The Houston Texans may shore up their quarterback room with a proven veteran in free agency after all.
According to Adam Schefter from ESPN, the Texans are expected to pursue San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo during the first wave of free agency. The other teams expected to target Garoppolo are the Las Vegas Raiders and tentatively the New York Jets.
It makes sense in the short-term for Houston to have an interest in Garoppolo. The former 2014 New England Patriots second-round pick has ties with general manager Nick Caserio, who was the Patriots’ director of player personnel from 2008-20. No doubt new Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has familiarity with Garoppolo having been with San Francisco since 2017, the season that Garoppolo arrived after the trade deadline.
The Patriots connection is also why the Raiders would have interest in Garoppolo given coach Josh McDaniels was offensive coordinator while the Eastern Illinois product was in New England, and general manager Dave Ziegler was working in the personnel department.
UPDATE — The Raiders outbid the Texans and landed Garoppolo.
