Is Texans president Jamey Rootes about to leave the franchise?
The Houston Texans could be on the verge of another shakeup in their front office.
According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, there is speculation that team president Jamey Rootes will not be back for his 21st season with the franchise.
Rootes has been the team’s only president since the 2002 season, and has been a key part in helping the Texans consistently rank as one of the top-10 most valuable NFL franchises.
The speculation on McClain’s part is corroborated by a recent Sports Illustrated report from Jenny Vrentas and Greg Bishop.
In the season’s final weeks, [Jack] Easterby’s relationships with the business side of the Texans’ operations also frayed. One person was surprised to see him sidling up to Rootes, the team president, at one of the later home games, despite a relationship that many of the same sources considered frosty. “There’s something going on with Jack and Jamey,” the person who saw them told a coworker. After the season, multiple sources heard that Rootes was considering resigning. That he did not, those same sources said, spoke to his desire to fight for an organization he had helped lead for two decades. (Rootes did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)
If there is any change with the Texans, or there is any negative outcome to be had, scrutiny immediately falls upon Easterby, the executive vice president of football operations. If Rootes leaves the Texans, Houston sports fans will be wondering if he is another casualty in one of Easterby’s power plays inside the organization.
Independent of Easterby, the departure of Rootes would be another significant shakeup to an organization that has undergone significant front office and coaching changes since founder Bob McNair’s death in November of 2018, and it will be another challenge chairman and CEO Cal McNair will have to expertly handle to set the Texans up for success in the 2020s.
