BRB Groupthink: Talking About Tyrod

The masthead gathers around the fire to discuss Houston’s presumed starting quarterback for the 2021 NFL season.

The Texans quarterback room is a strange soup with Deshaun Watson’s career in hiatus. Davis Mills, and Jeff Driskel are on the roster (lol), with Tyrod Taylor entering training camp as the presumed starter. How many games do you think Taylor starts next year, and do you think he can resuscitate his career in Houston?

This is the question I asked the masthead. These are our responses:

L4BLITZER:

How many starts Taylor gets will depend on a couple of factors. 1) The record of the Texans. If they play as they are expected to, Taylor won’t be at the helm for a lot of victories. If the squad has between 0-2 wins when they hit the bye week, Taylor’s time as a starter is all but done. 2) Injuries and luck. It can be hard to remember, but Taylor did quarterback the Bills when they ended a 17-year playoff drought.

Granted, that team was based more on defense, but still, he was the best quarterback option on that team (remember Nate Peterman). However, Taylor has been dealt some bad hands, between losing his job to Mayfield in Cleveland and a “What the Easterby” moment/injury in San Diego. Guy deserved a better fate.

I would love to see Taylor get back in the running as a Comeback Player of the Year Candidate. He will certainly get an opportunity here in Houston. If he can play well, even with what appears to be a bad squad, he should find a career renaissance. Yet, I don’t think, barring perhaps the biggest NFL miracle of the modern era, that Taylor will be the starter for a full season. Between Week 4 and Week 10, expect the clock to start ticking on the Mills Watch.

BIGFATDRUNK:

Tyrod Taylor enters this season as a 32 year old quarterback who hasn’t thrown for even 1000 yards over the past three seasons. He’s learning a new system, whatever the Hades that might be under David Culley and Tim Kelly.

There was a point in time when Taylor might have been a good QB, but he was mis-used first by Baltimore and then Buffalo. I remember gunning hard for him after Matt Schaub’s meltdown.

As of now, it looks like the Texans will be going run heavy, which will likely include some shenanigans with Taylor. If that’s the case, I don’t see him lasting longer than half the season. I don’t see the Texans even trying to push the ball down the field with the lack of talent at WR and TE, much less the QB.

MIKE BULLOCK:

I’d love to see Tyrod reignite his career and stay the course for this lost season. He’s a far better option than Mills or Driskell.

Unfortunately, with the coaches once again reconfiguring the offensive line, and trying to make every player learn every position to serve at the altar of competition, the o-line is headed for Hot Messville. And, with that, Tyrod will be lucky to make it 10 games without getting hurt.

Enter Davis Mills.

That poor kid is going to wish he had David Carr’s chances.

With a litany of knee injuries, and Houston’s Swiss Cheese o-line, the stars will have to align perfectly for Mills to survive more than 5 games.

Enter [insert QB not currently on the roster].

Everyone knows Jeff Driskel isn’t the second coming of Rich Gannon, Matt Schaub or even Ryan Fitzpatrick. He’s a backup QB, not a starter.

Just who this not-on-the-current-roster-QB will be is anyone’s guess. Maybe Houston grabs a waiver wire guy from the great end of preseason roster purge across the league. Or, maybe they trade Whitney Mercilus to a defender needy team with a young QB who has potential.

Or, maybe they call Ryan Mallet… surely he’s bought a new alarm clock by now.

CARLOS FLORES:

I like Tyrod Taylor. If the offensive skill positions were in better shape, I’d be excited to see him ball. However, with the giant question marks sitting at receiver and the ever injured running back room, it’s hard to see there being early success for Tyrod. If Trevor Lawrence puts up five TD’s in his opening game like I think he will, Baker Mayfield leads the Browns to an easy win, and Mono Man stumbles his way into a dub, that 0-3 will loom large over Taylor.

Realistically, I can see one out of those three game being won, which could buy Tyrod some time. However, I’d expect to see Davis Mills starting sometime in the first half of this season. If that happens, Tyrod may have an impossible time finding another starting spot anywhere in the league.