Patriots: Jack Easterby reportedly blames Robert Kraft for recent drama
By Jerry Trotta
Texans executive Jack Easterby claims Patriots owner Robert Kraft is responsible for his public castigation.
At this point in the NFL season, the playoffs usually consume most of the conversation about the league. The annual head coaching carousel is usually sprinkled in during the week leading up to the games, but most fans would agree that the postseason tournament is the primary focus.
However, that narrative has flipped on its head this year, as the Deshaun Watson saga continues to take explicit twists and turns. The latest came in the form of him tweeting his apparent frustration with the Houston Texans organization, further fueling speculation that he’ll waive his no-trade clause in the near future.
There’s no telling who is directly responsible for their falling out, but executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby has taken most of the heat from both the public and former players of the franchise for grabbing the reins of the franchise despite having little-to-no personnel experience.
In an attempt to salvage his floundering reputation as a competent executive, Easterby chose to accuse Patriots owner Robert Kraft of being responsible for his large-scale scolding. The claims were promptly debunked by Sports Illustrated in their latest column about the Watson drama.
Two paragraphs we never expected to have to write: pic.twitter.com/rF2mgqIIvP
— Jenny Vrentas (@JennyVrentas) January 16, 2021
As the two-paragraph snippet conveys, it’s been theorized that Easterby began spreading a rumor that the Kraft family is investors in Sports Illustrated and directly paid them to slight the Texans’ executive. How outlandish were Easterby’s claims? Well, Texans owner Cal McNair himself came out and asserted that he doesn’t believe that the news outlet is funded by the Kraft’s.
If this doesn’t prove that the former Patriots character coach is feeling the heat and becoming desperate to restore as much of his reputation as humanly possible without a care in the world in terms of who he takes down with him, then nothing does.
The negative press about Easterby really took a turn for the worse when Andre Johnson, arguably the greatest receiver in Texans history, took to Twitter to urge Watson to stand his ground and do what’s best for his career. The former seven-time Pro Bowler took things a step further by proclaiming that “nothing good has happened for the organization” since Easterby stepped in.
As evidenced by his Orchids of Asia massage scandal, Kraft obviously doesn’t have a squeaky-clean track record. However, Patriots fans can sleep comfortably knowing that the 79-year-old owner is guiltless of the wrongdoings unearthed by Easterby.
This is yet another deplorable look for the Texans organization, and we seriously hope that Watson finds a way out of there, in one way or another.
