The Houston Texans have four quarterbacks on the roster and while none of them appear to be ready to start Week 1 just yet, not all four can stay. After trading away Matt Schaub in the offseason and bringing on Ryan Fitzpatrick and drafting Tom Savage, the Texans have been working with an open quarterback competition. However, cuts must be made and one of the four likely will not be seeing training camp.
According to Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle, head coach Bill O'Brien has indicated that one of the four quarterbacks will be cut prior to training camp simply because the team cannot carry a four-man quarterback roster.
"Any time you have four, . . . I don't think it's easy to divide the reps," O'Brien said. "I think you can really get three guys reps in practice, which is basically what we've been doing. I know that's probably not the easiest thing for those guys. But three out of four have been getting reps."
Fitzpatrick stays. The veteran was brought on as the likely starter for 2014 while a rookie develops behind him. At 31, he signed a two-year, $7.25 million contract with $4 million in guaranteed money. That type of contract does not simply get released. O'Brien has said everything but "Fitzpatrick is the starter", indicating that the veteran's knowledge puts him with the first-team offensive immediately.
Savage was drafted in the fourth round as the future. The Texans believe they could have the next Tom Brady on their hands and will not cut him after just a few weeks on the roster. That leaves Case Keenum and TJ Yates to battle it out for the final roster spot.
"These quarterbacks, I have to ... everybody and the fans, especially: These guys have been working extremely hard," O'Brien said. "They've all had really good moments. They're very competitive. They've been in this building seven days a week, studying on their own, studying with myself, studying with George Godsey, mostly. ... It's a very competitive situation."
Yates has seen brief time as a starter over Keenum. He led the Texans to a playoff win. He took over briefly last season, but only threw 22 passes and two interceptions. Keenum was the full-time replacement for Schaub, but has gone 0-8 as a starter. He showed promise early, completing 52.4 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns. However, he was the man in charge when the Texans completed their worst season to date.
There is still the option of making a trade for another quarterback. The long the Texans wait, the less likely they are the pick someone like Matt McGloin or Ryan Mallett up. But, they do have the option of releasing both quarterbacks and grabbing someone else instead if O'Brien is not satisfied.
