Texans Rookie QB Lets Houston Down with Preseason Week 1 Performance

The Houston Texans opened the 2025 preseason slate on Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings after a couple of weeks of training camp practices.

With it being the first exhibition contest, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans did not play the starters, which means it was a good opportunity for rookies and veterans on the bubble to prove themselves.

While some guys rose to the challenge and played well (see John Metchie III and Davis Mills), other players left a lot to be desired, specifically rookie quarterback Graham Mertz. Mertz, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, is competing with Kedon Slovis to be the QB3 in Houston.

As we know, the QB3 isn’t active on gamedays, but whoever wins the job later this month could have the inside track on possibly becoming the QB2 next year with Mills being a free agent in the offseason.

Therefore, every rep in the preseason and during training camp is important for both Mertz and Slovis. However, Mertz didn’t make a good first impression on the Texans fanbase on Saturday and has a lot of work to do going forward.

Texans QB Graham Mertz Embarrasses Himself in Preseason Debut

The rookie quarterback got into the game in the second half after Mills played the first half, and Slovis received one more series in the third quarter. Slovis completed 11-of-15 passes for 71 yards and was sacked twice.

As for Mertz, he didn’t have a good time under center against the Vikings’ defense. The rookie quarterback completed a dismal 7-of-14 passes for 27 yards. He didn’t get sacked, but had a 1.9 YPA and threw three interceptions.

Mertz’s first interception came at the beginning of the fourth quarter, when he rolled out and was trying to hit wide receiver Xavier Johnson, but overthrew him and the ball ended up in a Vikings defender’s hat.

That would be the theme of his turnover woes on Saturday. On his second interception, the rookie quarterback overthrew wideout Daniel Jackson in the middle of the field. 

Then, on his third interception, Mertz was looking to hit veteran receiver Quintez Cephus, but his pass was tipped and ended up in a turnover.

It wasn’t the best debut we’ve seen from a rookie, and if you’re on the Texans coaching staff, you likely have a lot of questions about what Mertz saw. But it's preseason, so this is the perfect place to work out those issues and negative plays. 

That said, Houston fans will want to see a better performance from the sixth-round pick because if he turns over the ball next week, he could be putting himself on the chopping block.

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