The Houston Texans are on the upswing in 2023, emerging as a contender in the AFC South led by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans. With everything going well, it seems Houston is determined to keep things as they are even as NFL teams keep calling them to make a trade.
Houston signaled its desire to accelerate his timeline to contention during the 2023 NFL Draft, trading a 2024 first-round pick and other assets to move up and land edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. While the rookie has only played a handful of games so far, he’s performed even better than expected.
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The Texans’ core is quickly coming together with Stroud, Anderson Jr., Nico Collins, Dameon Pierce and Tank Dell leading the way. However, there is reportedly one veteran who is currently buried on the depth chart that Houston has zero interest in trading despite receiving recurring calls.
According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Texans are not making third-string quarterback Case Keenum available despite multiple teams expressing interest. One of the primary reasons Houston wants to keep him is because of his experience serving as valuable knowledge for Stroud.
- Case Keenum career stats: 85.2 QB rating, 14,884 passing yards, 78-48 TD-INT, 62.3% completion rate, 6.8 yards per attempt, 190.8 passing yards per game
Why Case Keenum is so valuable to the Houston Texans
For teams like the New England Patriots and New York Jets, Keenum would provide an upgrade over their current starting quarterbacks. While he’s primarily been a backup during his NFL career, Keenum does have an 89.0 QB rating with a 20-20 record, 54-28 TD-INT ratio and averaged 233.8 passing yards per game in his last 52 appearances since 2017.
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However, a quarterback with nearly 80 games played in the NFL and a phenomenal understanding of how defenses operate and how different offensive schemes work in certain situations is invaluable to Stroud. Houston essentially views Keenum as an additional coach who can mentor Stroud in practice, go over things with him on the sideline during games and review film with the rookie.
- Case Keenum contract: $2.845 million cap hit in 2023, $2.75 million salary in 2024, 2025 free agent
It’s the same reason why the Indianapolis Colts brought in Gardner Minshew as Anthony Richardson’s backup and the Carolina Panthers chose Andy Dalton to mentor Bryce Young. While acquiring a late-round pick for a third-string quarterback would ordinarily be viewed as a win for most teams, Keenum’s intangibles make him worth more than that to the Texans.