Davis Mills had the unenviable task to move a Houston Texans offense that had a run-first philosophy but was largely ineffective at establishing the running game.
The third-rounder from Stanford posted a 2-9 record, but had an encouraging 2-3 record down the final five-game stretch of the season when the coaching staff decided to see what he had to offer after Tyrod Taylor couldn’t get the job done following an eight-week hamstring injury.
According to Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com, who compiled a ranking of all quarterbacks this season, Mills made the list at No. 31.
Mills outplaying the top-three picks in the 2021 draft as a rookie is either a sign of great things to come or will look insane in a decade. The floor on Mills has definitely been raised; he’s an NFL quarterback and possibly a starter. The ceiling is also intriguing, because his physical gifts are obvious. This is not Mike Glennon.
The three rookies that Mills placed ahead of were Trevor Lawrence, who finished No. 32, Trey Lance, and Zach Wilson. Other notable starting quarterbacks who finished beneath Mills were Sam Darnold and Drew Lock.
There were two other rookies ahead of Mills in Mac Jones and Justin Fields. Curiously Taysom Hill was the 30th-best quarterback in these rankings and Ben Roethlisberger was listed as the 29th-best quarterback.
Although the Texans are encouraged by what Mills showed in the 2021 season, nothing is promised to him for year two.
“When you look at him relative to some of the other rookie quarterbacks that played last season, you can make an argument that he was just as good or better than any one of them,” general manager Nick Caserio told reporters on Jan. 14. “What does that mean for next year? That doesn’t really mean anything. We felt Davis was a good player when we drafted him and some of the things that you saw from him this season were confirmation of that. He’s got a long way to go as well and he’d be the first to tell you that.”
If Mills can be significantly better than 31 on the 2022 list of quarterbacks, the Texans should be finished with their rebuild under Caserio.