On the eve of the start of the 2025 NFL season, the Houston Texans handed a one-year, $7 million contract extension to backup quarterback Davis Mills. The deal, which keeps Mills in Houston through the 2026 season, could be viewed as an expensive insurance policy, because best case scenario, Mills would never need to see the field for a meaningful snap this season or next season.
Unfortunately, that's not the way that things broke for the Texans. In Week 9, CJ Stroud was knocked out of action early in the 2nd quarter of Houston's 18-15 loss to the Denver Broncos, thrusting Mills into action in a very meaningful game. Now, after Stroud was officially ruled out for a Week 10 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mills will officially be getting his first start of the season in yet another crucial game for Houston's playoff hopes.
Even with CJ Stroud playing league average football for the majority of the season, there figures to be a steep dropoff with the keys being handed to Davis Mills, who has a lackluster 5-19-1 record as a starter in his five year NFL career. But despite Mills' lack of success in the league, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is saying all of the right things and putting his support behind his team's backup QB.
DeMeco Ryans speaks at length about Davis Mills and the rest of the Texans offense
"He's started games in this league before, so there's nothing new for him. But it is a benefit for him being able to get the reps, get the reps throughout practice, getting the walkthrough reps, getting every single rep that he can get, getting on the same page with the receivers, getting the huddle, getting the snap count, all those little things, getting the operation down the proper way," Ryans said, per Cole Thompson of Texans wire. "Today he did an outstanding job. I thought we were efficient in and out of the huddle. At the line of scrimmage, he did a great job of communicating. So, I'm excited to see Davis go play.”
Now what Ryans says here about Mills may all be true. I don't doubt for a second that Mills has mastered all of the pre-snap stuff. As a backup, it's his job to make sure the operation is clean, and with an education from Stanford, it's clear he's smart enough to have this stuff done. But post-snap is where Ryans hopes to see continued improvement from the 27-year-old backup.
"When guys are coming out of the huddle and they have questions, Davis gets it fixed very quickly, articulates it very well in the huddle. Now it's about post-snap," Ryans added. "Post-snap, can we go through, can we make the proper reads, can we get to the right spot with the football and can we just execute?"
Ryans made sure to note that the offense's post-snap effectiveness isn't squarely on the shoulder of the quarterback. He made it clear that it's up to all 11 men in the offensive huddle to ensure that things go smoothly once live bullets are flying.
“Everybody just has to do their job. Nobody needs to expect or try to step up and do something different. If that's the case, what have you been holding back," Ryans explained. "So, I never look at a game as, ‘Oh, I got to do something different because we have a new quarterback.’ No, if that's the case, then why are you out there?