Nick Caserio was busy on Wednesday in Indianapolis.
The Texans Executive Vice President/General Manager is busy just about every day, but today at the 2025 NFL Combine he spent some time interacting with the press.
Yesterday in Indianapolis, a slew of head coaches--including DeMeco Ryans--and executives met with the media and it was Caserio's turn today.
It's his fourth Combine with the Texans--his first year on the job was 2021, a year the Combine was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic--and the franchise has changed drastically in that time.
Caserio covered C.J. Stroud's offseason improvement, pass protection, and a few other key topics during his time with the media.
1. "Go to war with This Guy" - Caserio and Ryans are in-sync and rolling, according to the GM. He described their relationship as "phenomenal" and detailed the reasons why Ryans is a great head coach.
"His consistency on a day-to-day basis, his message, how he handles the team, it resonates," Caserio said "He's one of the best head coaches in the league. I don't think anybody would argue that, so we're very fortunate to have him in the position that he's in."
Caserio explained his role with regards to Ryans.
"To support him in any way possible," Caserio said. "That's my fiduciary responsibility to him and I'll go to war with this guy. Whatever he needs, whatever he thinks we need to do, we talk about it, we have good conversations, we view football through the same lens. There's a reason why players want to come to Houston: it's to play for DeMeco and it's to play with the players that are in the locker room. I try to get the hell out of the way and just try to be a good resource for DeMeco as much as I can."
2. Stroud improvement - Stroud heads into Season 3 as a pro. It's his second offseason to prepare primarily for an NFL season, and not an NFL season AND a Combine/Pro Day/NFL Draft as he did this time two years ago. Caserio is enthused by what Stroud's done so far in the NFL, and knows there is more to come.
"C.J. is a good player," Caserio said. "He has to continue to improve. There are things that he's going to work on in the offseason. C.J.'s done a lot of great things on a yearly basis. His first year, he did a lot of really good things last year as well. C.J.'s motivated this offseason to have a good offseason, prepare himself to try to be the best player he can be once the season starts."
3. What's Nick Caley doing? - Nick Caley was hired as the team's offensive coordinator earlier this month, and he's hit the ground running after spending the previous two seasons in Los Angeles with the Rams. The first regular season game isn't until early September, and the preseason slate starts in early August. Training camp begins at the end of July, and the offseason conditioning program commences at the end of April. For now, Caserio described some of what Caley and the staff are doing in Houston.
"We've given them some players to evaluate, both collegiately and pro, for free agency as well," Caserio said. "Free agency will be here before we know it, so, we want their input. How do you view the player? How do you see the role? Is it different than maybe what we think? So that'll be the first step. But to get that in place, it gives you some level of stability. Now you can just put the foot on the gas and start moving."
Caley and Caserio overlapped in New England from 2015 through 2021. Caserio was the Patriots' while Caley served as an offensive assistant and tight ends coach.
4. Pop on the O-Line - Cole Popovich is now the Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator for Caley and the Texans. He was an assistant O-line coach with Houston the last two years, and Caserio said Popovich is well-regarded by players and coaches alike.
"You're not going based off of what players think, but they felt there were some positives," Caserio said. "Some of the offensive coordinators that we talked about had referenced Cole as somebody that they would want to potentially consider, separate from us. Cole was highly thought of in the league."
Popovich was an offensive assistant in New England from 2016-18, the assistant running backs coach in 2019, and the Co-offensive line coach in 2020.
