Houston Texans Rumors: The impact of an alleged 2014 Brian Hoyer trade

Did the Houston Texans really want to unload a 2nd round pick for Brian Hoyer? Despite the absurdity, how would the timeline been impacted? Let’s look.

It’s funny how one hears things about what the Houston Texans did — or allegedly did — years later in some unrelated story. Either we’re in awe of how aggressive the Houston Texans were trying to be or cringing in regard to the potential boneheaded decisions that were about to be made.

At this moment, it’s the latter and when this bombshell dropped recently, it shocked me but didn’t surprise as to how desperate the Houston Texans were trying to get a quarterback they could build around when at the start of the Bill O’Brien era.

According to a recent ESPN report, the Houston Texans wanted to trade a second-round pick to the Cleveland Browns to acquire Brian Hoyer, who had just come off a tremendously productive season for the team.

The plan was to have Hoyer be a mentor as they developed Ryan Mallett into the team’s quarterback of the future. Well, we certainly know how all of that worked out but what if all of this had played out in 2014 instead of 2015?

It didn’t happen because then-Browns general manager Ray Farmer nixed the notion of the offer and they ended up drafting Johnny Manziel, which turned out to be a huge dumpster fire. The interesting thing about this report is how Farmer was furious that owner Jimmy Haslam overrode Farmer’s decision.

They had spent months prepping for the draft and Manziel was not even on their board so I could only imagine the frustration of man who is earnestly trying to do his job but to have the rug pulled from under in such a knee-jerk reaction move.

This has me draw upon a memory that I had in regard to a report year ago in regard to the Houston Texans were hot on the tail of Peyton Manning, shortly after he became a free agent when released from the Indianapolis Colts.

I had no idea the Houston Texans would be that bullish on a quarterback with a proven track record who was coming off a major surgery to his neck. But we all know how the rest of the story ended, Manning signed with the Denver Broncos, won a Super Bowl and rode off into the sunset with pride and windfall of endorsements/cash waiting for him upon retirement.

But what if the Houston Texans had been successful in pulling off a trade, acquiring Hoyer one season earlier?

It’s unclear in the report if it was going to be a 2014 or a 2015 second-rounder; but, as you know, those picks turned out to be Xavier Su’a-Filo and Benardrick McKinney, respectively.

However, the report does indicate that the Houston Texans were going to offer a high second-rounder to the Browns for Hoyer and since Su’a-Filo was the first pick in the second round, it would’ve had to have been a 2014 pick.

The Texans had to trade up to get BMac but I guess that depends on what one would perceive what the definition of “high” is. Oh well.

Su’a-Filo didn’t amount to much while in a Houston Texans uniform but eat up space with his massive, 310-pound frame. I’m sure that there was many of us that were concerned that the team didn’t take a quarterback in the second round after drafting Jadeveon Clowney No. 1 overall.

Derek Carr was available for the picking and still think to this day, he would’ve been a nice fit for the team; but, at the time, there was a stigma attached with the Carr surname, derailing any plans to make an investment. He was David Carr‘s younger brother and quite frankly, I think the franchise was all “Carr’d out.”

Likely more than not, O’Brien felt that he wasn’t necessarily the greatest fits of his offensive scheme, to which to this day I’m still trying to figure out as it changes as much as Houston’s finicky tropical weather.

There’s no question that drafting Clowney was a great move but it’s the later rounds where you earn your money; and bar-none, Carr would’ve made an impact.

But what if it were a second-round pick in 2015? The Texans wouldn’t have had the second-

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rounder to trade up from to land BMac and I think this defense would’ve taken a step back had this talented middle linebacker been allowed to be drafted elsewhere.

This is certainly a game of shoulda, coulda, woulda but ultimately, with the way things ended with Hoyer, I just feel that inevitable releasing of Hoyer would’ve happened a season earlier.

We would’ve missed out on a season of Ryan Fitzpatrick, to which now we know wasn’t the Texans first choice for a QB, who was amazingly fun to watch when he was clicking on all cylinders.

FitzMagic!

Despite all of the scenarios that I’ve brought up, the Texans would’ve been in the same predicament and they likely would’ve found a franchise QB in some way to save them. Whether it would’ve been Deshaun Watson after such an awful season from Brock Osweiler in 2016 is up for debate; but nonetheless, it probably would’ve worked out somehow.

Quite frankly, the lasting memory of Hoyer was when he threw four picks in the team’s Wild Card match up with the Kansas City Chiefs back in the 2015 playoffs.

Now please excuse me while I find a trash can to vomit in…

Next. Texans: A three-step plan to a successful off season. dark

All in all, I’m extremely happy things turned out the way they did as the future remains bright with Watson under center.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some exponential ascension!

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