The Houston Texans shipped Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns, officially making 2022 the year of Davis Mills.
The proposition is frightful for Houston sports fans as the franchise returns to the uncertainty under center that plagued the team following the sudden collapse of Matt Schaub in 2013. Can Mills grow into being a capable signal caller, or will the Texans have to keep searching for Watson’s true successor?
According to Peter King from NBC Sports, the Texans don’t lose any ground by simply saddling up Mills for the 2022 campaign.
• Mills’ final five starts last season: 2-3, 68.4 completion rate, 9 TD, 2 INT, 102.4 rating.
• Pep Hamilton, who once worked under Mills’ college coach David Shaw at Stanford, is back for his second season as Mills’ mentor, this time as offensive coordinator.
• Let’s say the Texans are going QB-hunting one year from now. You’ll have four first-round picks over the 2023 and 2024 to use as draft capital. Considering that one of the 2023 picks should be a top 10 pick, maneuvering to trade for a high pick next year should be doable.
• It’s waaaaay early, but you’re $118 million under the projected 2023 cap this morning, per Over The Cap. The Texans are a receiver-poor team right now, which GM Nick Caserio has to work on over the next six weeks, but I’d rather be close to an answer on Mills in 10 months than going for broke to try to be .500 this year.
Texans running backs coach Danny Barrett expects Mills to take another step in his development in year two.
“I thought Davis did a good job,” Barrett told reporters on Feb. 22. “You look at coming in as a rookie and being a former quarterback, there’s a lot to learn and there’s a short period of time to do that. I think it showed from the start when the year started to how he finished the year that time away and just watching Tyrod [Taylor], when Tyrod came back and then he came back on the field again. He used that time to get better, to be more patient, and to take what the defense was giving him. And, so, I fully expect for him to carry on from that coming into this year as well.”
If the Texans are wrong on Mills, they will still be in good position to address the position in 2023.