Why The Houston Texans Should Not Draft A Quarterback

If you get right down to it, the Houston Texans shouldn’t draft another quarterback in this year’s draft – or at least not on Days 1 and 2. The Texans have plenty of other holes to fill this offseason. They would be wise to use their higher draft picks on guys who can come in and make an immediate impact, rather than reach for a guy from what is shaping up to be a weak QB draft class.

Think about it. Right now the consensus for the top two quarterbacks are Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, both of whom will be long gone by the time the Texans are up to draft. Every guy after those two are going to take time to develop, and will not be ready to come in and start for the team next season. Besides, why should the Texans add another QB to develop when they spent a 4th-round pick last year for the exact same reason? Tom Savage was never brought in to start this season. He was brought in to study the playbook, work with the PS, and learn the game. That’s it.

Now, aside from QB, the Texans could possibly have holes at S, WR, CB, OL, OLB, ILB, and DE heading into the draft. Instead of using a top pick on a QB, why not find Dre’s replacement in a draft that is considered to be stacked at the WR position? Or an ILB that can play all three downs? Those positions being filled would greatly benefit the team, and could possibly help the QB who is next in line for the Texans: Ryan Mallett.

As of right now, it seems like the job is Mallett’s to lose (assuming they re-sign him, which they should do). Mallett would easily be ahead of Savage on next year’s depth chart. Even if Ryan Fitzpatrick is brought back, he’s already beaten him for the job once. Right off the bat, next year needs to be completely focused on finding out whether or not Ryan Mallett is the answer. He’ll have had five years to learn the game by next season, so if he can’t get it done then, he never will be able to.

In my opinion, this is exactly how the Texans should handle their QB situation next year: Give Mallett a 6-8 week trial. That is plenty of time to determine whether or not he is your guy. If you discover he’s not, turn things over to Tom Savage and see what he can produce for the rest of the season. This scenario gives the Texans an opportunity to look at two different options for their possible franchise quarterback.

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The Texans have the same value in Mallett and Savage as they would in any guy they could draft this year. Now, if both guys fail and the team ends up 2-14 again? Two words: Christian Hackenberg. I know, I know, it’s silly to start campaigning for the Texans to draft a guy that isn’t eligible until 2016, but how awesome would a reunion with Hackenberg and the coach that created him be? And even if you don’t get him, they’re still guys like Connor Cook and Dak Prescott who are possibly staying in school for another year.

Last draft, the Texans waiting to take a QB was a questionable decision considering they only had Fitzpatrick on the squad. It didn’t take an expert to know that Fitzpatrick wasn’t the answer. This year, you have two guys that actually have something to prove.

The Texans should see what they have in the guys that they’ve already invested in and go from there.

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