The Season with Peter Schrager: Texans GM Nick Caserio

The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, everybody, Welcome to another episode of the Season with Peter Schreger. I'm Peter Schreeger recording this on a Monday, November sixth, and I've got my lovely producer, Aaron wan Kaufman here, Aerin. I thought yesterday, with four games that were kind of billed as premiere games, was one of those great NFL Sundays. And yet what happens when you do that, when you

Aaron aeroscience?

Is that? I think aeroscience engineering major in college. I'm sorry, clearly this was not my forte And in our off season shows for Good Morning Football, it's like, who's doing something cool this offseason in the world of football?

Who wants to come on as a guest? And Josh Dobbs came on.

I would say it was a summer of twenty twenty or twenty twenty one, probably three to four times. And then he and I struck up a friendship over text and like always just wish Josh Dobbs well.

Well.

Then he goes to Cleveland. Then he goes to last year on like short day notice, like maybe like a random like fifteen days like heads up. He goes to Tennessee where he ends up starting at their final game of the regular season and almost beating the jar and a winning in game played very valiantly, and I was like, you know this dude, like good for him, Like Josh Dobbs,

Right away, oh, we got Dobs. Has the play? Tops has the play? Now? I know Dobbs just got there.

Now everyone who's listening might say, yeah, well, Baker Mayfield did this last year.

Here's the difference.

Baker Mayfield got there on a Tuesday to the Rams and beat the Raiders on a Thursday. Very very incredible quick turnaround, get it. But also Baker was the number one, so Baker took the number one snaps in practice, Baker had a chance to do a crash course.

Baker was there all night with McVeigh. Josh Dobbs not the number one.

Jaron Hall this week took the number one snaps. He just got there on Wednesday. He had never taken a rep with the first team offense before they played this game on Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Falcons. So he's thrown into the game and he saw the footage. He's on the sidelines and he's practicing the cadence with Garrett Bradberry, their starting center, and the rest of the offensive line. I was amazed by this watching this and then he goes out there, Aaron.

He was awesome. He was awesome. This is against the number six defense in the league.

It's against Arthur Smith coached offensive was hum and also with Heineke.

And it also was on the road, so you're dealing with the road crowd.

He had never taken a snap with any of these players, and sure enough. On a fourth and seven, wiggles out of the sack, runs, makes a play, gets the first down, moves the chains, and then throws a game winning touchdown to Powell. The Josh Doabs stuff is incredible. More and

Josh Jobs did yesterday. And then here's the crazy part.

Now, the Vikings are five and four, and they're looking at the playoffs picture in the NAC The Giants done, the Rams look to be done. The Packers aren't scaring anybody.

Who's team? Who's that six? There's seventh? You know?

Okay, let's go through it, Aaron. You got Cowboys and Eagles, right, so there's two there. Let's say the Saints win the NFC South, so there's your third NFC North.

The Lions is your fourth.

You've got the five and the six being probably the Niners in the Seahawks.

There's a seventh spot sitting there. I don't know.

It's gonna be who the Buccaneers, the Falcons. Who's beat the Falcons? The Buccaneers, I don't know. Panthers aren't doing it, Giants are done, Commanders.

Mike's selling players off at the deadline.

Sure, I mean this Vikings team could be really, really fun. And Josh Jobs is a heck of a story. The other story I want to talk about is the Raiders. So again, we were piping up the Chiefs, Dolphins into Seahawks, Ravens into Eagles, Cowboys into Bill's Bengals. We hyped it up as like these are like the four premier matchups of the week.

There's no reason to talk about the other games. They're so good. And then you had that.

One in the early window, and then in the four o'clock window, here come the Raiders blow out the Giants.

What a story that is.

You saw the Jay Glazer report that you know, in my report in the morning, was that people were surprised that Ziggiler lost his job at the GM because he rebuilt the whole front office over the last off season. Now they have like a legitimate front office where you know, in years past, people would look at the Raiders front office and say, okay, well that's that's kind of a wild wild West situation out there. Now they you know, they hired from some of the best teams and Ziggler is really.

Building it up. He gets fired. But also Mick Lombardi, who if you.

Listen to Mike Lombardi, who's on a lot of these podcasts, does a GM shuffle couse that's his son, Mike, Mick Lombardi. He was a Belichick for years. He gets fired also, So you fire the head coach the GM and.

The offensive coordinator.

So the quarterbacks coach, Bo Haggerty, he takes over as offensive coordinator and calling plays. Sure enough, the team looked alive. They looked great. Antonio Pierce has those guys humming. They look awesome. They're moving the ball, like just really really inspiring stuff. Then after the game, they're smoking cigars, they're dancing in the locker room and Antonio Pearce, who's rocking

Did you watch any of that game? Oh yeah, Houston Texans. Not only did c J.

Stroud though for four seventy and five touchdowns, the most passing yards of ever buy a rookie, the most touchdowns ever buy a rookie, but they also had to go on a game winning drive in the final minute and he did the job and found Tank Dell Oh yeah, a fellow rookie for the score. So as we look at things here, this is kind of the halfway mark. There's eighteen regular season weeks. We're through nine of them. We got a Jets Chargers game tonight. I think the NFL

Mine was Eagles over Bengals?

And would you off it or would you stick with it?

I'm actually kind of feeling okay with it right now.

I mean, like you said, Niners have suddenly just hit this weird streak losing, and you know, Bengals last night like they're they're overcoming whatever ills they had in the beginning of the season. Yeah, and Higgins was, you know, like posting people up last night.

