the second year general manager of the Houston Texans, Nick
Kazarian, Nick. Welcome to the program. How are you?
Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it. Long time coming. Thanks for
having me excited to be here. Yep. You'll say, well, they
don't ya.
You might regret it. All right,
first question. What possessed you to do this?
Hey, I'm pretty open minded and pretty flexible so I can I can
handle anything but no, I mean, I think it's a good opportunity
for us to kind of have a dialogue and discussion, you
know,
Chris and I obviously have a relationship go back a little
bit and you know, I know Mike you have, you know, you've been
your While respecting the league and, you know, you've
been at this long time and have a unique perspective. So,
you know, it's always good to have kind of an open dialogue
and yeah, I'm pretty open minded person. So, you know,
I'm ready for anything. The man, I appreciate you sitting
here with us. I really do. I really do. Thanks. Yeah, I
and, and I do too, and
it's refreshing. That folks, understand. We've got a job to
do, you've got a job to do and we all exist together under
this strange and their fellow biosphere. So let's start with
this is your chance. I know you haven't talked to anybody else
today. So this is an exclusive. Lou Civ, how is the DeShaun
Watson situation going to resolve? When where and to,
which team and when we know what's going to happen?
Yeah, it's a fair question. Mike obviously has been going
on here for a long time. I think there's really no
timetable. I think whenever there's a resolution. There's
going to be a resolution. I know it's kind of a, you know,
simple way to look at it. But,
you know, I certainly don't have a crystal ball. I think,
you know, we've been pretty consistent, you know, going
back to even last year, try to take it one day at a time.
There's obviously a lot of layers, a lot of components
that are associated, you know, with this
particular situation,
but ultimately, you know, my responsibilities and job is to
do what I feel is The best interest of the Houston Texans
organization,
whatever that manifest itself. As, you know, I really don't
have an answer for you at this point. So kind of take
a day-to-day, take the information as it unfolds and
just try to make the right decision, you know, for our
club.
How close did it come to happening last year during
the season up against the trade deadline or at any time during
the season.
Yeah, I would say there was certainly dialogue
different points of the offseason. Mike,
you know, the trade deadline is kind of a
Finite end point not only for obviously a player like dashon
or other players throughout the course of the league. I'd say
there's a number of players that were kind of bandied about
is potentially that we're going to move, you know, before the
trade deadline.
So there were dialogues and discussions about I would say
DeSean and other players as well in the end. It didn't come
to fruition. So then we kind of transitioned and you know Want
To Tread
the trade deadline was over
kind of transition to the next phase just kind of focus on
the rest of the season, you know, and try to make some progress
as a team.
That want to season was over. Then once we kind of flip
the page and the calendar 2022, then, you know, kind of have
maybe some open discussion and dialogue with respective teams
throughout the league.
So I would say that's ongoing
and kind of going back to your first question. There's not
necessarily a timetable in terms of resolution.
But at some point, I would expect it to be a resolution,
you know, just don't have a definitive answer at this
point.
Your, your detailed. I know you always have a plan, you're
a tireless worker,
but with all that and you know, The Watson stuff does it, it
doesn't make it hard to plan for the future as a GM right
now without being kind of unresolved. No, it's a fair
question. I think what you have to do is kind of create
different buckets. Yeah, so that's kind of
been one bucket and then the running the team day-to-day and
the team building is kind of a separate bucket. So as we sit
here today, we know where we are from a salary cap
standpoint the start of the new league year. Yeah. We
also know how many players we have is free agents on our
team, you know, 30 some odd players, right? So those are
some things that are known quantities, so we have kind of
Unknown quantity over here. And then, we also know at this
point that we
have nine draft picks. So
for in a top 108. So and having, you know, the third
overall pick where we pick in the second round having a to
third-round picks. So, last year at this time, we were
under a different set of circumstances. That was still
its own separate bucket. Yeah, our cap situation was a little
bit different, right? And we were just trying
to built fill out the team. So
I'd say we're in a little better place and where we were,
I would say last year at this time. We got some depth on
the team. So we've kind of have a foundation in Place to some
degree. So I think what you have to do is
kind of be able to segment
and prioritize. Okay. What we can control them deal with now.
