Brinson: Deshaun Watson has to wonder why he signed that contract

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The Houston Texans are dipping into the New England Patriots’ well once more, hiring Nick Caserio as general manager. 

Caserio, 45, has spent his entire career with the New England Patriots, arriving in 2001 and serving as director of player personnel since 2008. He will reunite with Jack Easterby, who spent six seasons in New England before becoming Houston’s vice president of football operations in 2019.

Former Texans head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien also worked for the Patriots, serving in a variety of offensive roles from 2007-11.

Another Patriots guy, huh? Interesting.

“If I’m Deshaun Watson, I’m looking around going, ‘What on earth? Why did I sign this contract?’” CBS Sports senior NFL writer Will Brinson said on The DA Show. “I like the millions of dollars and I like all the money . . . [but] you have to look at [the franchise] and be frustrated.”

The Texans’ track record with former Patriots employees isn’t exactly great.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily you’re bringing another [former] Patriots [employee] in,” Brinson said. “To me, you look at Jack Easterby when you start to think about who he’s probably frustrated with. [Watson] liked Bill O’Brien. He constantly went to bat for Bill O’Brien publicly. And then Jack Easterby comes in and goes into this Game of Thrones-style power struggle with Bill O’Brien in there – that Bill O’Brien wasn’t expecting since he hired him – and takes over the organization.”

Indeed, chaos reportedly ensued following Easterby’s arrival in Houston.

“One minute you think he’s going to be running things, the next it looks like he’s out as GM, and then the next minute all of a sudden Jack Easterby has power again because they’ve hired Nick Caserio as GM,” Brinson said.

While the Texans have their GM, they still need a head coach. Brinson believes there are two likely candidates.

“Let’s either look to Josh McDaniels, who worked with Nick Caserio and Jack Easterby in New England,” Brinson said. “The bloom is off the rose right now because of the Colts thing and the offense sucked this year. Or, look at the agent who’s shared between Nick Caserio, Jack Easterby, and a guy in Buffalo named Brian Daboll.”

Daboll, of course, is the Bills’ offensive coordinator. He has coached under Bill Belichick and Nick Saban.

“I would guess that one of those two guys [McDaniels or Daboll] is your next Texans head coach,” Brinson said.