For ten catches there tight ends that have not played many roles. Yeah, Tanner, Hudson, IRV Smith and Drew Sample, those.

Guys were all the place.

So I asked you about as a Bills fan, like you panic mode.

I don't think panic mode. But it's in the last three weeks the Bills have not scored. They haven't scored like they should, like obviously, they're too many injuries. The defense is getting hurt all the time. I feel like every week I'm just texting my dad during the game, like how are we so injured every week? I love seeing Dalton Kincaid get some great work, but it's rough. And I do think the Bengals are a very good team, Like if the Ravens weren't there.

Well they are, yeah, then this is good, like the Bengals of red hot. They've now swept the last three. They beat the Seahawks, they beat the Niners, and then they beat last night the Bills. Those are three real teams. They played the Texans this weekend and then they have the Ravens again. So they've got their they've got their slight ahead of them. Real quick quick story. My son is a big Tyreek Hill fan, and like everything is Tyreek Hill right now.

I don't know, you know what.

I was a Will Clark fan when I was a kid. Did you watch baseball as a kid? Like Will Clark was on the San Francisco Giants. I was on the Giants little league team and Will Clark was their first baseman. It was like late eighties, and he was will to throw and he was great, and he was lefty and he was great.

And that was like my guy as a kid.

And my brother was done maddingly and I was Will Clark like we had our guys. My son just loves Tyreek Hill and everything about him. Watches like YouTube highlights and he's only seven, like die Hard, right, So going in this is like a parenting corner type thing. I'm biting off Simmons, I guess. So going into this game, I want my son to watch the Frankfurt game. I said, I say, you know, I think the Chiefs are going to beat the Dolphins.

And I gave them all my reasons why.

I think the Dolphins, uh, you know, are coming in hot, but they struggle against.

The best teams in the league.

I also think the Chiefs such a veteran team, and I was really big on Spagnolo and the defense knowing.

And I've been papping myself in the back on this one.

So long story short, saying my son, I've never done this, Like, let's make a bet. So my son collects these toys called squeeze Mates. Okay, never had them as a kid. They are like literally there's these little toys, but they're really cool. They are all the different.

Players in the league, all right.

So it's like you collect them and each team has one and some of them are random, like the Bills. One is like Dalton Kincaid, I think, and like the the Colts.

One is Michael Pittman Junior.

But then you've got the Mahomes, and you've got and that, You've got like the the Jalen Hurts.

They're really cool.

Google Google Squeeze. You have the Max Crosby Squeeze Mates.

They're ten bucks a pop.

So they're like old starting lineup toys. With these old squeeze my son is obsessed. All he wanted for his birthday was Squeeze Mates. And like, what do you do with them?

Nothing? You collect them?

Yeah, you just have.

Them, right, So I'm thinking, like a wait, and then my son comes to me and says, let's make a bet. I'm like, oh great, all right, all the promo codes we're giving out or paying off here, let's think a bet.

Okay.

Now, he's a picky eater, my son mel He'll eat pasta and butter every meal. He'll have pizza every meal. He'll have bagel and cream cheese every meal. That's what he eats, all right, doesn'ty vegetables, doesn't eat chicken, doesn't eat anything.

I said, all right, here's the bet.

If the dolphins win, I will get you a new Squeeze Mate next week. This is post birthday, post Halloween, more gifts, just what the kid needs. I said, if the Chiefs win, you have to have a steak dinner with me next week. Now does that sound like a punishment to you?

Not at all?

That sounds that sounds like quality time with dad.

Steak dinner. Kids had steak one time in his life. He claims he hated it. We don't force it. I would love nothing more than a steak dinner.

I mean, what world are you living in where if you lose, you get a toy and if you win, you get.

A steak at dinner with Dad.

Yes, sign me up for that bet.

So sure enough, game's going on. I'm texting my wife. She's out with him. They're watching the marathon. Runners are on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn and they're giving out water and they're slapping five and I'm like, it's twenty one nothing, tell mel I'm in LA And she's like, oh, that's gonna put him in a bad mood. I'm not telling him. Whatever, it's twenty one seven, then it's twenty one to fourteen. I'm like, get in front of a TV. Have mel

Fumble, japs wind.

I FaceTime from la as I'm on my way to the airport, and I'm like, nol that just my son is distraught.

I don't want to eat dinner.

I want to have to get I'm just taunting. I'm like, we can do flas we get a rib, but.

Truly the greatest thing, and like we're in New York City, Like I will take him anywhere for this, so we have like this tradition.

Now maybe that we could do this.

He was distraught and then he was so upset, and then I got home last night and whatever, and I talked to my wife and I'm like I should probably still get him the squeeze mate, right, And She's like, no, no, come, he can't just always win, and like he's got a steak dinner and like when are you going on this steak dinner?

What?

Like in my head, like it's like a fantasy land.

We're just gonna take him to like Peter Lueger tomorrow night, table for two.

Me and my son wearing Chiefs and Dolphins logos. End of the story.

I will keep you up there, and I know everyone at home is very, very compelled to learn how this goes. But the Steak Dinner slash Squeeze Mate. Bet they sell Squeeze Mates online. But there is one toy store in Tribeca on it's like on like church and probably like Warren Street, like down there our church and somewhere they sell them. And they this random toy store a church and read like down there. Like my son knows it, he's like he wants to go back there. But steak Dinner,

We talked about the slash.

You told me you went to parties with Halloween itself. Halloween proper.

Oh, it's a little depressing.

So I rushed Elliott Smith.

