The mystery of Jack Easterby continues on.
The ex-Patriots team chaplain who somehow rose to become the Texans’ executive vice president of football operations was fired Monday, closing one of the most tumultuous chapters in the expansion franchise’s history.
Bill Belichick still has it
In addition to presiding over an array of horrible personnel moves — most notably trading star wideout DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals in exchange for draft picks and mediocre running back David Johnson — Easterby was a polarizing force within the Texans organization. Last year, Sports Illustrated published a damning expose, “Jack Easterby’s rise to power and the chaos that followed,” painting him as the primary cause of the team’s dysfunction.
Club sources accused Easterby of fostering a “culture of distrust” and “undermining other executives and decision-makers.”
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that some additional embarrassing details about Easterby’s disastrous stint are now leaking out. On Monday, Houston radio host Landry Locker dedicated a portion of his show to Easterby’s most perplexing statements. The story that Easterby apparently tells about his exit from the Patriots is an absolute whopper.
It involves Bill Belichick and cloning. Seriously.
“He also was talking about his time in New England. He said this with a straight face. I could not believe this,” said Landry. “He said the reason he left New England — I put this on God. I put this on my mom. I put this on my first born’s health. I put this on everything I love. I put this on every person in this building I love — he said the reason he left New England, is because Robert Kraft wanted him to clone Bill Belichick. He said that Robert Kraft wanted him to follow Bill Belichick around, take notes on him, so they could clone Bill Belichick after he left. He said the following, ‘I couldn’t do that to Bill.’ Swear to God, he said this.”
It’s hard to even know where to start with that claim. Kraft’s request that Easterby try and learn from Belichick doesn’t seem that unusual, leading one to think that Easterby thought Kraft literally meant he wanted to clone Belichick -- or something more nefarious than simply learning from the legendary head coach.
The phrase, “I couldn’t do that to Bill” suggests that Easterby believes Kraft was asking him to betray Belichick in some way.
Landry reveals several other bizarre tidbits about his conversations with Easterby, including his strange obsession with Texans players wearing different pants in a loss to the Packers during the 2020 season.
"That was what he was saying symbolized the disaster of the 2020 season, that people were wearing the wrong pants,” said Landry.
Belichick’s players would never wear the wrong pants on game day. Maybe Easterby should’ve taken up Kraft on his apparent offer.