Houston Texans: Was David Carr given a fair chance to succeed?

The Texans selected only their second quarterback in team history in the top five with the selection of signal caller C.J. Stroud out of Ohio State. The Texans look to compete for the AFC South title with a revamped offense and defense but will these additions be enough? Let's take a look at the last time the Texans drafted a quarterback in the top 5.

For this, we will be traveling back to 2002, the Texans held the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft and were beginning their inaugural season as an NFL franchise. The team's search for a face of the franchise quarterback ended up being former Fresno State quarterback David Carr.

David Carr was not given a fair chance to succeed with the Texans

Carr had an amazing career with the Bulldogs, passing for 7,458 yards, 65 touchdowns, and a career passer rating of 151.2. His junior season would prove to be his breakout campaign and put his name at the top of many NFL draft boards.

Sadly, those numbers didn't hold up well in the NFL, as he wasn't given a chance because of his lack of help in the passing game and blocking game. Over his five-year career as a starter, he was sacked 249 times which led to 68 fumbles. He led the league in fumbles twice and sacks three times. The result was far more losses than wins during his time as a starter.

His receivers weren't any better other than the likes of future Hall of Famer Andre Johnson, the most receiving yard accumulated in a season other than Johnson was 697 in 2002 by Corey Bradford. The only other receiver that was a consistent success other than Johnson was second-round selection, Jabar Gaffney.

Gaffney only played four seasons in Houston where he accumulated 2,009 yards and seven touchdowns. The only downside was he fumbled the ball seven times in his career with the Texans. Now I will note that after he left the Texans, Gaffney found success with Denver and Washington where he put up over 700+ from 2009-2011, but that didn't help Carr and the Texans immediately.

Unfortunately for Carr, he didn't get much help on the defensive side of the ball as in three of the five seasons he was a starter the defense ranked near the bottom of the league in both passing and rushing metrics.

Based on these statistics, it is fair to assume that Carr may have gotten dealt a bad hand in the lone star state. Let us know what you guys think. Did David Carr have a fair shot with the Houston Texans?

More Houston Texans news from Toro Times