Bill Belichick always seems to have power, even, in this case, when it comes to another team’s search for a general manager. It certainly appears the Patriots’ general manager could be in control of the Houston Texans’ vacancy.

The Texans have essentially broadcast their favorite candidate to replace former general manager Brian Gaine, who lost his job last weekend after just one season. Houston is launching a “targeted search” and coach Bill O’Brien “knows what he wants and has a lot of familiarity with [Nick] Caserio in New England,” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Caserio has been the director of player personnel in New England since 2008 (and with the team since 2001), and has played an integral role in Belichick’s team-building process. That’s not the only report linking the Texans to Caserio. From Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer:

“If you follow the above breadcrumbs, Nick Caserio, the Patriots’ VP of player personnel, is next. Or at least, that would be the outcome the Texans would want.”

The Texans have also interviewed Martin Mayhew, the 49ers vice president of player personnel, and Ray Farmer, the former Browns GM. They are both good candidates. Yet it feels like the Texans are fixated on Caserio — and have been since at least 2018 when they tried to interview him the first time.

That’s where Belichick comes in. He rejected Texans’ request to interview Caserio back in 2018. He could fiddle with the NFL rulebook to make sure he can do it again. (And who’s better at interpreting and manipulating rules than Belichick?) The Patriots’ coach has seen a tremendous amount of turnover on his staff this offseason, losing de-facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores and multiple assistants, including receivers coach Chad O’Shea, who is Flores’ offensive coordinator in Miami. Belichick probably won’t want Caserio to leave.

“Nick does a great job and he has a great interaction and understanding of what’s going on on the coaching side of it,” Belichick said in Nov. 2017. “Yeah, so, he’s involved in the day-to-day coaching part of it. He’s certainly involved in all of the personnel aspects of his job, college, pro, free agent workouts, waiver, everything. But you throw all of the coaching stuff on top of that, the week-to-week role in the press box and on the practice field. I mean, he does a tremendous amount. I can’t think of any other personnel person that would even come close to that. I don’t know who it would be. I don’t know what everybody else does, but I don’t know anybody.”

Because Caserio’s duties in New England are hugely expansive and yet also fairly undefined, Belichick could claim a pair of things to block the interview. The NFL allows teams to block interviews in season (which is what happened last January) or if the person being requested is already a “high-level” employee. The NFL defines that as someone who reports directly to the owner — which is not the case with Caserio — or who has significant duties.

In this case, Belichick could claim that Caserio “(i) is the primary authority over all personnel decisions related to the signing of free agents, the selection of players in the College Draft, trades, and related decisions; and (ii) the primary responsibility for coordinating other football activities with the head coach.” That would qualify Caserio as a high-level club employee. Team’s are allowed to stop other teams from hiring away a high-level club employee. However, Belichick may not want to relinquish his final say as primary authority. So…

Belichick could concede that Caserio is not a “high-level” part of the Patriots but block the interview by contending that the Texans don’t actually plan on making Caserio a high-level employee.

In this scenario, Belichick could seek an understanding of the Texans power dynamic for Caserio. If, upon joining Houston, Caserio was also not the “primary authority,” and instead was forced to report to O’Brien, then Caserio would not be getting the title of “high-level club employee.” Because moving from New England to Houston wouldn’t be a promotion, Belichick might be able to block the interview. (Though it’s hard to imagine Caserio would want to join the Texans in a “GM light” role.”)

Belichick doesn’t have a history of rejecting interviews — in fact he let Caserio talk to the 49ers in 2017. So perhaps the Patriots coach will be more open to the idea at this point in the season. Perhaps he will let Caserio walk.

The next question is whether Caserio would actually want to leave. One source with knowledge of the Patriots organization told For The Win that Caserio would be interested in the job because of the fit with O’Brien, a former Patriots offensive coordinator. But Caserio has made zero indication on whether he’d like to leave New England. If he did stay, he and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels — who have known each other since attending college together — could potentially be the succession plan for Belichick when he retires.

So while the Texans may be firmly committed to Caserio, they may not even get the chance to interview him, which could leave them looking foolish if they fired Gaine with hopes of hiring Caserio.