The Houston Texans may look at a Ryan Mallett trade during training camp if they feel Ryan Fitzpatrick is not playing up to what Bill O'Brien wants and the New England Patriots may look at a deal to give Jimmy Garoppolo a chance to be the backup to Tom Brady and this comes as Christian Ponder and Matt McGloin could also be potential targets down the line.
Trades do not usually happen this late in the preseason or training camp, but according to Pro Football Talk, the Patriots are hoping to use the preseason to showcase Mallett and then trade him before the season starts. Pro Football Talk reports that Tom Curran of CSNNE.com said that the Patriots may use this time to show off what Mallett can do and that is one reason why Brady did not play in the first preseason game despite bring healthy against the Washington Redskins.
Mallett's name has come up in trade rumors all offseason and while the Patriots did not pull off a deal, everyone thought the team wanted to do it at one point or another. Mallett is a solid player and backup for Brady, but the Patriots rarely hold three quarterbacks and with every roster spot important for Bill Belichick, he may want to offload Mallett for something. Mallett is set to be a free agent after this season and Belichick drafted him with the intention of trading him one day and now that time could be coming up.
The Texans are coming into the season after going 2-14 and they traded away last year's starter Matt Schaub to the Oakland Raiders. The team has Fitzpatrick coming in and he is making guaranteed money, so he isn't going anywhere, but the team has no one really behind him with Tom Savage and Case Keenum and that's why a deal could go down. O'Brien worked with Mallett in New England and that's why he is mentioned as a possibility and the Texans will have to decide if that's a move they want to make.
The Patriots took Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the draft and while they think he can one day be a starter when Brady retires, right now they are eyeing him as the backup. The team may have kept Mallett to give themselves insurance if Garoppolo did not grasp the playbook or develop fast enough, but if he shows enough it could lead to a deal for Mallett. The Patriots have Mallett and Garoppolo as options for Tom Brady's backup and Jimmy could move up if he plays well in the preseason.
Garoppolo looked good in the first preseason game for the Patriots and he led the team in passing yards with 157 and he also had a touchdown. Mallett also got some time and he had 12 passes and completed just five and had 55 yards passing and that obviously didn't jump off the stat sheet, but it's only the first preseason game. Garoppolo was nine of 13 and he looked solid running the offense and that could get the team to pull the trigger on a deal eventually.
