Lovie Smith hasn’t exactly given a straightforward decision-making process to the Houston Texans.
First, it started with Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith saying that the Texans will get “a great QB” in the offseason. Smith’s following admission was that there would be a competition for the starting job. Smith said that “we don’t hand out starting spots in the spring.”
Then seemingly out of nowhere, Smith has already declared Davis Mills the quarterback that the Texans are “heading into the season” with. This seems slightly out of order and contradictory of Smith to go through.
There’s little chance Smith got flack or negative feedback for potentially even thinking about moving on from their 2021 third-round pick in Mills. Mills certainly didn’t perform as badly as some of the other rookies in his class, but the Texans would be silly to think that an upgrade over Mills doesn’t exist if that’s what they honestly think.
So do the Houston Texans even know who they truly want to be their quarterback?
It’s hard to read into Houston’s thought process, despite Smith’s words. Will they actually bring in some free-agent veteran quarterbacks to compete with Mills? Will they give Mills all the weapons he desires? It’s anyone’s guess.
This reeks of the whole “Rex (Grossman) is our quarterback” saga that played out during Smith’s time in Chicago. Smith was stubborn in sticking with Grossman as his starter. Mills is not destined to become another Grossman in terms of play, but this may just be the Houston version of Smith’s infamous mantra.
Finally, this very well could all end up being nothing after the dust is settled. It could be that Smith is shaking off the rust after not having an NFL coaching job in years. It just wouldn’t hurt to be more direct about the entire process.