I didn't dress up for how So I ran.

I rushed home, and I like got out our big bowl I put in.

We had a bunch of reeses.

We had some leftover like gushers and all sorts of stuff.

Some weird party we.

Had typically Yeah, and I sat out there and no children came.

Really as I was walking home from the subway.

I saw a bunch of kids in costume going into bodega's and stuff.

Yeah, I gotta come. Yeah.

And I got to the house, like, ran upstairs, filled the bowl and I sat there for probably thirty forty minutes, saw no one at all, And eventually I went back upstairs and I stayed by the window just in case nothing.

Yeah. I dressed as a slice of pizza.

Nice.

My son, Mel was a slice of pizza.

Okay, fits with his Yeah, I was a cheeseburger nice. My wife was she kind of she she was like, I'm getting dressed up, but she couldn't just put on my cattiers.

Oh yeah, it counts sixy cats.

I don't know whatever it is.

Yeah. And then my daughter was a unicorn. We left her at home with a babysitter. We went out, three of us. My wife lasted a few hours. Me and Mel were out late though. We were out till like seven eight o'clock, and we went to our favorite pizza place for Scotti, which is on Henry Street, Henry in between like Orange and Pineapple, probably down in Brooklyn. For Scotti cash only old school and usually there's not a huge line. We go in and I'm like to the guys, we're there all the time.

Like, guys, look at Mell. They took a photo with mel. I'm like, I'm gonna frame it, gonna put it up here.

Because when you go at a slice of pizza and you get to finish your night with at your favorite pizza place, that's pretty damn good. With no further ado, this is the general manager of the Houston Texans, a team coming off one of the coolest wins in the NFL during Week nine and of course having one of the great starts and surprising starts to the season, the Houston Texans, Nick Casario.

Welcome to the season with Peter Schreger.

Good morning, Peter, Thanks for having us.

I love having you on. I've been trying to get you on for weeks last year. I tried to get You're like, we're building something.

When the time is right, like.

Let me and you did me the favorite to come on today after yesterday's miracle win. Now when we look at that game and we look back at it, you lose the kicker scores.

You have c J.

Stroud who has more yards and passing touchdowns and any rookie in the history of the sport. This is now twelve hours removed from kickoff last year. Last the twenty four hours move from kickoff, Like do you have a day to enjoy it or is it on to the next one.

We've got to prepare because we've got a big game on Sunday. Yeah.

I think when you get home at night, you kind of reflect and part of you know, a lot of coaches my process to go back through the game, kind of watch all three phases, kind of see some of the things that we did well, what are some areas that we can improve, whether some of the things that popped up, and that game there was an ab and flow to it. First half we probably didn't play as well as we either wanted to, kind of got off to a slow start, put ourselves a little bit of a hole.

But in the second half we held into.

The field goal and then we were able to go down and scoring get some points and then it was kind of back and forth here till the end. And in the end, it's about players making plays. So this is a player's game. It's about the players when they're

And we talked about it at halftime a little.

I mean, for as badly as we had played, it was a one score game, so let's just for all the things that have happened, kind of erased that and let's get ready for the second half.

It's a one score game.

So we kind of kept chipping away, and you know, those last couple series there, we scored. Dari makes the field goal, which was interesting. It was a discussion. He hadn't practiced that, but we were kind of looking at it as points were probably at a premium, So Tamiko and Frank talked about it and made a decision to go ahead and kick a field goal and then went up three. Then they scored and we got the ball back and we were able to capitalize there at the end.

That's interesting. On to Cincinnati, you've heard that one from that works. Let's go back to like.

January, February March, and the Texans are in this really interesting time where you've got two picks in the first round, you've got a void at quarterback, or at least we thought so. I mean, there's a lot of rumors that you guys might take a defensive player and no quarterback, and you work out c J.

Stroud.

Now that it's you know, coming into fruition and he's having one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen from a quarterback as a rookie. What was the pre draft process with Cj? When did you fall in love with him? And when did you know that finally after a couple of years of not taking a quarterback on the front of the draft, this was the year and this is the guy.

Yeah, we were positioned fairly well, as you alluded to, with two and twelve kind of going into the draft, so we knew we were going to have either a some flexibility or hopefully we're able to get some good players there at the top of the draft, we were pretty confident that we were going to pick somewhere in the top ten.

However, when whether we moved back or we moved up, and you know.

Once the season was over, you know, we had done quite a bit of work here as a scouting staff. It's say lip in the college scout staff do an unbelievable job during the fall accumulating information. And once you really the line of demarcation is once the juniors underclassmen actually declare, then you kind of know the pool of players that's going to be available. And those are the groups of people and players that you really have to spend the most time on or with because sometimes you

And then the zoom calls.

So you're just trying to accumulate as much information as possible as many and give them different angles. Maybe you feed them some information, see how they absorb it, then follow up. Okay, we talked about this a little bit earlier. See what their recall was. I think the most important thing is with any player is they just have to

Let's like in the movies where it's like that he treated the cafeteria people poorly, like that kind of stuff.

In some respects.

Yeah, but even you know, whether they make a commentary about something or their persona or their attitude, or how they interact with other players that are in the building. On the day, we usually bring in I don't know, four or five players or groups of players in on one particular day. We have a pretty extensive process from the time that they walk in the building to they meet with the entire group, and then we reconvene at the end of the day and kind of recalibrate what

So it's a pretty rigorous day.

