The Houston Texans spent nearly a month engaged in a coaching search only to conclude it with the promotion of defensive coordinator and associate head coach Lovie Smith.
During the process, the Texans were interviewing former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who had significant ties to general manager Nick Caserio and executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby when the trio worked with the New England Patriots together from 2013-18.
Instead of going with a 40-year-old who posted consecutive winning seasons for the Miami Dolphins in his final two of three years, Houston went with a coach who hadn’t commanded an NFL sideline since 2015 when he was fired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after going 8-24 in his two-year tenure.
Caserio explained during his availability at the NFL combine in Indianapolis why the Texans decided to stay in-house rather than adding another former Patriot.
“I would say just personally speaking, I have a lot of respect and admiration for…