The Houston Texans could use a quarterback in the 2022 NFL draft, but they may have already taken that quarterback a year ago in the 2021 draft.
According to Stanford coach David Shaw, his former signal caller, Davis Mills, who was selected by the Texans in Round 3 (No. 67 overall), would be considered the best quarterback in the 2022 class had he decided to stay another year with the Cardinal.
“What Davis did last year — didn’t start early, played some games in the middle and then finished up — he’s arguably the second-best rookie quarterback this past year behind Mac (Jones) and, at some places, probably outperformed Mac,” Shaw said on The Rich Eisen Show via Raymond Lucas of 247 Sports. “This was part of our conversations with Davis, whether or not he was going to come back, because — just as you mentioned — this (2022) quarterback class isn’t great and, if Davis would’ve come back, I feel very strongly that he would be the top quarterback in the draft. So the Texans just got the top quarterback in the draft a year ahead of when he would’ve been the top quarterback.”
In toto, Mills had a lackluster season with a 2-9 record, 16-10 touchdown to interception ratio, and an 88.8 passer rating. However, when the rookie was inserted back into the lineup with five games remaining, Mills posted a 2-3 record, a 9-2 touchdown to interception ratio, and a 102.4 passer rating. The Texans even took the Tennessee Titans down to the wire in Week 18, a pivotal game as a win helped their AFC South rivals clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the conference.
With Mills already having a year in the NFL under his belt, Shaw believes that the former Greater Atlanta Christian School product can excel in his second season.
Said Shaw: “So now, here you’ve got a quarterback that when you put the film on and watch the last five or six games that he played, this guy’s as good as anybody in the NFL in the red zone, strong arm, better athlete than you think, really bright kid, smart kid, picks it up, learns from his mistakes. I think they’ve got a legitimate starter there that’s got a chance to be the franchise guy and, hopefully, they can put the pieces around him and have some fun down there in Houston.”
It also helps Mills that he is staying in a system familiar to him with offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, who worked with Shaw at Stanford from 2010-12.