We're not on the you know, let's bring them in and bring him to a steakhouse like Yeah. In the end, you're trying to simulate as much as possible. What is it going to be like in the building on a day to day basis when you're around these people when in the end it's about football. There's nothing else they have to worry about. This is their primary focus, and

Draft is about positioning.

So really those last couple of weeks in April, you're having dialogue, you're looking at your options, you're getting more information. Let's say, you know, we did pretty extensive work and just kind of go back and just check and double check.

And part of the.

You know, part of this process is finding the right people to talk to that give you the true representation of really what you're going to get, you know, because then they can bottom line it for you and say, look, in the end, here are the things that are important, and each player is going to be a little bit different.

So a lot of.

Discussions, a lot of dialogue, and we felt confident by the end, and you know, we really didn't know where or how things were gonna unfold on draft day.

You know, I know Demiko and I you know, we've talked. We talk every day.

I'd say during that time, I mean we talked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, went through scenarios, Hey, what are some different options, and he was great. And then I'd say by the end, we certainly had conviction. And then you know, when it came time to make the selection, then we you know, went ahead and did what we felt made the most sense for our organization. So it was pick and then you know, we were able to consummate the trade there with Mani and move up to three and then pick both players.

And you know, here we are.

Go back into your shoes because in the media, in my world, it was understood that Bryce Young was probably going one, and then there were stories that you guys were going to take Tyree Wilson out of Texas Tech. Then there was stories that you're gonna take Will Anderson second. Overall, then there was the S two cognition test stuff that can and all this stuff is going on, and it makes for great TV and good morning football when you're in.

That building and I'll give you a great show. Thank you, great show, great show. We love that stuff.

But when you're in that building and there's all this other stuff swarming, is it like we don't even pay attention to that stuff, all those rumors, or because I'll say it like it is, Nick, no one knew what Houston was doing two overall until that pick was in, and no one knew what was happening at three overall until that pick was in. So is that a source of pride that no one was on your tail? There is no leaks in this building and there's no one

No, it's a great question.

I think it's really a credit to a lot of the people that are in the building. And I mean Dimiko's really main message to the team, and the number one rule is protect the team. So we all have a responsibility to protect the team and do what is right by the team, not by one individual or not subject to i would say public perception or external factors.

So part of your job, I mean, that's what you all do.

I mean, there's a lot that you want to talk about, need to talk about because there's a gap. There's no football being played, so you have essentially when free agency is over, as you know, middle of March. Free agency is done the first or second week in March. You have four to five weeks or what else is there to talk about. There's no offseason program in no football, so you're going to talk about the draft every day.

So I think the thing that you have to.

Guard against more than anything is misinformation during the spring. And it goes back to trusting your work, trusting the time that you've put in, trust the people in the building that who have I would say invested a significant amount of time and effort, and just have constant dialogue and communication and quite frankly, you have to ignore the external factors. We're cognizant that it's there, that's out there. There's going to be a lot of discussion, what are the motives behind that?

I mean, as you.

Know, sometimes things get a little bit jaded or shifted a certain way and you try to pain or create a narrative. So we just have to make sure that we maintain our discipline and just do what we think is in the best interests of the organization. And frankly, and I've said this publicly multiple times, I mean, the draft's a fifty to fifty proposition.

So there's going to.

Be players that you think it's going to go one way and it works out the way you hope. There's going to be other players for whatever the reason that doesn't go the way that you would have hoped it would. So there's no experts in what we do. There's no experts in our field. There's no experts in our building. I think we have a lot of people with a lot of pride that care about their work and are

Yeah, and everyone needs to know all the details.

Yeah, And going going back to what Demko says, I would say consistently is protect the team. So in the end, we're about protecting the team and doing what's right for the organization.

You take CJ Stroud at too, and there's a couple of oohs and odds, and then didn'ting the Texans are back on the clock? Could you take us through those six minutes of you negotiating with money asen for it the first year GM, who is a former colleague of yours. Who is the Arizona Cardinals GM, and how you guys decided to make them move up to number three.

Yeah, I mean, I'd say relationships are a huge part of this business. Have a tremendous respect and admiration for Moni, both personally and professionally. And we had added some constructive dialogues probably a week or two about probably about a week out.

From the draft just going back and forth.

You know, he was certainly weighing some things on his end, and then we're able to kind of get some i would say general parameters sort of in place if if this happened, here's what potential it would entail. Not knowing that whether or not it would come to fruition or not, so we didn't know. We went back and forth, so there was a gap there where quite frankly, you know,

But I mean that's the way it goes.

Stroud gets there Anderson gets there. It's a pretty cool deal.

You've got now your cornerstone at quarterback, your defensive end for the future. Now, was there a moment this summer where you saw CJ. Stroud do something and say, oh boy, okay, we got something here.

Yeah, I think you're just looking from the time they walk in the building for improvement, because the reality is whoever you pick, whenever you pick them regardless of how talented or how productive they've been, they're really they're starting

Let's go to that higher because you guys had been through two different coaches who lasted one year, and it's kind of like, we got to get this one right. You guys brought in other people and you hired Demiko, Ryan's former player, who was a very well respected defensive coach and then coordinator for the Sanftisco forty nine ers. Did you have the history of Demiko at all? I know he was with the Texans and the Eagles for

Yeah, no, we never overlapped.

We played against the Texans multiple times when I was in New England, but when Demiko was a player here as as a matter of fact, we played against Philadelphia when he played for I want to think he was playing for Chip. Yeah, we played them during the regular season there at one point. But as far as that, I mean, we didn't have any of it. Say, we knew of each other.

Sure, but there wasn't some long relationship with twenty years.

