Houston Texans make shocking, necessary front office decision

HIT THE ROAD, JACK!

Texans Nick Caserio, Jack Easterby, Cal McNair
It's finally happening! Composite image by Jack Brame.

ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that the Texans and executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby are parting ways.

 

We've heard rumors this season that Easterby's relationship with the McNair family isn't what it used to be and that his time could soon be up in Houston. The timing of this decision is interesting, though, coming on Monday morning right after the bye week, and the Texans first win of the season. Clearly this wasn't a Friday news dump, the Texans wanted this out there.

Easterby spent three years in Houston becoming infamous for being Bill O'Brien's right-hand man that destroyed the Texans roster and salary cap. The Laremy Tunsil trade, giving Deshaun Watson a massive contract with a no-trade clause, getting fleeced in the DeAndre Hopkins trade are just a few of the franchise killing moves he and Bill O'Brien signed off on. The Texans are still dealing with a massive amount of dead money, even after Nick Caserio's best efforts to clean up the cap and culture in Houston.

Hopefully, the Texans can put this mess behind them and move forward with Nick Caserio and Lovie Smith continuing to turnaround the organization, put a better product on the field, and leave behind the drama.

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Yordan Alvarez recently saw a hand specialist. Composite Getty Image.

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez’s setback to his recovery from a fractured right hand is not as serious as first feared, general manager Dana Brown said Thursday.

Alvarez, who suffered the injury on May 2, was shut down after experiencing pain in his right hand. He had taken some swings at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday and when he arrived there on Tuesday the area was sore.

He was examined by a specialist, who determined inflammation was the issue and not a setback with the fracture.

“It had nothing to do with the fracture, or the fracture not being healed,” Brown said before Houston’s game at Colorado. “The fracture at this point is a non-factor, which we’re very glad about. And so during the process of him being examined by the specialist, we saw the inflammation, and Yordan did receive two shots in that area.”

Alvarez first experienced issues with his hand in late April but stayed in the lineup. He was initially diagnosed with a muscle strain but a small fracture was discovered at the end of May.

Brown said there has not been an update on the timetable for Alvarez’s return but said with the latest update it “could be in the near future.”

“Yordan is going to be in a position where he’s going to let rest and let the shot take effect, and then as long as he’s starting to feel better, we’ll put a bat in his hand before we start hitting, but we’ll just let him feel the bat feels like,” Brown said. “And then we’ll get into some swings in the near future, but I felt like it was encouraging news. Now, with this injection into the area that was inflamed, we feel a lot better.”

Alvarez, who averaged 34 home runs over the previous four seasons, has just three in 29 games this year and is batting .210. He was the 2021 ALCS MVP for the Astros and finished third in the AL MVP voting for 2022.

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