Will The Texans Regret Not Drafting A Quarterback Again?
By Randy Gurzi
The Houston Texans had several opportunities during the 2014 draft to select a quarterback, and it would have made a ton of sense. The team had just moved on from head coach Gary Kubiak and his quarterback of coach, Matt Schaub.
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Some believed the team may have chosen a signal-caller with their first overall pick and given first year head coach Bill O’Brien a guy to develop and grow to trust from the start. Some names like Blake Bortles, who is now a Jacksonville Jaguar, and Teddy Bridgewater, now a Minnesota Viking were tossed around.
Instead, the team took arguably the most talented player in the draft, outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney with the top pick. Again in the second round choices were available as guys like Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr sat waiting to be chosen.
This time the team went to the other side of the line with Xavier Su’a-Filo, out of UCLA. This proved that O’Brien is all about winning in the trenches and controlling both lines of scrimmage.
Yet, looking back maybe the team could have benefited from taking one of these quarterbacks in 2014 (although the way things went with David Carr may have influenced them passing on his little brother Derek). The top four players chosen by Houston have been a disappointment after a year, with Clowney being hurt, Su’a-Filo not inserting himself into the starting lineup, and even both third round picks have been a let down. Tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz was a non-factor and nose tackle Louis Nix III has been chastised by the coach.
Finally in round four the Texans took the well traveled quarterback Tom Savage. Obviously the team felt there was no need to reach then and they did not regret the decision to pass on quarterbacks in 2014 because once again they left all the names they were linked to on the board when they made their selections.
With no real shot at the top dogs in the 2015 draft, Houston was tied to players like UCLA’s Brett Hundley and Baylor’s Bryace Petty leading up to the big weekend. With Petty sitting around until the fourth round (New York Jets) and Hundley until the fifth (Green Bay Packers), it was obvious coach Bill and company were not in the market for either player’s services.
For what it is worth, there is a lot of positivity surrounding the players Houston did pick in rounds one through three. However, that same positive feeling was there last season when they wound up getting the three highly touted trench players and a top rated tight end in 2014.
My question now is this, will the team look back on these past two drafts and regret the choices they made? The quarterbacks on the roster do not instill a ton of faith that the Texans were wise to ignore the position. Savage looked lost in his limited playing time, Brian Hoyer is a journeyman quarterback with below average stats, and Ryan Mallett is still a huge question mark at this point.
Maybe none of the players selected in either of the two drafts wind up being superior players to whoever wins the starting job for Houston. Still, I believe that until the quarterback situation is resolved the team will struggle at times on offense and it would have made more sense to try and find more options than what is currently available on the roster.