No, No, we didn't know each other. I'd say on a personal level. It was just more of kind of from afar and you respect. You know what a coach does when you watch their team play. You know, we played against San Francisco in twenty he was it twenty one when we played against them in my first year here, went out there and played against them. So then you just start to accumulate information. You know, we made the change.

And you know there was he was.

He stood out amongst the would say a pretty good group of candidates for a myriad of reasons. I think the big thing and that there's a lot of people in this building that were around him as a player. I would say, who he is is you know, he's.

True to who he is.

He has a great mindset, he has a great personality. He's genuine, he's very competitive, he cares about people.

He's good at his job. He was a good player.

He's invested in the city of Houston, and he had success and he was a part of winning programs. I mean what John and Kyle have done out there in San Francisco. I mean, there's not too many programs that have had his much success. So you know, when to put all those factors together, you know, we made a decision that we did. There's a lot of excitement, and

Don't, then here's the reason why. Here's the things that we need to get fixed.

So, I mean, I can't say enough great things about who he is not as a coach, but as a human being as a person, and those things certainly matter when you're running a football team, when you're around each other essentially on a day to day basis for multiple months out of the year.

Yeah, and then he brings in Bobby Slowick as the offensive coordinator, and you think about that forty nine ers tree.

You know, we've already seen.

Kyle have all the success here, but like now you've got Mike Lafleur has already been elsewhere as in OC twice.

You've got Mike McDaniel now flourishing. And then here's this Bobby slow who.

I got to be honest, I wasn't aware of what his offense would look like because he never was necessarily calling the plays in San Francisco. And then now he comes in. You've got to be overjoyed with the connection he's had with Stroud and these young receivers.

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I think there's a propensity to kind of attach trees and well, this is going to happen. And I think the reality is when you're running a program, when you're starting a program, when you're bringing somebody in, you sort of have to make it your own.

So I think all of us have a foundation.

I'd say that we were raised on or who we worked under, or who we learned under philosophies how that was built. But the reality is when you go into a building and start a program and bring people in, is you're trying to put your own spin on whatever that is. And it's usually a function of the players that you have in the building and the things that they do well. So your ability to adjust to adapt.

And adjustments to your personnel, or.

If something's not going well all right, maybe figure out a different way to do it or come up with another solution. So Bobby's a very smart person, works very hard. He has an interesting perspective because he was on the defensive side of the ball, and sometimes I would say, you know, I would speak from experience. When you work on the opposite side of the ball, it gives you a better understanding of what goes on on you know, their respective side side of the coin.

There.

So in Bobby's case, he kind of had a background in defense. Of course, his dad has been a very successful defensive coach. His brother's down here in Miami coaching on defense. So Bobby has a really unique background.

Very smart.

I mean, anybody goes to Michigan Tech, like you got to be pretty smart.

So I think he also works for a pro football focus for a while, I'm not mistaken, Like he was on the analytics side doing research.

That's different.

So you learn a lot and then when you go anytime you go into a situation, you're trying to figure out, all right, these are things that are important. We want to start here are who are the players? What are we going to do and then you know, we're eight games into the season. Now I think we have a decent idea of some of the things that you know,

They work well together.

It's a good combination of youth and experience and really, whatever your background is, that's kind of your your starting point. But the reality is you're trying to create your own image of what you wanted to look like.

All right, Now, let's talk about you a little bit here. Okay.

You're born in lind Hurst, Ohio. All right, you're going to have to lindn Hurst, Ohio. Okay, and you're from what I call the John Cairol Mafia. You go to John Carroll where all of you guys, I feel like ninety eight percent of the gms and coaches in the league quietly went to John Carroll. You know, John, But it's not a straight shot to New England. You start

Yeah, so when I got to college, you know, I thought I was going to major in political science, go to law school, kind of take that route and switch my majors a few times. I think I went from marketing to finance. I enjoyed finance, even going all the way back to when I was in my senior year of high school. University school, we had to do kind of a one month internship and I did an internship

I was working for. Jeff was working in finance. We had a is that right?

What were you doing? Were you like a press off?

And he's doing research and we had a fee base product that we were pitching at the time, so I was kind of responsible for that. You know, where you match up certain money managers. Here's a product we offer, here's the uh, here's the fund, here's some of the holdings within the fund. Essentially try to pitch that to clients. So started doing that. In January, my best friend John Priestep and I started working together. So John and I

Had the picture in subway ads and billboards like here we are, this is the two guys, the two young bros selling stock tips and yeah exactly.

Yeah.

So while we started working, you know, I think I had an itch for football and sport, and I'd say that my the root of that is, you know, my high school coach, my high school head coach and office coordinator, John Carroll Operella got rest his soul, had a tremendous impact, I'd say on my life. He helped me as a player. He helped me via calm the player that I developed into. I mean, I wasn't very good, but he got the

Let me just put this in the perspective. So, you're making real money living in a city, right, You're living in Cleveland.

We're living Yeah.

I was making a decent amount of money at the time. Yeah, and then I took a graduate assistant position. I think it was making I don't know, twenty five hundred dollars a year, so.

Twenty five hundred a year. But think about this you had.

It's very easy though, for you to say, you know what, I've got a job, I've got a nice apartment paying my rent.

I mean, Cleveland's cool city with my best friend. But the football which was so great that you gave it all up and drove with no connection to Saginaw Valley State to work for next to nothing, just to get your foot in the door.

