The Houston Texans can do themselves a favor by ignoring the Senior Bowl quarterbacks in the draft.
In what is arguably the most hyped and well-attended “showcase” game in the NFL, where tons of scouts and personnel are present, the six quarterbacks for the American and National teams are all underwhelmed in 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Desmond Ridder, Kenny Pickett, Carson Strong, Bailey Zappe, Sam Howell, and Malik Willis all underperformed in their last game before their combine training and the 2022 NFL Draft. While Pickett remains the best quarterback out of the bunch, the sample size was very small for all these signal-callers.
Only two of the six got over double-digit attempts and watching the highlights of the game show that multiple throws were dying halfway through their trajectory. Maybe there was rust to shake off, and that’s duly noted and possible. However, after a week of practice, one would hope for more production than what these six did.
Perrion Winfrey arrived in Mobile with bad intentions - has dudes holding on for dear life each practice pic.twitter.com/ghGbrT8Qvr
— Connor Rogers (@ConnorJRogers) February 4, 2022
Houston Texans must evaluate the QBs and the trenches of this years’ draft.
It was a Senior Bowl that the defensive linemen dominated. Howell was running for his dear life half of the time, and Willis completing only two passes for 11 yards is going to tank his draft stock- something that the Steelers may be interested in. Yes, Willis did have 54 yards rushing and a long of 27, but running quarterbacks don’t last forever in the NFL.
Both teams’ defensive lines created havoc for the tackles, who had trouble maintaining the pocket. However, IDL Perrion Winfrey stood out with his lightning-fast hands and strength. Jermaine Johnson of Kentucky is another name to watch as well.
It was a strong defensive draft coming into the Senior Bowl, and it still remains that way after a 20-10 final score. Houston would be wise to spend some of their higher picks on the defensive side of the ball without worrying about the offensive targets not being there in the later rounds.