The Houston Texans news for this past week not only includes the release of their 2021 schedule, but the folks at Pro Football Focus has them selecting a quarterback in their very early mock draft for the ’22 season.
In fact, they have the Texans holding the No. 1 overall selection of the 2022 NFL Draft next year, so that means the Texans are also being projected to have the worst record in all of the NFL in ’21.
To be honest, none of this is a surprise, and more so the Texans have earned the low-level projections. Heck, last season the Texans finished 4-12 overall with Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback. Right now it is all but a done deal that Watson won’t be the Houston quarterback in ’21 due to a lot of off-the-field issues and the fact he’s asked to be traded.
Any way, this is about who PFF is projecting the Houston Texans to select in the first round with the No. 1 overall pick in the ’22 NFL Draft. The early prediction is that one year from now the Texans will have selected Spencer Rattler, the quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners.
In the mock draft at PFF by Mike Renner, he writes the following about the OU quarterback, as this type of selection is all but a prediction that Deshaun Watson has no future with the Texans:
"“The Oklahoma quarterback factory continues to churn. Rattler earned a scintillating 92.5 passing grade in his first season as the starter last year, and he is a plus athlete for the position. The biggest question will be size for the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder.”"
Honestly, if the Texans don’t have Watson on their roster in ’21 and finish as the worst team in the NFL, a quarterback pick at No. 1 overall makes the most sense. It will be strange for the Texans to even have a draft pick in the first round, as this past year and in ’20 the franchise traded their first-round choices for Laremy Tunsil.
Texans news: A look at the passing numbers of Spencer Rattler
Since Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma is the choice by PFF, let’s take a little more in-depth look at the quarterback.
In ’19, Rattler played in just three games, where he was 7-of-11 for 81 yards and one touchdown. In ’20 he played in 11 games, as the OU quarterback was 214-of-317 for 3,031 yards with 28 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
Rattler can also run with the football, with his ’20 numbers rushing the football being 81 attempts for 160 yards and six touchdowns.
Rattler has been a high-level quarterback prospect since his high school days, and entering another season with the Sooners is only going to make the spotlight even larger on him going into the ’21 season.
The OU quarterback will be a Heisman Trophy favorite this season, and if he does play that well, and the Texans are the holders of the No. 1 overall pick and have moved on from Watson, this could be the correct choice to be made by general manager Nick Caserio.
There is a lot of football to be played by both Rattler and the Houston Texans over the next year, but this mock draft prediction does give all of us something to think about this offseason as the Texans work to rebuild their franchise.