Yeah, and I think a lot of us have been in the same situation. But I'd say going back to John, I'd say his family was a huge impact. They essentially, you know, helped me over a two year period. And John is from outside of Detroit, so he had family there. So that was the only people that I really knew. And you know, John was supported. Here's my best friend working together. He was supporting as anybody. So I went

So he was at Central Michigan.

So through communication, through dialogue and discussion, he had mentioned that there was potentially a GA position that was available. So from January oh one till June so I was a great I had assistant at Central Michigan. I started working on a defensive side of the ball with the outside linebackers and John Mulligan was a defensive coordinator at the time. We actually had a really good stat John

So so started.

So during the day I would I would go up there and do football, and then in the evening I would drive from Mount Pleasant to Saginaw and take my classes two or three times a week.

So you stayed in Saginaw, but you were coaching at Central Michigan.

How long?

How far is that?

It was about a forty five minute to sixty minute drive, so I didn't go back and forth.

So it was in my apartment in Mount Pleasant.

So I worked during the day and then if I had class, I think it was like two or three times a week, I'd go take class and then I come back. And that was kind of my routine for six months in the spring.

It's because I wanted to finish Miami.

He's going to say, why did you? Why did you through that NBA so aggressive? Was there always in the back of your head, like, well, if this doesn't work out, or is it just you always wanted it?

Yeah?

I would say I was interested in finance as interested in business, and I kind of started down that path. And my you know, my mom and dad always taught me, once you start something, you need to finish.

So I did you know, I can very easily could have.

Walked away, but I invested eighteen months of my time, so you know, I was, you know, this semester out, so I said there's no way I'm not going to do this. So and coach the board was great. He understood kind of my predicament that I was in. So, you know, education, I would say, is a big part of my life, but a lot of time, you know, and be able to message that to my daughters certainly be important.

So I was able to finish my MBA.

Like I said, I'm interested in finance, I'm interested in investments.

I was at the time. I still am to this day.

So finished off that kind of January until June, and then in February of one. At the time, Josh had been hired by New England to be kind of QC quality control. So obviously our relationship goes back to our time together at you know, John Carroll, so that he had mentioned that, hey, there might be an opportunity in New England as a scouting assistant. Would you be interested in kind of play a personnel And at the time I had no idea what player personnel in the NFL was like zero, Like no idea.

Did you even?

I mean, so, so Josh McDaniels is working there already and you get this call and you're thinking, was it was the NFL even a thought.

No, Peter, not at all.

I mean I was certainly happy enjoying what I was doing in college. I thought, Okay, my next opportunity, maybe I can get a full time position in college football somewhere, maybe be a position coach or strict at earnings or whatever the natural progression was.

So so I was.

Working through Central Central and then you know, the middle of it was like June, June. We were just about to finish up, you know, and Josh said, hey, look, you know there's a position. Would you be interested? And I said, sure, I'll come up in interview, so I'll never forget. I got the call Nancy Meyer, who's one of to this day one of my best friends, who i'd say has the biggest influence in my life as anybody. So she connected me. Scott at the time was overseeing

And I said yeah, no problem, I'll I'll figure it out. So it was like a late evening flight, late afternoon flight.

Grabbed my suit and went to the UH went to the airport, changed into my suit in a stall in the men's mentathroom, and then got on the plane. Got there that night, and then interviewed the next day. It was in scouting. It was a player of personnel assistant, so all the things that go along with that. I would say responsibility, scouting assistant, personnel assistant.

Whenever you want to terament. So went up there and interviewed.

You know, did you meet Belichick on that first interview? You don't even get to the Belichick level.

It might have been a quick like hey, great to meet you, kind of a jove. And we were in the old Foxboro State at the time, so the offices were kind of up on a second floor. They were kind of hidden, so it was kind of a dilapidated rush for staying this but a little bit of a dilapidated setup. So anyways, so I went and interviewed, went back to UH Central and they called and they said, you know, would you be interested in this position?

And I said, you know, absolutely, So went talked to coach to board.

He was gracious enough to let me out and then so I was hired in the middle of June kind of two thousand and one in New England, went up there for a week or two, kind of got situated at organized, and then that fall of two thousand, training camp two thousand and one started. I'd say, really kind of got off to an inauspicious start if you were, you know, with coach Ravine passed away in literally a week of training camp, so there was sort of a

Was climb through the windows. So we lived in Providence.

My first year is a thirty minute commute from Providence to Foxboro Stadium.

He probably lived at the facility though, right, I mean who we.

Can't exactly exactly, so you're there.

I mean I was twenty whatever I was at the time, so I had nothing else going on.

So that was my first year.

And can I throw out some names? So like your first year there, I think Brady's a backup. He's already been there a year. BLEDSOE goes down, where were you for that?

Yeah?

No, we were playing the Jets, so you know, we had the whole nine to eleven situation that we were going through. Actually, so before we get to plane the Jets. So you know, part of my responsibility as a scouting assistant was when we brought players in for workouts on Tuesday, was to transport them back and forth from the stadium to the hospital. So the Mass General Hospital is right in Boston Foxboro Stadium, you know, call it thirty minutes outside of Boston or so, so we had a group

So that was that day.

So it was the week if we were supposed to play the Jets that week, and then that game got canceled, right so then we you know, shifted gears moved it to the following week. So during home games, I would go up in the press box and then I would actually kind of for self scouting purposes, chart our game so that could in put it into the system, you know, the following morning. So during the game, like that's what I was doing. So I was up there just charting a game, going through the.

Game, Lewis Knox Blood so what's I mean?

Yeah, I mean, and then.

