Houston Texans quarterback Davis Mills made his case to get all of the first-team reps for the team in 2022.
The former 2021 third-rounder from Stanford went 2-3 in his final five games and posted a 9-2 touchdown to interception ratio with a 102.4 passer rating. Although Mills’ 0-6 start to his career dragged down his overall record to make it an uninspiring 2-9 record for his rookie year, there is no doubt he proved himself capable against the field of Tyrod Taylor and Jeff Driskel.
EA Sports doesn’t seem to agree with that assessment. In the video game company’s latest ratings for Madden NFL 23, Mills has a 71 rating, among the lowest when compared to his peers from the same 2021 draft class.
Davis Mills is a 71-overall in the new #Madden23
Other quarterbacks from the same draft class:
Mac Jones 78
Trevor Lawrence 76
Justin Fields 74
Zach Wilson 73
Trey Lance 72Mills was the 2nd-best rookie quarterback in 2021. pic.twitter.com/V3XAXlJIBU
— Nick Schwager (@NickSchwagerNFL) July 22, 2022
Mills lost head-to-head duels with the New England Patriots’ Mac Jones and the San Francisco 49ers’ Trey Lance. However, those rookie signal callers clearly had the better teams as their squads qualified for the postseason while Houston posted their second consecutive four-win season.
When going against a quarterback from the same draft class with a comparable team — Trevor Lawrence — Mills led the Texans to a 30-16 victory amid the inconsistent rain at TIAA Bank Field. Keep in mind Lawrence was the No. 1 overall pick from the 2021 class.
General manager Nick Caserio told “Payne & Pendergast” on Sports Radio 610 [KILT-AM] on June 16 that Mills had progressed throughout the team’s offseason workouts.
“I would say his understanding offensively of what we’re doing, the terminology, there’s been some things that we’ve tweaked relative to how we call plays, whether it’s formations, whether it’s route concepts, whatever it might be,” said Caserio. “So, he’s comfortable with that, and then I would say overall for the most part this spring the decision making has been good relative to taking care of the football.”
What will elevate Mills’ standing in the eyes of spectators, fans and video game companies alike, is if the Texans stack wins in 2022 with their quarterback playing at a high level.
