The Houston Texans’ quarterback room. run by offensive coordinator Tim Kelly and quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton features the four quarterbacks, Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel, rookie Davis Mills, and Deshaun Watson exchanging ideas in a free flow of information.
So says Mills, who met with the media for the first time during training camp Tuesday at Houston Methodist Training Center. The third-round pick from Stanford says the veterans in the room have been complementary in helping the 22-year-old learn Kelly’s offense.
“A lot of it right now is we’re all new here,” Mills said. “So, we’re all trying to learn the offense. So, we’re all bouncing ideas off each other. Tim Kelly, he and Pep, are both really open to ideas and what we’ve thought about in the past and what we think about things to try to become universal in it. But they’re helping me out a ton. Any questions, it’s kind of been open room where we’ve been bouncing around ideas and they’re all helping.”
Taylor and Driskel are new. Watson is not. In fact, the three-time Pro Bowler has been with the Texans since they drafted him in the first round in 2017, and Kelly has been his coordinator since 2019. Even so, Kelly is running a derivation of Bill O’Brien’s offense, who was the coach from 2014 to four games into 2020.
If there is anyone who understands what Kelly is trying to do, it is Watson, and he has been helpful with Mills.
Said Mills: “He’s helped out a lot. What he’s done with me, any questions I have, like the other guys, too, he’s an open book and he’s taught me a lot.”
When it comes to adapting to the Bayou City, it is unclear whether the other quarterbacks have helped Mills adjust. So far, it has been his older sister and his girlfriend, who moved to Houston to help navigate the AFC South city together.
“Taking on the city as a pair,” said Mills. “From what I’ve seen of it, it’s been great.”