Right. And then kind of have this separate Bucket over here
understanding at some point. There's going to be
a resolution but there's not a finite time table to it. Yeah,
I'm going to say that's hard.
I don't care. I know you're not going to say that but damn
that's hard to be able to organize a team that way it is.
It really is. I give you credit for that. All right. Other
thing. I'm just interested in. I mean, having worked with you
and
New England, a little bit
how everything's done there.
You know, of course, it's
Precision and detail and all of that.
Do you bring the whole philosophy to Houston? Is there
a Nick caseros spin on things? How does that work? No, it's
a great question. I think all of us have been given
an opportunity
in New England and we were trained arguably under you
know, one of the better football people in the history
of our sport, you know, I don't think anybody could argue
with that from bills perspective. I think
what we all have to do is
there's 32 buildings. There's 32 programs. You have to build
it kind of in your Our own way and do the things that you
believe in that are important to you and kind of put your own
spin on. I'd say
that's the most important thing. You have to be true to
who you are. Do the things that you believe in. Not try to be
somebody else. Yeah. And just be consistent day-to-day
and I would say philosophically from a program building
standpoint. There are things that you're certainly going to
carry with you, but you're not going to just drop one program
from one location and into a new building. It just doesn't
work that way. There's
too many moving parts. So
you just sort of have to assess where You are, what do you have
in your building? What's on your team?
And then just try to systematically, make the right
decisions along the way. So I think that's the most important
thing that all of us need to do. Yeah.
What's been the biggest challenge for you over the past
year or so in adapting to the Texans organization, bringing
the things you want to bring and recognizing what the unique
requirements of that organization and its culture
are.
No, it's a great question, Mike. I think the biggest thing
is just learning people. So there's a lot of people in
the building who I didn't have a relationship with previous, or
hadn't worked with previously,
you know, James lipfird. It was our College director. So James
and I work together. So, that certainly helped, you know, had
a relationship with Jack obviously from my time there in
New England, but there's a lot of new people. So I think you
just have to have an understanding of what's going
on in the building.
What is taking place in the past? What are some of
the things that we can actually do incrementally to try to make
some improvements and understand?
We have a pretty long runway in front of us. And,
you know, we kind of have to sort of rebuild the team on
a lot of different levels. So we started that process to
a degree last year, Mike. I would say to a certain extent, you
know, David deserves a lot of credit for that to kind of get
us kind of
going and moving in the right direction.
And ultimately at the end of the year. I had to make, you
know, a difficult decision at the move on from David. And,
you know, we went through the whole hiring process here and
put lovey in that chair. So,
I think you can accomplish everything overnight. So, I think,
I think tried to just kind of
bring some stability year. One, try to flatten out the cap
situation, try to create a competitive environment, cut
a competitive situation, and just make sure understands, you
know, whether the things that are important for not only
the players, but the coaches and the staff
members that come into the building.
And that we're trying to establish a high level of
performance. You know, we certainly have a lot of work to
do. We have a long runway in front of us. We're not there
yet. But hopefully, we've at least started moving in
the right direction.
I said earlier. We all have a job to do in this crazy NFL
ecosystem. And since you took us to the neighborhood, let me
go ahead and ask you the question because this is
something that Chris and I
have struggled to understand
David Kali, one year,
let go and you cited philosophical differences. What
were the philosophical differences? He had with David
Kali after only one year
following the hiring of David Kali.
No, it's a fair question. Mike.
I would say.
Each year my responsibility to roll them in is to oversee
the football operation and try to make decisions. I think make
the most sense. And as you evaluate your team,
your evaluate, all aspects of your team, you're evaluating
the players, you're evaluating things schematically that
you're doing. You're evaluating. Okay, what are some
of the adjustments? What's the plan moving forward?
I would say, just out of respect, everybody involved.
I don't want to get into some of the granular details on that.
But I think there were plenty of discussion and dialogue and
opportunities to kind of hit some of those things.
Any And based on where I felt we were headed ultimately, you
know, I felt the right decision to make was to move on from
David.
I would say going back, you never enter a relationship and
expect it to be a short-term type of thing. Like that
certainly wasn't the intention that wasn't the plan.
