The Houston Texans and the rest of the 31 teams in the NFL are always judged on who their trio of quarterback, running back and No. 1 wide receiver are each season. The most famous trio ever is the Dallas Cowboys trio of the ’90s, as their group won three Super Bowl championships.
Fast-forward to the current offseason before the start of the 2021 season, and well, for the Houston Texans things aren’t so great, and for good reasons. As always, this offseason the question remains about Deshaun Watson, Tyrod Taylor, David Mills and what has become the quarterback position for this franchise.
There are also questions at running back, and the wide receivers on the current roster have to prove they are a solid unit as well once this season actually begins. This discussion, however, brings us back to a recent article posted by CBS Sports. Their flagship website ranks all 32 “triplets” in the NFL, and they say the Houston Texans has the worst trio of quarterback, running back and wide receiver in the entire league.
The article by Jared Dubin of CBS Sports lists a question mark at quarterback, David Johnson at running back and the top receiver listed in Brandin Cooks. This discussion isn’t even going to include Deshaun Watson because he’s not attending OTAs and doesn’t want to be with the franchise anyway.
That leaves Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel and Davis Mills as most likely the top three options at the quarterback position, and as of right now Taylor is most likely penciled in as the starter when training camp arrives.
We all know of the situation at quarterback, and nothing will even begin to be settled until the final decision is made on Watson at some point this offseason.
The running back spot should belong to Johnson when camp arrives as he was the starter last season, and backup Mark Ingram will be more of a role player in ’21. The wild card of the running backs is Phillip Lindsey because there is a question of whether he be a 1,000-yard rusher again in his career, or at least average a quality YPC each time he takes the football, because this trio of running backs will most likely be sharing carries in ’21.
Houston Texans news: What about the top wide receiver in 2021?
Brandin Cooks really needs to showcase skills in ’21, and that could be tough without Deshaun Watson as the starting quarterback. No disrespect to the rest of the quarterbacks on the roster, but with how Watson has played over the past few seasons, his level of play is a few rungs on the ladder higher than Taylor and the rest of the QB depth chart.
In his first year with the Houston Texans in ’20, Cooks was a 1,000-yard receiver with 1,150 yards and six touchdowns on 81 receptions. Cooks stood out, even with sharing part of the season with Will Fuller, who missed the final six games due to a suspension.
In the final two games of the ’20 season, Cooks caught for 141 yards against the Cincinnati Brngals on seven receptions, then he ended the year with a 166-yard receiving game against the AFC South champion Tennessee Titans as he also had 11 receptions and two touchdowns in that game.
Sure, the Houston Texans “triplet” trio of Taylor, Johnson, and Cooks might not be the best in the league, but even without Watson, are they really the worst trio entering the ’21 season? It is tough to think they will be the very worst.
The Houston Texans trio has a lot to prove in ’21, especially if many believe they are worse than the Jaguars and the Detroit Lions entering this upcoming year, as they too have made many changes to their own “triplets” as well.