The hits just keep on coming for former Pro Bowl quarterback Tyrod Taylor of the Houston Texans. After playing in just two games last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, the expectation was that Taylor would see a ton of action in Houston this year.
The 32-year-old veteran signed on with the Texans this past offseason while the team was mired in some major drama with starting quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Now that Watson has been inactive through the first two weeks of the season due to both some issues with the organization and allegations of sexual misconduct, Taylor was seemingly ready to hit the restart button on his career.
That came to a screeching halt during Sunday’s loss to his former Cleveland Browns team with Tyrod Taylor suffering a hamstring injury.
According to NFL insider Aaron Wilson, Taylor suffered a grade 2 hamstring strain and is expected to miss four weeks of action. Other reports indicate that the veteran will likely be placed on short-term injured reserve — forcing him from action for a minimum of three weeks.
Tyrod Taylor injury and impact on the Houston Texans
Prior to going down to injury Sunday, Taylor had completed 10-of-11 passes for 125 yards with two total touchdowns. He had Houston competitive against a vastly superior Browns team.
That came on the heels of Houston blowing out the Jacksonville Jaguars in its season opener by the score of 37-21. Taylor completed 21-of-33 passes for 291 yards with two touchdowns in that game.
With Taylor now likely sidelined for the next month, rookie third-round pick Davis Mills will start under center for Houston. The Stanford product completed 8-of-18 passes for 102 yards with at touchdown and an interception after replaying Taylor on Sunday.
Veteran journeyman Jeff Driskel will also likely be called up from the practice squad after Texans head coach David Culley confirmed that Watson would be inactive for a third consecutive game Thursday against the Carolina Panthers.
As for Mills, he was seen as a major product heading into the 2021 NFL Draft. There’s also some pretty lengthy injury concerns here.
“One of the nation’s top recruits in high school, Mills suffered a torn ACL before his senior year in 2016, and sources say he has had four total surgeries on his left knee, the last in 2018: the original ACL reconstruction, a revision (redo) on the ACL, a meniscus repair and a procedure to remove a suture,” NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero noted back in April.
Given Mills’ injury history and the fact that Houston has no plans to activate Watson, there’s a darn good chance that the team will have to add a quarterback off the street at some point before Thursday’s game against the Panthers.