As of late May, the Texans appear happy to roll into the 2022 season with Davis Mills as their starting quarterback.
Mills gained significant experience last year, starting 11 games for the Texans as a rookie. And this week, head coach Lovie Smith said Mills has handled the offseason well, asserting himself as a leader.
“Every day we’ve opened up the building, he’s been in here,” Smith said in his press conference. “He’s our quarterback. When you’re the leader, you’ve got to be visible. It’s been documented on what I think of Davis. I think he’s going to be an excellent quarterback in the NFL for a lot of years, but it’s about this year. Having a year, he and [offensive coordinator] Pep Hamilton getting on the same page with our offense, and him being in a role from the start, that’s different also. But that’s what you do. You have a chance for him to establish himself as one of our primary leaders each day.”
Smith was also asked what he sees from Mills in comparison to other young quarterbacks in the league. The head coach stuck to just talking about the QB on his roster.
“Quarterback is the toughest position in football and you have to put time in. There’s no substitute for experience, though,” Smith said. “Every year there are some things Davis will get just based on playing the game for a long period of time, but I think a lot of the good ones, they play good ball early on, too. Did I tell you he’s a smart guy that went to Stanford? He picks things up fairly quick and he’ll be OK.”
Mills finished his rookie season completing 67 percent of his passes for 2,664 yards with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. But in his last five starts, he threw nine TDs to two picks and put up a 102.4 passer rating. Those are the numbers the Texans are hoping to build upon in 2022.
