio’s year if this is his last one.

Pats not in the business of trying to keep people who prefer being someplace else. Not should they be.

And if Caserio wants to leave, that is mot crazy.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Pats not in the business of trying to keep people who prefer being someplace else. Not should they be.
Yeah, this is why I have to believe the situation is more complicated than just “Caserio wants to be Texans GM and the Pats won’t let him leave.”

And even if the Pats were trying to do that, I suspect Caserio’s response would simply be to resign, join the Texans and then effectively say “try to enforce my contract in court.” The Pats would sue and then there would be some settlement with some form of compensation going from Houston to New England. The fact that hasn’t happened is further proof the situation is more complicated.