The Houston Texans need a rebuild. The Arizona Cardinals have provided the blueprint.
In the 2018 NFL season, the Arizona Cardinals hired Steve Wilks as their new head coach and drafted Josh Rosen out of UCLA to be their next franchise quarterback. Unfortunately, that season was quickly set ablaze with bad losses, and a 3-13 record is what got Wilks fired, and Rosen ultimately traded to the Miami Dolphins.
Arizona turned that situation into Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray and are currently one of the best teams in the NFL right now. That possibly could be the route the Houston Texans could take when this 2021 season mercifully ends. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and Steve Keim both realized that they’d made a mistake, and they acknowledged it and made the bold move.
Arizona took two quarterbacks within the top 10 of the draft in consecutive years, becoming the first team to do so. That’s paid off in the NFL’s toughest division, as they are in the first place and are looking to claim a playoff spot.
There were in fact not 9 mistakes made ahead of Josh Rosen pic.twitter.com/aftYETBKEV
— NFL Humor (@NFLHumor) April 28, 2021
The Houston Texans must own up to the mistake of hiring David Culley and drafting Davis Mills
Right of the bat, let’s be clear on one thing: Mills never said his version of “there were nine mistakes taken before me,” but he necessarily hasn’t played that great either. Still winless on the season, with this week being his last virtual chance to do that, it may be time to move on from Mills. Whether you want to blame Mills for his inexperience or Tim Kelly (his offensive coordinator), the choice is yours.
The last thing you want to do (if Houston does decide to follow Arizona’s path) is to have your likely top-three draft pick ride the bench while giving away precious reps to Mills. Can Mills be a good backup quarterback? Sure. That’s unlikely to be here in Houston.
Whether it’s Kenny Pickett, Matt Corrall, or some other signal-caller, the Houston Texans can look to Arizona and hope that in a copy-cat league that it works for them.