The Houston Texans need a quarterback

The Houston Texans need a franchise quarterback. The Texans haven’t had an offensive threat since Deshaun Watson stopped playing in Houston. Davis Mills hasn’t shown he has the ability to lead the Texans out of the bottom of the AFC South. However, a new report suggests the Texans are contemplating waiting until 2024 to make a move at quarterback.

According to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, there’s talk going around that the Texans’ new brass could wait until next year’s draft to take a quarterback.

A draft-related nugget that has been popular in league circles of late: The Texans, with a new HC and a fairly new GM, may be compelled to delay their big QB dice roll until ‘24.

File that away.

— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) February 25, 2023

This doesn’t match the Texans’ talking points

This report appears to fly in the face of what the Houston Texans have said. According to HSF Media Files, Ryans made it clear when he was hired that the quarterback was high on the priority list for the Texans:

“We understand we have one quarterback here on our roster, and we have to add more at that position,” Ryans said. “We know everybody gets excited about the quarterback. The quarterback is one piece to a team. As I’ve seen in San Francisco, what happens when you don’t have that one guy? Is the season over? Are you just booking it? No. How do you build around that quarterback? Yes, we want a great quarterback.”

Ryans understands that he needs a quarterback to succeed, and waiting until 2024 doesn’t make sense for a franchise that’s fired two head coaches in two years with Mills as the signal caller. He needs to draft a quarterback this season and show signs of progress in Houston.

CJ Stroud or Bryce Young will be available at the number two pick should the Texans not want to trade up to the number one pick. Both could be the franchise quarterback for the Texans if the team develops them properly.

Does the Houston Texans GM have time on his side?

General manager Nick Caserio isn’t exactly new to the Houston Texans. He is entering his third season in Houston. Ryans will be his third coach. Per a report by DJ Bien-Aime with ESPN, Caserio has the sense that he needs to make a turnaround with the Texans franchise soon:

“I have a responsibility, and I understand, let’s be real, let’s be honest, the clock is ticking,” Caserio said. “Time is short, but that’s OK. We work in a high-pressure environment. The expectations are high, and it’s about performance. If I don’t do my job well enough, and quite frankly, some probably think I haven’t done my job well enough at this point, and that’s more than fair…

“I’m going to do the best job I can,” Caserio said. “We’re going to try to continue to move this organization forward the best we can. We’ve made some progress in some areas. We haven’t made, quite frankly, progress in enough areas. I realize that. I recognize that. I’m certainly not going to run from that. Again, like I said from the beginning, I’m going to hold myself accountable.

Those aren’t the words of a general manager that wants to wait until 2024 to draft a quarterback. Sure, USC quarterback Caleb Williams is likely a better quarterback than any of the top choices in the 2023 draft, but there’s no guarantee the Texans will be able to draft him.

Williams will command a lot of demand from almost half the NFL next offseason. For the Texans to make sure they draft Williams, they’d have to tank on purpose. Another poor season like that for Caserio would surely be the general manager’s last.