Just kind of like all right, I'm just going to kind of keep doing my work and kind of preparing for tomorrow. And you know, Tom went in and you know, we actually almost won a game there at the end. And then you know, the following week we were owing two. Played the Colts, Okay, who were I mean, one of the best teams, one of the best offense in the league at the time with Peyton and Marvins.

And the group that they had.

So that was kind of my first introduction to the NFL the regular season, and then you know, fortunately I was able to stay in one place for twenty some odd years before I got here to Houston.

You couldn't have been too much older than Brady, Like I would imagine you're a couple of years older than him, did you, guys?

It's close?

Would you guys bes like, was that like a division of labor.

Yeah, I wasn't hanging out with the players, so to stay as far away from the players as possible to try to do my job. You know, I think there's a certain professionalism that you know, you respect the players and their privacy and what they're there to do. And my job was to work and focus on my job and not worry about things that you know, quite frankly don't matter. So because in the end, I think this

All right, give me a Vrabel story.

Actually I might.

You know, so I the first year, my first year with the team was when you know, Scott and Bill has signed Mike in a free agency, so that I think we sent it up signing I don't know, twenty three, twenty four to twenty five players that year is free agents. So I mean Mike came in and then Mike would

You go back to his history. But Mike was Mike was as tough as a come. He was as smart as a come. He was as tough as a come. He was very instinctive.

He cared a lot about football, but he and he had a great sense of humor, and he worked his ass off in practice. I would say that team there probably you know three, you know four with Rodney, Mike Willie, like, Mike would go back during practice, so when the offense was going against the defensive look team working on the cards for the next opponent, Mike would go back there at free safety just to give Brady a hard time, to try to make him work, to try to simulate.

Sure, you know, it's amazing.

So you progressed in your career going on, and everyone knows Belichick as the greatest coach of all time, but he's got a KNIGHTE for personnel too. For the listeners, Bill Belichick as the evaluator, what did you learn from him? And you know how how important is he in playing a role in your career as you've been guided through that New England system that eventually in Houston.

Now, yeah, massive.

I think he's so invested in every aspect of the process.

It's it's rare.

I mean, it's uncommon, the level of detail, the overall understanding. So I think one of the things that I learned from him was, among many things, was just the big picture perspective of understanding all different pieces and phases fit together, from offense to understanding what's going on defense defense, understanding what offenses are trying to do, how they use personnel, what are some of the things that are important, how to evaluate players, how to focus on their strengths, what

So I mean it taught me a lot.

And I think you know the fact that he had enough faith and confidence and trust and you know what I brought to the table. I mean certainly speaks to his humility and just allowing people to do their jobs.

Here's a reason why. Just understanding the why behind it.

So you know, I can't thank billing Off for the opportunity that he provided for not only myself but a number of people that have been in that building through the years.

All Right, so you're in New England for nearly twenty years, you're a rising star, and I tak for the last ten of those twenty your names. Your name would come up every year for the GM candidacy at some team and it was always all right, there's this Candidcate and then Nick Casara, we he'll never leave New England or is this going to be the time he finally does leave New England. You took the Houston job, you went

Finally you took the leap. Why Houston.

Yeah, I think you know, our family has been very blessed. I mean what this league is done for us. I mean, we certainly can't repay the people that will provide the opportunities. And I think we all you don't want to check challenge ourselves, and you know, sometimes you need to make decisions that you know, quite frankly, you know, puts you

You know, they had expressed some interests.

Or some sentiments, and you know, when Billy was here for a period of time, I mean, you know, there was some things, some dalliances through the years, and I think as we kind of got to the end, it was an opportunity that.

You know, we thought might be a chance.

To build something here, you know, from the ground up after twenty some odd years. So I think more than anything, more but curiosity and the challenge in front of us. And you know, i'd say the reputation ownership that they had in terms of providing people with the opportunity, you know, they deserve so anyway, so you know, we out here in twenty twenty one, you know, candidly, I mean the first couple of years probably didn't go the way that

Do you feel like there's a light now, Like it's funny because I don't want to say it was so dark because in the moment you don't look at it that way. But through the Watson stuff, through the Watson trade, through those different coaching stats, and now it's like people are talking about the Texans in there, this fun, young, energetic team, and of course you would have loved that from go, but it's almost like you had to walk through the mud to get to this point.

Does it feel that way?

Yeah, I think the reality is, Peter, things are never as bad or good as you think they are or people make them out to be. So I'd say everybody has challenges that they face on a day to day basis. Every program is going to have to deal with something. I think what we have to do is just try to fix problems and find solutions, and sometimes it takes

I mean, the.

Margins are very small, and it's designed for everybody to kind of be in the middle. It's kind of where we are now, and there's some outliers on both sides. So you just want to put yourself in a position where you give yourself a chance. I mean, what going into last week, was it seventy five percent or eighty percent of the games in week seven or eight.

Or one score games in the fourth quarter.

So I think that speaks to the competitive nature of our league for the amount of i'd say good good coaches, good players, and so you're either going to rise to the challenge and embrace that or you're going to cower and walk away. So again, regardless of how bad or good people think it's going or it looks on the surface, you got to find the silver lining somewhere and you just got to find solutions and just keep people moving

It's going to take a team effort.