But again, at the end of the year, my responsibilities to
evaluate everything and cows and trusted me
the responsibility and give me the authority over the entire
football operation. So in the end, like that was a decision
that I had to make was an easy decision. Absolutely
not. I A lot of respect and appreciation for the things
that David did for us. But ultimately, you know, this is
a business, you know, we have to make some tough decisions
and sometimes the the
right decision and the hard decision, or the same thing. So
again, very appreciative for what David did for us. I'd say
his leadership is stability, his consistency throughout
the course of the year. Just talking to some other. Folks,
a little bit earlier the way, the team played and performed, I'd
say the effort
that toughness that this play in the week to week basis.
I mean, that's a reflection of the coaching staff more than
anything else. So, you know, certainly,
Lee appreciative and, you know, without it to him for that but
you know, it's never easy
and ultimately any and I felt that, you know, I had to do
what I felt made the most sense for our team at the time. So
that's why we did. What we
did. Yeah tough decision certainly and you talk about
it, a little, your team, you know, you've created a little
bit of a nucleus, you got some depth. I think you got some
core players, you like to
lead the team quarterback situation. Not, you know, not
even talking about this Jean, Watson Davis Mills talked about
him a little bit. He was a pleasant surprise to me,
you know. Envision him be in the future guy or we still
keeping all options open right now in the evaluation process.
Yeah. I think you have to be pragmatic in your approach,
evaluate, kind of what happened last year.
Certainly, when you look at his year specifically, its kind of
going back to, we talk about two different buckets, right?
There was the okay Enter the game against Cleveland
finished. The game very competitive, but turnaround
against Carolina, Thursday night. Okay, then we go to
Buffalo, which
is hard to play that way,
right? A great near Buffalo is a great team with the better
teams league with a great defense.
You know, New England and next week. Okay, then Arizona. So,
you know, and then had a little bit of a gap there. Ty came
back against Miami, right, and ultimately made the decision to
let Davis finish out the year and I would say
that kind of window of time or those few games kind of not
playing probably helped him. Right? And there was a certain
level of comfort. I think a lot of the credit is goes to David.
A lot of credit goes to pep, lot of credit goes to Timmy
Kelly for, you know, putting him in a position
and the players around him. I would say responded favorably.
Well, so that happened last year. So now
We kind of have to say. Okay here. We are March 1st,
whatever it is. Okay. Try to make some progress. Try to
build on some of the things did last season try to focus on
having a good offseason program.
And then so we kind of get into over Tas, ultimately
the performance on the field is going to dictate the players
that are going to play quarterback included. Right?
Right. And I mean,
so from what you're saying there. I mean, it doesn't sound
like he,
it's a big, big free agent quarterback came about and
we're open to those options to. I mean, like, you know,
I know you got your own quarterback issues.
To deal with. But are we looking to stay with him and
see what he's got for the future? And we look to draft
young. Or are you willing to go, maybe with a veteran proven
guy? Yeah, I think you have to look at everything and just
figure out what makes the most sense for your team. So I mean,
we you know, Dave is under contract here for the next
however many years tie rods, a free agent. So we're going to
have more than one quarterback on the team here at some point.
So how do we get those players on a team? Who are those
players? And I would say any position if there's
an opportunity to
add somebody that we think has value to our team, that has
an opportunity to compete and create a good situation for
himself, then, you know, we'll see. Consider it.
Hey, Nick, Lovie Smith, the new head coach. And from our
perspective. He kind of popped up as a finalist after there
were multiple reports as to who the finalists were and he
wasn't one of them walk us through how
you settled on Lovie Smith when you would considered some other
folks for the job.
Yeah, it's a lovey was a good resource kind of the month of
January. So, from the time that we moved on, from David, till
the end point there. We made the decision. So talked to
a number of different coaches throughout the
For the league. Some are a little bit more public relative
to who you interview, who you talk to. But you know,
I probably spoke to
other coaches, not necessarily in an interview type of format,
but other coaches that had experience who had coach with
different levels in the league. So again, when you have an hour
or so conversation about different coach about
a program, some of the things that they're doing, maybe it
doesn't fall in your interview, but
that process for me, was about gathering information
and trying to talk to, as many quality people as possible. So
we did that throughout the month.
