Houston Texans Rumors: Brian Gaine should be the new GM by Friday
The Houston Texans so-called intensive general manager search has apparently ended with them tapping Brian Gaine, hiring the guy that had been the favorite all along, making the point of the team’s decision to hire a search firm moot. Here’s the skinny on how this hire will materialize and look.
Houston Texans fans — for a minute there, I wasn’t sure if the team was going to rush in hiring a general manager since things had been silent for the past week or so about the move. To be honest, there’s no rush for the team to hire a general manager as the staff that’s in place is more than capable of making sure the operation is running smoothly.
The last time I checked, Jimmy Raye III is still the assistant general manager for the Houston Texans and probably is the interim GM until their guy is in place. We all know now what likely the team knew all along.
Earlier today, Ian Rapoport reported that the Houston Texans have found their man to head up the front office:
The #Texans are expected to hire #Bills VP of player personnel Brian Gaine as their new GM, sources say. The favorite all along.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 10, 2018
With the deal still not official just yet, the Chron’s John McClain provided additional details about the situation with Gaine as well as Bill O’Brien‘s:
While the Texans are negotiating on a contract to hire Brian Gaine as their new GM, they're also working on an extension for Bill O'Brien, who has one year left on his contract. O'Brien is expected to sign the long-term extension.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) January 11, 2018
McClain also mentioned that a deal should be wrapped up by Friday and then the O’Brien’s deal will fall into lockstep with his. It’s natural for a deal like this to fall in tandem because the head coach and the general manager typically spend a lot of time working together.
Now it remains to be seen how much Rick Smith and O’Brien worked together before his leave absence but at least the Texans are doing this deal right since Gaine is their guy.
Gaine is expected to have full control of the personnel as well as the football operations side of franchise and will report directly to Bob and Cal McNair.
Since he O’Brien and he have established a positive relationship when he was the director of player personnel from the 2014-16 seasons, this may be the beginning of the two making beautiful music together or a the footnote to flawed concoction of fusion fueled with promise.
The Texans want to have his hire wrapped up before the start of the Senior Bowl at the latest — so Gaine can attend as a member of the franchise — to which the annual shindig is scheduled for Jan. 27. I’d imagine a deal will be done well before then.
My feelings are of indifference with this hire — I had a feeling this would happen and I told you all that the New England Patriots’ director of player personnel Nick Caserio would’ve been the best hire this organization could possibly make because of his exceptional versatility and keen eye to spot and poach the best talent under most circumstances.
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The fact that Caserio isn’t here speaks to the fact that either he didn’t want the job or the Texans weren’t willing to wait on the Pats’ season to end to which it possibly could be in February once again. In fact, McClain notes that Bob McNair wants a deal done “sooner than later.”
But Gaine was reportedly well-respected in Texans’ front office circles so the hire will come with mostly positive fanfare from that end.
This will be the first general manager gig for Gaine as he started his journey in working with people as well as managing talent with the New York Jets (1999-04), Dallas Cowboys (2005-07) and the Miami Dolphins (2008-13) before stepping onto the scene in H-Town in the 2014 season.
My initial ask out of Gaine is that he’s more transparent than Smith, who rarely went public with any of his dealings going on. I don’t always have to know how the cow is being slaughtered but it’d help if we’d know the logic behind some of the decisions that he’s about to make moving forward.
Next: Why the team should avoid Brian Gaine for the GM job
As fans, we deserve that and I think it would certainly help usher in a new era of how a functional yet desirably transparent department of the Texans should operate.
We’ll have to see.
Go Texans.