Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight.
The Houston Texans pass over Reggie Bush last year. They also decide that drafting the hometown quarterback and national champion isn't the best move for the franchise because David Carr is the future of the franchise.
One goes on to be a key piece in a run to the NFC Championship game and the other is the NFL offensive rookie of the year. We'll just call that "oops one" and "oops two."
While both moves are pretty mind bottling ("you know where things are so crazy it gets all your thoughts like all trapped in a bottle"), we let them slide. We said "Okay, Texans, we'll let you be Jr. NFL Franchise for a few more years."
However, when I read the team traded two second-round picks and swapped first-round positions with the Falcons for Matt Schaub, I laughed out loud. Now, I don't know how good Schaub can be. I know he has the physical tools. He was a great passer at Virginia and looked very capable in his limited time quarterbacking the Falcons. There's a ton of upside and everything points to the fact he can be a solid NFL starter.
But for the Texans to sign him for six years at $48M based on their very recent track record…come on now. This is turning into the equivalent of a GM drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, trading away John Elway and drafting either Todd Blackledge, Tony Eason or Ken O'Brien over Dan Marino all in the same year (yes, I know there's more than one sport in that analogy).
Obviously, two red flags go up:
1. What the hell were you thinking last year?
2. What the hell is David Carr thinking at this point?
If Schaub doesn't pan out, does this mean the Texans are forever destined for failure?
Comments (1)
Wait ... so you're saying two 2nd-round picks (likely to be high in the round ... they ARE the Texans after all) for a backup who's thrown about 150 NFL passes, has only 6 TDs, and is 0-2 as a starter is too much to give? But big contracts worked for backups like Rob Johnson ... no wait. It worked with AJ Feely ... no wait.
(P.S. Schaub wasn't that great at UVa. I'm not trashing him, but what exactly did the Hoos win while he was there? A couple Tire Bowls.)
(P.P.S. The offense in ATL was very similar to the offense Schaub ran at UVa, so it will be interesting to see how he does when he has to learn a new playbook for the first time since he was about 19 years old. Guess we'll see that UVa education put to work. At least he has Wali Lundy in the backfield)