NFL Rumors: ‘Nick Caserio Rule' among changes approved by owners

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The New England Patriots twice blocked the Houston Texans from interviewing Nick Caserio for their general manager opening.

But if the Texans comes for Caserio a third time, they may have better luck.

NFL owners voted to pass several resolutions Tuesday at their virtual league meeting involving the hiring process for coaches and executives.

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One of those resolutions, according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, appears to be related to the Patriots' highly-coveted director of player personnel.

Per Breer, teams no longer can include clauses in executives' contracts that would prevent them from moving to a higher role in another organization.

Breer's implication is that the Patriots had such a clause in Caserio's contract, which they apparently leveraged last summer while filing tampering charges against Houston for attempting to interview Caserio for its GM job.

"We have now been made aware of certain terms in Nick’s contract with the Patriots," Texans CEO Cal McNair said at the time after Houston stopped its pursuit of Caserio.

The Texans recently gave GM duties to head coach Bill O'Brien while the Patriots locked up Caserio on a multi-year extension, so this issue likely won't resurface in New England for a few years.

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Owners also approved a rule preventing teams from blocking position coaches from interviewing for coordinator openings, per Breer.

That rule also may impact the Patriots down the line: Head coach Bill Belichick values continuity on his staff but has seen a number of assistants go elsewhere in recent years to become head coaches (Joe Judge, Brian Flores, Matt Patricia) or coordinators (Chad O'Shea, Brian Daboll).

Under these new rules, Belichick couldn't prevent his assistants from leaving even if he wanted to.

The good news for New England is that it shouldn't lose any more coaches or executives before the 2020 season, meaning the team can focus fully on how the heck it will win games without Tom Brady.

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