The Houston Texans became a National Football League franchise in 2002 and they’ve had a revolving door at quarterback. Since joining the NFL, the Texans have used 11 different starting quarterbacks which is a good reason why they’ve only had four winning seasons in franchise history. And the next player that is having his chance to take snaps for the Texans at quarterback is Ryan Mallett and his story is an interesting as far as his journey to the NFL.
Mallett was a Texas high-school phenom that had his choice of the top college football programs in the nation to attend. In 2007, Mallett would choose to attend the University of Michigan where he looked to continue the school’s trend of sending quarterbacks to the National Football League. But after one year at Michigan, there was a coaching change which forced Mallett to depart; however he was able to land on his feet at the University of Arkansas which was a school that had recruited him in high school. In two years as the starting quarterback at Arkansas, Mallett was a two-time, All-SEC, second team performer and in 2010, he helped the school make its first appearance in the Sugar Bowl since 1979. Mallett’s professional career would get started with the New England Patriots in 2011 as the franchise selected him in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
After three years as the backup to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Mallett was traded to the Houston Texans in 2014. And it appeared to be a match made in heaven for Mallett in Houston as Bill O’Brien was hired to be the Texans new head coach. O’Brien traded for Mallett due to their familiarity with one another from their time together with the Patriots in 2011 when O’Brien was the offensive coordinator there. O’Brien went to Mallett last year to replace an ineffective Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. And Mallett was showing signs of life until a torn labrum ended his season.
This year Mallett engaged in a training camp battle with Brian Hoyer to see who would be the Texans starting quarterback. Hoyer opened the season as the Texans starting quarterback, but after one game, O’Brien decided to pull him in favor of Mallett. Mallett got the start this past Sunday for the Texans and he had his struggles against the Carolina Panthers. Mallett was 27-of-58 passing for 244 yards with a touchdown and an interception. And by the looks of things Mallett should be the Texans starting quarterback when they take the field this Sunday at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But a quarterback’s best friend is the running game, but the Texans are missing running back Arian Foster who is out with a groin injury. And aside from not having Foster who is the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, Houston released wide receiver Andre Johnson during the off-season and he is the team’s all-time leading receiver as he always bailed out his quarterbacks.
At 6’6″, 245 lbs., Mallett has great size for a quarterback and he has a solid throwing arm, but he just needs to be more decisive in the pocket as far as his decision making and this is a Texans squad that is screaming for a solid signal caller which is why that he has a tremendous opportunity in front of him with Houston. The Texans have one of the best defenses in the National Football League which is led by defensive end J.J. Watt as they’ll keep Houston in games, and because of that, O’Brien would not have a problem with Mallett simply being a game manager for him.
Mallett was Brady’s understudy for three years and he should have learned a valuable lesson from him which is to simply “do your job” as that is one of the most famous quotes of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. When Brady became the Patriots starting quarterback in 2001, he simply didn’t try to do it all by himself as it was a total team effort which is something that Mallett should attempt to do right now in Houston as it could lead to victories which is something that would give the Texans some consistency at the quarterback position.
Leave A Comment