Colts Letting Exec Leave for Promotion Proves Patriots Are a Joke

While it was tough to see a respected personnel man go, Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard allowed VP of player personnel Rex Hogan to bolt in favor of an assistant GM job with the New York Jets. While the Colts lost an important voice in the room, Ballard did the classy thing of letting Hogan leave for an upward move elsewhere.

The complete wrong way to handle this type of situation, however, is reflected in what the New England Patriots reportedly did with their director of player personnel, the presumably disgruntled Nick Caserio. Amid buzz that Caserio was the favorite to replace Brian Gaine as the Houston Texans' new GM, the Patriots threatened to file a tampering charge against Houston to keep Caserio in Foxborough.

This is essentially Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft being afraid of losing someone to a team with a chance to contend this year. Rather than accept that Caserio has merited this move upwards, the Pats sure sound like they're holding him against his will in New England for one year longer.

While it's true that the Patriots have had remarkable consistency with regards to their coaching staff and front office over the course of their dynasty, part of the problem with being so consistently great is the fact that teams will have deal with losing their best coaches and staffers to other teams. The sooner the Patriots face this reality with Caserio, the better.