Last season, Jack Easterby quietly emerged as a key positive presence in the New England Patriots locker room. Now, he’s reportedly viewed with scorn within the organization.

According to Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal, sources within the Patriots say the team is “livid” at Easterby. A source also told Bedard that Easterby’s departure “totally pissed them off.”

So what happened? Easterby left the Patriots organization this past offseason for a more prominent role with the Texans -- one of the Patriots’ biggest rivals in the conference. According to Bedard, the way Easterby has gone about it has not gone over well in New England.

Easterby started as the Patriots team chaplain before taking on additional roles with the team over his six years there.. In 2018, he was the Team Development Director/Character Coach. In April, Easterby was hired away by the Texans to become their new executive vice president of team development.

This came before the Texans’ reported pursuit of Patriots executive Nick Caserio for their open GM position -- a pursuit that’s since been abandoned amid accusations of tampering.

According to Bedard, many within the Patriots organization were upset when Easterby let it publicly be known that the prostitution charges facing owner Robert Kraft “did not sit well” with him and played a part in his departure. Additionally, Bedard suggests that Easterby returning for the Patriots ring ceremony and trying to coerce Caserio to follow him to Houston was the “final straw” for some.

The fact that Easterby did this while leaving for a direct competitor likely also played a factor in the reported negative reaction out of Foxborough.

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WIth that said, Easterby was considered one of the most-liked people in the organization during his time in Foxborough. The team originally brought him in following the Aaron Hernandez murder scandal as a presence in the locker room to help players off the field. His role in the organization grew over recent years, to the point where he was able to make a jump to a bigger opportunity within another organization.

Whatever frustrations are left within the locker room will get a chance to come out when the team heads to Houston to take on the Texans in Week 13 -- Dec. 1 on Sunday Night Football.