Texans aren't drafting a QB in the first. I'd be surprised if they draft one at all. McNair won't see the need for one since the team "almost made the playoffs" with Fitz going down toward the end of the season. He will buy that as a sign of "growth" and will probably think we will be in the playoffs next year.
I believe BOB and godsey really believe in mallett. If you think about it he's exactly what BOB wants in his QB not to mention the extra things like how he handles the media. Mallett will be our starter I believe and I feel like he will be successful. It's just a matter of getting more playmakers offensively. And also more depth defensively. Like BOB has mentioned before mallett has been trained well he just needs to stay healthy next year. Our schedule next year is fairly soft too so a healthy mallett and better production in all three phases of the game and playoffs are a realistic possibility.
If that's the case you can call Big Ben a reach... I don't remember many people talking about him until the senior bowl. Matt Ryan ---> what school did he play at again...??? Todd Mcshay and many others were dogging the hell out of Cam when he entered the draft calling him a reach. 'Reaching' is just a matter of opinion. Just because the majority may share the same opinion doesn't necessarily make it right. For example _ you call Flacco a reach when he's the hottest "playoff quarterback" out there. And who are you to think you know more than the great Wizard Of Oz...??? Side Note: I wish Ricky and Ozzie had more in common than just being black... It's only a reach when it doesn't work out... If Clowney doesn't work out that will make him a 'reach'... Dude only had 3 freakin sacks coming out of college and his head coach pretty much said he was lazy. The draft is a crap shoot... A lottery... And you have to play to win.
Mallett's going to be 27 starting next year and he really proved nothing this year. He's got a strong arm and was wildly inaccurate - his completion percentage was a Tebow-like 55% and it's not like he completed a bunch of deep balls to make up for it. I don't know how you can trust him as a starter next season or say it's just a matter of playmakers when Fitz and even Case had more success than he did as a passer (and they are mobile). What's the track record of QBs at that age all of a sudden becoming accurate? I saw him sail a bunch of passes over receivers' heads - it wasn't like he was plagued by drops in his 2 starts.
Matty Ice played at Boston college... where he got the name Matty Ice. And a player showing his stuff at the senior bowl against advanced competition (and combines) weighs heavily on NFL scouts/GM's more-so than loading up on a cupcake schedule, or running up the score with a QB-friendly offense that features you randomly running around and making plays that you'll never get a chance to make in the pros. And as it is, Big Ben was thought of as 1st round talent. In a lot of these cases, you have a team failing the QB as much as the QB failing the team. There is no doubt that some organizations have absolutely no idea how to develop/groom/prepare a QB for the NFL (including the expansion Texans). In the past, grooming and being patient with a young QB was the standard... now it seems to be the exception when in reality, most of these guys are still not ready to contribute and actually get ruined by early exposure. The "handling" of Bortles (who obviously wasn't ready for the NFL) just got the Jacksonville OC fired... as it is, he's got an uphill battle to make it in this league. Its also why commodities like Mallett, guys with obvious physical talent but have also had a chance to study the pro game under the greats, without the threat of too many hits/injuries, are actually more rare than the usual first round QB reach that has a higher chance of failing than succeeding.
I agree that he's done nothing... but you're not going to make that determination when half his sample size was with a torn pec. Does he know the offense, does he have command/respect of the team, can he get the team to the line in a hurry up situation, can he read defensive packages and make adjustments at the line... and then after all that, does he have an arm, can he throw the deep ball, can he hit a receiver in stride. So many variables/factors other than simple accuracy and arm strength.
So if you ignore his ****ty second game, you're down to his one start versus Cleveland. Charlie Whitehurst lit up the Browns this year.
That's the point. How can you determine whether someone has mastered all those finer points you discussed based on such a small sample size? The guy basically hasn't played since his senior season in Arkansas, in 2010. He's a roll of the dice. But there's not much precedent for a backup QB sitting as long as he has and becoming an above-average long term starter. Anything can happen, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
I think we'll have a truly open competition at QB in camp. Mallett will NOT just be handed the starting job, nor should he. The Texans really aren't going to be able to bring in someone who's expected to start. No worthy FAs. Nobody left worth a 1st rounder when the Texans pick. Slight chance of somebody like Hundley or Petty in the 2nd or 3rd but even they'd have to compete for the job.
Right, exactly... so don't even look at anything (even though he showed command of the offense, ability to make adjustments within this offense, along with arm strength in that one game). Just look at a guy who has known physical tools, along with a mental grasp of the BOB system. And he's only 26. Is that somebody worth giving a shot to? As of right now, I'd say it is. But I certainly wouldn't deny him the chance due to his "stats" from this season, as you just did.... and if he doesn't have much more data to draw from its because he was behind one of the greatest QB's ever for his entire career who's currently planning on playing into his 40's. But I understand your point... which is why I thought it was ludicrous for all those people throwing out the franchise tag after his one good game (and that was presuming he had a great run to end the season). Even if he had an 8 game sample size, it wouldn't really be enough to swing the pendulum one way or the other... unless he was a total flameout.
