Texans coach David Culley says QB Tyrod Taylor is ‘a consummate pro’

Houston Texans coach David Culley has been around his fair share of quarterbacks in his 27 seasons before taking the top job with the AFC South club.

With the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2012, Culley spent time with Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick. With the Kansas City Chiefs from 2013-17, he worked with Alex Smith.

According to Culley, Texans quarterback Tyrod Taylor has similarly positive qualities that benefit the team.

“He’s been around,” Culley said after the third day of training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. “He’s been a starter. He’s a consummate pro. I don’t use that loosely. He’s a consummate pro. He’s the first guy in this building every morning. He’s usually the last guy to leave, and that’s every day. That’s just who he is. You won’t ever hear him a whole bunch talking about this or talking about that. He just goes about his business.”

Taylor is the penciled-in starter atop the depth chart for the Texans, albeit general manager Nick Caserio told reporters on July 28 that all jobs were up for grabs. Through three days, Taylor is the leader as Jeff Driskel, rookie Davis Mills, and three-time Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson are behind him in taking reps.

What Culley especially appreciates about Taylor is his vast experience from spending the past 10 seasons in the NFL. Taylor started out as a sixth-round pick with the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 before joining the Buffalo Bills in 2015. While in Buffalo, Taylor led the Bills to their first postseason qualification since 1999 during the 2017 campaign. Taylor played in Cleveland the next season, and then with the Los Angeles Chargers for the last two years.

Said Culley: “He’s one of our guys right now, he’s been doing a nice job, he’s got a lot of experience. He’s been a starter in his league, he’s taken teams to playoffs in this league and right now with the competition that we are having, he’s right in the mix and doing his thing.”

In 2018, rookie Baker Mayfield supplanted him as the starter after three games. The same happened in 2020 with Justin Herbert, also a first-round rookie like Mayfield. Time will tell if Taylor ends up being a placeholder once more.