The Houston Texans are coming off yet another division-winning performance. Led by an elite-level defense and one of the best receivers in the NFL, Houston won nine games and defeated the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Wild Card round.
Unfortunately for the Texans, their quarterback situation remained an absolute mess. After signing Brock Osweiler to a $72 million contract in the offseason, the former Denver Broncos quarterback struggled big time in his first season with the Texans.
In fact, he performed so poorly that Texans head coach Bill O’Brien eventually benched Osweiler in favor of Tom Savage before Savage himself was injured late in the regular season.
Despite throwing just 15 touchdowns compared to 16 interceptions and finding himself among the bottom-tier of NFL starters, Osweiler’s future in Houston really isn’t in question. After all, he still has $25 million guaranteed on his deal.
In no way does this mean the Texans are content with Osweiler being the team’s starter next season. Owner Bob McNair made that clear on Wednesday.
Texans owner Bob McNair on Osweiler "we need better performance out of the position..we'll probably look at a young qb as we go into draft"
— Alex Flanagan (@Alex_Flanagan) February 1, 2017
Houston boasts the 25th pick in this year’s NFL draft. While it’s unlikely the team will go quarterback with that pick, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Texans add a player at this position on Day 2.
The other interesting dynamic here, as NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport notes, is that Tony Romo doesn’t seem to be an option for the Texans. Given his $24.7 million tag for next season and Osweiler’s own salary, that makes some sense. Though, it does come at the same time that Vegas’ odds show Houston to be Romo’s top potential landing spot.
It’s most definitely going to be interesting to see this play out. McNair is not wrong in indicating that the Texans need a better performance out of the quarterback position. It just seems unlikely that Osweiler or Savage will be able to provide that.