The Rise of Texans’ Executive VP Jack Easterby

The recent turmoil within the Texans organization has shed light on executive vice president Jack Easterby.

Easterby’s career climb within the NFL domain is definitely an interesting one. He entered the league as a chaplain and is currently operating as one of the most powerful executives within a team.

Easterby’s first experience working with the NFL was in 2005 when he interned for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then, he worked for the University of South Carolina men’s basketball team as a character coach. After his stint at U of SC, Easterby joined the Kansas City Chiefs as a chaplain to help the team cope with the murder-suicide of Jovan Belcher.

In 2013, Easterby was hired by the New England Patriots as a character coach and to deal with the Aaron Hernandez crisis. Easterby was the only paid character coach in the NFL at the time. During his time with the Patriots, Easterby helped new players integrate into the team, held religious services and contributed to draft evaluations.

Easterby was hired by the Texans in 2019 after the Houston team outbid the Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins. Easterby’s impact on the Texans was immediate, as he reportedly played a role in the firing of then-general manager Brian Gaine.

Sports Illustrated’s Jenny Vrentas and Greg Bishop reported that Easterby even had a hand in the infamous Deandre Hopkins trade, with Easterby apparently saying that “we need to move on from that person.”

An anonymous member of the Texans organization told Vrentas and Bishop that “Jack was basically doing everything O’Brien was doing, except for calling plays.”

Current and former NFL players seem to believe that Easterby is further damaging the culture that he was hired to improve.

Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboy player Michael Irvin ripped into Easterby for his work with the Texans. In an interview with SportsRadio 610, Irvin said that “the worst thing you can do is come in cloaked under Godliness and do ungodly things to people.”

Irvin’s comments were in reference to the Hopkins trade, and many believe that Easterby played a big part in letting Hopkins go.

Easterby continues to play a major role within the Texans organization, despite the widespread criticism. With the rumored departures of both Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt, it is worth reevaluating Easterby’s impact on the Texans.

 

You can “Like” The Game Haus on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Christina! 

“From Our Haus to Yours”