This is what worries me. . . .they sign him to a Schuab-like contract and we will rise or fall with him imo mALLET has not PROVEN ANYTHING he is 6 years in the league and alot of people very HOPEFUL of him but ready to dismiss others who have not even had a real shot We run guys out of the league in 3 yrs. . . .meanwhile a hanger on can be seen as the future simply by sitting around for 6 plus years It seems being GOOD or GREAT in college is a detriment cause you go to a team and expected to start and fire on all cylinders right away or you are ran out of the league but If you good to mediocre - you are given years to learn and mature . . . . I think maybe the Aaron Rogers way is best Draft high but allow them to sit a year or two All the 'HORRIBLE' QB's mentioned about . . . may not be horrible or become horrible if they were allowed to mature and learn before getting shell shocked in their first year Maybe they were not REACHES as much as mistreated by expecting too much too fast Rocket River
Steve Young, Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers... this is just off the top of my head. Its not unprecedented... especially when you consider why he was a backup. He certainly could have been thrown in and given the chance to play early like some of the other first round blundering QB's had he been drafted (reached on) by a different team. He's a calculated gamble... but there's a little bit more known about him than a draft pick who's spent absolutely no time in an NFL film room, meeting, locker room or practice field.
Is there talk of not bring him back, assuming the $$ works? It would be insane not to. And to answer your question (beyond Nick, who was spot-on), we had a pretty good QB here who sat before being traded. Anyone that wouldn't trade Fitz/Mallet/Savage/ Keenum in '14 for '08-'(most of)12 Schaub in a heartbeat? Systems are king in the NFL. Look how much better Flacco is in the Kubiak system. If you don't have a truly elite QB (and there are maybe 3), get one that can run a progressive, innovative system and you can win. Mallet has shown promise he can do that.
I'd much rather have Mallett than a rookie. He's young enough, knows the system better than anyone attainable, and he's studied under some of the better football minds of all time. He's got the tools. He had a bad game when he was, most likely, injured the whole game. Big deal. He's still miles ahead, in the short term at least, of anyone you could get in the draft. Winston and Mariota included. Won't set your franchise back as much if he's not everything you hope, either. No reason not to re-sigm Mallett. The real question is do you draft a Connor Cook or Brett Hundley or Garrett Grayson if they're there in the second round? I would even say no on that account. I'm not ready to give up on Savage. Sign a vet, Mallett, and go with Savage. Address the other issues.
If the Texans overpay Mallet, they deserve what they get. He's done nothing to prove he's the answer.
Steve Young started 5 games as a rookie, and 14 games in his 2nd year. I know you're thinking of him backing up Montana, but he'd started 29 games before Montana hurt his elbow which paved the way for Young being "the guy". Yeah, Romo sat for 2 years and Rodgers sat for 3, which seams reasonable. Mallett has essentially sat for 4 which is kind of the point where it's make or break. Either he starts now or it becomes less likely that he ever will. He's in the right spot to get his shot though. One thing I don't hear people talk about when they talk about Mallett as the potential starter is that he just tore his pectoral. The pectoral is responsible for a lot of the movements we make with our shoulder, such as throwing a football. Who in the hell knows how recovering from that is going to affect him going forward. Even if he was on his way to proving himself a capable starter before the injury, it can't be assumed that he'll be able to pick up where he left of by the beginning of next season.
Who else is going to pay him? Everybody else is looking at the same small sample size, and everybody will (should) have the same doubts because of it. I don't see anybody willing to throw a lot of money at him. If they do and "steal" him away from the Texans, then best of luck to them.
So was several of these guys people (fans and media) call 'reaches'... And if Big Ben hadn't of worked out _ he would have been called a reach on message boards like this. I agree 100%... Look at the OC's and or head coaches (and or teams) Big Ben had.... Or Rodgers, Brady, Rivers, Luck, Brees, McNabb, Joe Montana, the list goes on. Even Teddy has Norv. Maybe some of these guys would have been good with whoever but good and or experienced coaching (and play calling) could help a quarterback have success. The narrative on Bortles was that he needed a year on the bench coming out... And Jacksonville's management even said they would bench him his rookie year and they didn't stick to the plan... And it's not like he had a team like Big Ben had where he could hand it to The Bus again and again. But Jedd Fisch got himself fired. He sucked before Blake got there. This wasn't Fisch's 1st year as the OC in Jacksonville. I'm cool with giving Mallet a shot. He was considered by many 1st round talent coming out of college. It's said he dropped because of off the field issues. I think Savage shows some promise... Hopefully one of them will end up being good enough... They both have the skill set for what O'Brien wants. O'Brien has two of his guys on the roster... I think he has who he wants out of his choices.
But Mallett sitting, and not getting that starting opportunity, was more a testament to the continued excellence of Brady/Pats... Brady has stayed good-to-elite far longer than anybody expected (and he had a few previous seasons where he looked to be "done"). Its rare for a backup in the NFL to stick on a roster that long and never get a real chance to start. Young was a failed starter who only really got that chance because he was on an awful TB team... he learned the west coast system by sitting behind Montana for 4 years, and then essentially began his HOF career at age 3o. He also had a delayed start to his NFL career due to playing in the USFL (which was a thing back then). I'd say that's more than enough of a "precedent" for Mallett to have a potential starting career in this league. I agree the torn pec could have lingering concerns, but should be pretty easy to hash that out in OTA's, training camp, pre-season, etc. Its not like the Texans would need to back up a brinks truck to keep him at this point.
