The Houston Texans have been re-tooling their roster all offseason in preparation for having the No. 1 draft pick in May. After trading away former starter Matt Schuab to the Oakland Raiders and acquiring Ryan Fitzpatrick it was pretty clear the Texans were aiming for a rookie quarterback with the top pick. Now, head coach Bill O'Brien is simply confirming what everyone already knows.
While speaking on the NFL Network, O'Brien confirmed that the Texans would indeed be taking a quarterback No. 1 overall. After parting ways with Schaub, this move was inevitable, but there was some speculation that Jadeveon Clowney could be the real target for the Texans. However, O'Brien is not looking to sugar coat the needs of the team, a quarterback is the top priority.
"I don't think there's any question that we'll draft a quarterback in the draft," O'Brien said. "Where we draft that quarterback, I don't think we know yet. We don't even know that yet. We're still in the process of studying all these prospects, in the process of putting a grade on them and place them where they would be in the draft. The big thing is it's such a long process. We're in the stage now where we go to the Pro Days and eventually we bring them into our facility for an interview, we call it an on-campus interview in Houston. As we get closer and closer we'll obviously be able to make a decision."
NFL Insider Ian Rapoport followed up the talk saying the team would grab a quarterback No. 1 overall and could then eventually draft another quarterback in a later round as well. Right now, the team has Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum and TJ Yates at the position. O'Brien noted that the team signed Fitzpatrick to compete for a backup role with the other two young quarterbacks. Once the draft is over, either Keenum or Yates can expect to be cut or demoted to the practice squad.
So now the speculation becomes who gets draft first to the Texans, Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles or Teddy Bridgewater. O'Brien has said good things regarding Manziel and he is very familiar with Bortles and his coaching background. Bridgewater appears to be the darkhorse of the three. O'Brien has said he ranks accuracy as the most important quarterback trait and decision making at the line as the second best quality. Time will tell which player he believes possesses all of that.