So if you can just get as many people with that mindset, and quite frankly, I kind of view my role as just to kind of be a facilitator. Sure, sort of get out of the way, just sort of get everything on the right track, empower the people that are here that you believe in, that you trust, and give them the opportunity to do their job. So, you know,

My last question, and we're going to let you go. You've already given us more than enough time. And I'm loving this. I could do this for three hours with you. You get to the combine and you get in an elevator and there's a kid there with a tie on and an ill fitting suit and he's got a resume and a Manilla folder and he says, Hey, I what would be your thirty seconds of advice for getting into the league and how to position yourself best for you needy to someday be a general manager and NFL team.

Yeah, I would say, just be yourself, be true to who you are, be authentic, and just do the work because in the end, it's going to be about the work, and try to learn and maintain as much curiosity along the way. Understanding you're going to face some challenges is not going to be easy, and wherever you start doesn't really matter because really all of us were given an opportunity to start.

Once you're given an.

Opportunity, ultimately it's going to be about your performance, about your mindset, about your intent on a day to day basis so and in the end, it comes back to the work.

So do the work.

Remain curious and take whatever opportunity comes before you because you never know where that's going to lead. And no job is too small. Don't think your first step is the most important step. So just be willing to take it and dive right in and jump in and understanding that you know it.

Could lead you astray, but just keep working and don't lose hope.

And if you really believe in what you want to accomplish, you know there's a lot of people that are going to be there to help you along the way.

So just like to you know, bring it back to my industry.

In the sports media, it's everyone wants to be on TV, everyone wants to write for the New York Times, everyone wants to be calling games. But you just said something, No job is too small, Like the jobs that I had in my twenties. If I don't do those, I'm tucking blogging for websites that don't exist, and writing for free newspapers in New York City, then we don't get to the point we're at now where we're doing the podcast.

We have a show.

And I think Nick and our worlds are similar and parallel that like, yeah, everyone thinks they can do it, but you gotta wait your time, and you also have to put the work in.

You need to have patience, you need to have the right attitude, you have to have the right mindset, and you know, quite frankly, like you have to put the ego aside. Just because you work in the NFL, just because you work in the TV industry, quite frankly, it doesn't really mean anything.

And that's why I guarantees us is the next day.

And again it's about opportunity and it goes back and look, you guys, you know, you guys have a great show because you put the work in and it takes a lot of work behind the scenes, and candidly, not everybody is cut out for that, but you've put the time in, You've put yourself in a position, and you know, it's a credit to your mindset because again, none of us were given anything in life, period.

So it's about what we do with those opportunities.

And reality is there's a lot of people that are helping us along the way, and those are the people that we need to lean on. The most and tell them how much we care about them and tell them how much we love them. So a lot of respect for you know what you've done and what you guys have accomplished. I mean, you know, all seriousness. You've got one of the great shows on television because of the people and because of the work. And it's no different

You know, my feelings about you as a man, and I respect you as what you're doing in Houston. It feels like the bedrock is there now and you guys are building something and I'm excited to watch it. Last night's game, yesday's game was exciting, and it's just a I think it's just a window and what could be the future for the Houston Texans, all those young players and just to throw some more on it, like Dalton Schultz making plays and Nico Collins making plays and Mark seeing guys like Shaquille.

Griffin, like these are not just rookies.

You have some.

Veteran acquisitions that are making plays too. And I love the makeup with the team and Nick, I really appreciate you coming on during the season.

We'll do this again in the offseason.

I feel like we're going to go through your career more but an hour of your time after the biggest Texans win in probably two years.

I so appreciate it.

Man, Thank you, you best for Peter, Thank you, and keep j mack in line.

Real quick, mccordy, real quick.

What was your scouting report on mccorty, because you didn't draft him out of ten out of Rutgers, but he did eventually sign him as a free agent.

Love j Mack, him and Devin. I mean, you're not gonna find too better. I'll give you a quick story on James. Actually, so he got released. I want to say Cleveland. It was Cleveland. I think he was in Cleveland. They released him. It was in May or whatever it was. And before he was released, I walked into Bill's office and said, hey, what do you think Mac? And you know, he said, hey, all right, let's look at it's take

He might make the biggest play in this super bill. He knocks the pass from Brandon Cooks and he darts off his man to go make it. I've been honored and blessed to be his teammate now for two years, and I was so proud of him yesterday. Who's calling the game. And you know, I don't search social media for my own, but I just typed it his and it was universal praise.

I was like, just like, that's my guy who he des it was great. All right, Nick Seria, this is awesome.

Man.

Go do your thing and you got a game against the Bengals. We're on to Cincinnati. Is such a familiar refrain. Good luck, my truth.

Thanks guys.

It's time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. Each week we give out an award for who delivered results. I'm gonna go one might not be an obvious one. I'm gonna go with the Cleveland Browns defense. Another shutout, another win, twenty seven to nothing, complete destruction of the Arizona Cardinals, held the Cardinals under seventy yards of offense.

Are you serious?

Jim Schwartz is the man in front, But of course you've got guys like Miles, Garrett and Emerson and Ward. This team is legit. They If the playoffs were to start today, the Cleveland Browns would be in. And you know what their defense is leading the way. That was delivering results presented by Uber eats, where you get almost almost anything, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order Now, Fun Interview, Fun Podcast, Rare Monday one.

Aaron, always a pleasure with you.

Jason English, our friend from the iHeart Team is not here, so we will have to give him crap for that. Shout out to everybody out west and Arizona football continues to win. That is the official team of the season with Peter Scheger. We had Jedfish on August fourteenth. They have been one of the best surprises of college football. Matt Schneider, Jason Kleinman, our executives out on the LA side of things. They are Arizona football fans and Arizona alums.

Tell your friends really help. I really appreciate it. See you next week.

The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.