The Houston Texans may have had a horrendous season that got another coach fired with a 4-13 record in 2021, but their draft class wasn’t that bad.
According to a recent evaluation from NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice, the Texans had a B-plus grade for their 2021 draft class.
The Texans drafted quarterback Davis Mills and receiver Nico Collins both in the third round. In Round 5, Houston also got twin selections in tight end Brevin Jordan and linebacker Garret Wallow. The Texans’ draft topped off with sixth-round defensive tackle Roy Lopez.
The bulk of Filice’s evaluation comes from the quarterback play with Mills, who went 2-9 as a starter but had an optimistic finish with a 2-3 record in the final five games, including a 41-29 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16 that kept them out of the playoffs.
Let’s begin where everything begins in this league: at the quarterback position. In January of last year, Deshaun Watson requested a trade. A few months later, he was facing 22 lawsuits alleging sexual assault and harassment. Suddenly, the Texans had to start over at the most important position in the sport. They scrambled to acquire Tyrod Taylor in free agency and Ryan Finley via trade, then grabbed Mills with their highest draft pick. A five-star recruit out of high school, Mills was plagued by injuries during his four years at Stanford, starting just 11 total games before deciding to forego his remaining eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft. The eighth quarterback off the board, Mills entered Year 1 as the anonymous backup to the emergency starter. But the Football Gods continued their relentless smiting of Taylor, who injured his hamstring in Week 2, forcing the rookie into action. Mills flashed promise in his first two months of NFL action — remember when he nearly slayed Bill Belichick’s Patriots with a 312-yard, three-touchdown masterpiece? — but Taylor regained the starting job upon return from injured reserve. Houston eventually went back to Mills in mid-December and the 23-year-old produced some sparkling numbers in his final five starts of the season: 68.4 comp%, 9:2 TD-to-INT ratio, 102.4 passer rating. He even outdueled quarterbacking darling Justin Herbert in a shocking upset of the Chargers. It remains to be seen what the rebuilding Texans do this offseason, but having an intriguing second-year option at quarterback is something no one saw coming at this time last offseason.
The Texans had the best draft class of the AFC South as the Jacksonville Jaguars were given a C-minus and the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts were each given a D-plus.
With four picks in the top-100, including No. 3 overall, if the Texans are able to have another B-plus draft or better, it could be the finishing touch to complete the rebuild in the second year of Nick Caserio’s tenure as general manager.
