A couple of thoughts:
1. Casserio has been here since 2001. He's played a major role here since Pioli left in 2008 IRRC. He's fills a lot of roles here BEYOND that of being the head of pro and college personnel. He coaches WR's and QB's on the field and has a direct line to Josh on game day with game booth responsibilities. As far as I know he's the ONLY "GM" with such a varied array of roles.
So losing him this late into the off season would clearly be damaging. Plus this year that damage would be multiplied by the significant losses the coaching staff had this off season. IIRC they've already lost 5 or 6 assistants, many of them key guys. And don't forget the Pats annually start with the smallest staff in the league, so again the effect of those losses get escalated.
Casserio leaving at this time is not going to be easy to replace. Ossenfort would likely inherit his personnel roles, and if that was all Nick did it would be manageable, but as stated before it ISN'T.
2. Sounds to me like tampering will be hard to prove. It was a social event. Easterby IS a friend. They share the same agent. So unless someone has a tape of Jack giving him a hard sell, the fact they were seen talking isn't exactly a smoking gun. The only thing that was fishy was that the next day the Texans fired their GM. It's certainly suspicious, but you have to have more to prove tampering.
3. Let's assume Nick actually wants to go. He'd get full personnel control He'd be among people he knows. He'd start with a franchise QB and more individual stars then he has here. Its one of the league's better top 25 rosters outside of its OL. Lots of cap space. Plus he'd get a honeymoon year since this year's team would NOT be his responsibility.
Plus unless the Pats hit home runs this year and next drafts, the Pats, while certainly a contender this season, will have a declining QB at the end of his reign, a depleted coaching staff, and a GOAT HC and QB who could call it quits at anytime and not surprise anyone. And while the Pats have almost no cap flexibility the next 2 season, the Texans have plenty.
Add to the fact he just saw a guy with ZERO GM experience get $3MM per year and FULL control of the football operations; its hard to think this might be just the time to make his move after a run which saw 5 AFCCG's in a row, 4 suerpbowls and 3 chanpionships.
4. On the plus side, his BFF is still here and likely to be the next HC. His family with 3 school age kids is deeply rooted in NE, and Kraft is likely to match any financial deal Houston would give him.
5. Here's the thing. If Casserio is adamant about leaving the BEST the Pats can hope for is getting SOME compensation. Houston's offer would likely be the 3rd round comp they are going get. The Pats would certainly demand a first given the importance of Casserio, the immediate damage it would cause the Pats, AND the bad timing of the Houston request.
A second would be the obvious compromise.....and maybe add an additional 4th or 5th.
BTW- The Patriots need to do some explaining about who exactly is going to be coaching the team this season. Is the staff filled right now or are there additions to be made? Because right now it would seem like there are a number of open positions on the staff right now. And to me, this is a MUCH bigger problem than who is going to play TE
