The Houston Texans have Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett competing for the starting job in 2015 for head coach Bill O'Brien and now the quarterbacks have more weapons on offense following the departure of Andre Johnson, as Jaelen Strong and Kenny Hilliard were added to help DeAndre Hopkins in the NFL draft last week.
O'Brien argued that the team could have ended up in the playoffs had they gotten some more consistency out of the position and now he is hoping that Mallett and Hoyer solve that problem. Last season the Texans had quarterback issues with Ryan Fitzpatrick dealing with an injury and they ended up using Case Keenum, Mallett and Tom Savage at various points during the season. O'Brien brought back Mallett after trading for him last year and he also signed Hoyer after the Browns brought in Josh McCown.
Mallett and Hoyer are set to compete for the starting job and O'Brien knows both players well, as they were with the Patriots when he was a coach in New England. Last season Hoyer opened the year 7-4 before faltering down the stretch and he went 7-6 overall as a starter, while Mallett was 1-1 starting for the Texans. Mallett signed a two-year, $7 million deal this offseason and Hoyer signed a three-year deal with the team.
This should help O'Brien take care of the QB position for at least the next couple years, as Mallett has shown potential and could be a strong backup slash future starter behind Hoyer. Mallett is just 26 and Hoyer comes in after getting an extended starting chance with the Browns. The team trade d Fitzpatrick to the Jets earlier in the offseason.
The Texans went defense early with Kevin Johnson and Benardrick McKinney as their first two picks, but they stopped that with Strong in the third. The team also added Keith Mumphery at wide receiver from Michigan State in the fifth round and drafted Hilliard with their seventh round draft pick out of LSU. O'Brien wanted to add some youth to the offense after moving on from Johnson and now Strong can come in and be a open-two punch with Hopkins.
Strong comes in as one of the top 5-10 receivers in the draft and he slipped while dealing with a wrist injury in the offseason,. Strong was a solid player at Arizona State and he put up back to back 1000 yard seasons with the Sun Devils. The team traded up to get strong, moving up with the Jets with a fifth round pick and a seventh round pick along with wide receiver DeVier Posey. With Johnson gone, the team needed more depth and now they have another quick offensive option in Strong.
Arian Foster is one of the best backs in the league, but he showed last season that he needs a solid backup as well. Alfred Blue did a fine job and now his fellow Tiger will join up in Houston after being drafted. The offense should continue to improve this season and after the Texans nearly made the playoffs last year, they should get better play overall from the QB position.
