Texans GM Nick Caserio Focused on Building Complete Roster

On account of the sloppy and disjointed manner in which the Houston Texans bid farewell to the playoffs, general manager Nick Caserio's classic glass half-full assessment of the entire season was pretty timely.

How the talented Texans move forward probably needs to be with fine-tuning in mind, but the far heftier question marks over quarterback C.J. Stroud are bound to crop up until he can answer them conclusively.

In the meantime, especially when given the massive difficulties of resetting at the quarterback position, the wide-ranging approach Caserio is taking is to build a complete team in order to help Stroud out.

"In the end, it's about the team. Let's build a good team and get the best 53 guys," Caserio said. "Like we've talked in October, before the season, whoever comes in this building, at some point they're probably going to have to play."

"That's where we try to build as much depth throughout the roster, because at some point we're going to need everybody. This program is not about one person. It's not about one individual. It's, ‘Can we put the best team out there?’ In the end, the team that wins the Super Bowl is the best team. That's the truth."

Caserio Holding Clear Mindset for Draft

Of course, it might be a little easy for Caserio to simply focus completely upon the ongoing process of surrounding Stroud with more puzzle pieces to aid his complicated development, but that cannot afford to become a one-dimensional obsession either.

With that firmly in mind, Caserio will stick with the more expansive plan to improve the roster in its entirety when it rolls around to the NFL Draft in April.

"The [NFL] Draft is its own entity," Caserio said. "I think our philosophy on the Draft is to get good football players in here with the right mentality and mindset, regardless of the position that they play. That's how we approach it, philosophically."

C.J. Stroud Question Remains Unanswered

In large part, relying upon the current nucleus to keep on performing at a high level is a decent place for Caserio to concentrate his stack of organizational chips.Even so, you can just sense that Caserio is dying to see Stroud mature significantly more before he commits massive salary cap dollars; so the question under center still largely remains unanswered.

“That's the $100 million question. You have to go off what you've seen to this point, and I would say with younger players, there certainly is a projection element," Caserio suggested at questions under center. "They have a body of work that you've seen and then you project a certain level of improvement and growth that you hope takes place. That doesn't guarantee anything."

"Then you look at your team, what the expectation is for the role, and as we get into free agency, supply and demand, what's available, what are our options? Do we have an option already in place that's comparable to what's on the market? Is there an opportunity to upgrade that?"

Aug 16, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio stands on the field before the game against the Carolina Panthers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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For all the uncertainty Stroud's rought playoff performances has presented, the consensus opinion that the Texans remain firmly within a critical Super Bowl window won't change overly much as the winter turns to spring and summer.

On the other hand, talk is cheap, so the Texans' general manager is abundantly aware that keeping in the sweet spot of competing for the ultimate prize requires the right attitude to percolate right through the building.

"In our book, the window is always open," Caserio said. "We're going to try to put together the most competitive team possible every year. However we do that, we'll fit the contracts and whatever those look like and go from there. So, that's kind of how we view it."

"Again, I can't speak to other teams and their philosophy. Our goal is to have a good team every year and we'll figure out a way. Whoever plays, we don't really care."

All told, the sky is not falling in H-Town, but every organization undoubtedly needs a strong top exec to be constantly propping it up regardless.

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