I did that throughout the month of January and love. You was
a part of those discussions. Love. You had a perspective
being in our building last year, but our program about
the players about some of the things that we're doing from
a program standpoint from a program building standpoint.
And we were kind of having I would say continuous dialogue
throughout. So, as we work through the process
and ultimately, you know, as we got to the end point there. He
was the candidate that I felt made the most sense for our
program and some of the things that you know, we want to do
and we were trying to do. So,
I think once we were able to get love
In place, then we're able to kind of put a
staff in place. So we kind of have our feet on the ground
right now in the last couple weeks. I think everybody, at
least, is in the building and we're kind of moving forward
and kind of starting our preparation here for the 22
season.
And after you announced the Lovie, Smith would be getting
the job. Ryan Flores lawyers issued a statement saying that
Brian didn't get the job because of the lawsuit that
he's filed against the NFL and three teams. What's your
response to their accusation?
Yeah, I would say I have a lot of respect
and admiration from Brian as a person and a coach.
Coach. I think Brian is one of kind of the better coaches in
our league, you know, ultimately, my responsibility
is to do what's best for the Houston, Texas organization. So
that's what we did with the hiring a lovey.
Well done, it sound like he got counselor Florio to
answer, Mike's a better attorney than I will ever be
almost went to law school. I'm gonna go to law school and be
a poli-sci man, but I decided not to do it. And
well, I started Finance before I got into football. So, Mike's
a better attorney than I would ever have been. Okay. Well,
you're a better GM. That's for sure. We know that. All right,
we'll give you the edge there, answer you out.
Maybe we'd ask Mike that sometimes but either way
you talk about, you know, the team itself just to be on
the field. Like what's, what's priority number one for for
you? As far as I know, you don't want to tell us all
the answers, but
just position that you go,
we got to strengthen this this year, this offseason.
Yeah. I mean, I would say, would you just look at our team
right now? We have a lot of players not under contract on
the interior of the offensive line and, you know,
on the edge of the offense at tight end, you know, and
running back. So a three or two or three running backs have
played a fair amount last year, right aren't under contract. So
I would say offensively, there's some areas that we're
going to have to look to address or fill to a certain
extent, the same. On the defensive side of the ball as
well. You know, when you sign a number of players to one of
your deals and you have 31,
32 players that are free agents. So there's a lot of
gaps. There's a lot of holes, but
that's where we're going through right now.
We've had a lot of discussions internally in our building.
We've evaluated number of players at those different
spots. So
it's not about how they get to our team. It's about what they
do when they get into our building.
But I think to your point like we've been able to maintain
some players re-signed, some players during a year extending
Birkhead. Keeping guys in the building, you know, guys, like
top of your Thomas who's role grew as a year progressed under
contract for another
year extended tremon. So, probably on the, you know,
lower level of the roster or kind of depth of the roster,
but try to build that infrastructure, you know,
the middle of the bottom half
and then try to add, you know, as many top-line players as we
can. That, you know, given the resource
constraints that we may, or may not have, right? Right. The
last thing like
that was kind of a different move with all the one-year
contracts, and then just kind of tell people,
You know what was behind that? Thought process to do that?
Yeah, we knew you know, we don't have a first or
second-round pick. So that's a draft resource. And draft
capital is going to be minimal
and I think a lot of it was just to try to get as many
people in the building. Yeah. As possible that had some level
of experience in that kind of 327 year window, right? Who had
some experience who had played at a competitive level. Yeah.
And just try to create as much competition as possible. And then
once we get through this year, I think there's a number of
players that played for us last year that we're going to want
to try to be want you back. Right, so you're not gonna
really know that until you get them in your building. So
think we knew we were going to be a little bit more. Veteran
heavy, right? Just given, I would say our draft capital and
meeting a drafted 5 and then signed 6 on drafted players. So
I would say maybe a little bit more of a balanced approach
this year, but against a lot of those subject to supply and
demand. So we're gonna have to see how it goes here once we
get rolling, right?
Nick, we appreciate you joining us very much. We look forward
to talking to you again all the best as you get ready for
the 2022 season. And again, we look forward to doing this hopefully
sooner rather than later.
Thanks again. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. If
the man neck. Thanks for thanks. Mike.