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Rookie Houston Texans quarterback Davis Mills’ performance during the team’s 28-25 season finale loss to the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 9 could put to rest questions as to who’ll be the starter under center come Week 1 in September.
Sports Illustrated reported that the 2021 third-round pick from Stanford nearly brought the Texans back from a 21-0 hole during the second half of the matchup against the Titans, who are the AFC's top seed heading into the playoffs which start this weekend.
Mills ended the afternoon with 301 yards and three touchdowns on 22-for-33 passing, as well as set a franchise rookie record by tossing for 2,664 yards on the season, besting the team's first-ever draft pick David Carr.
While the Texans failed to notch their fifth win of the season and knock Tennessee from the top playoff spot in the AFC, they enter the offseason secure in the knowledge Mills is their field general in the long run.
To hear Mills tell it, he hopes he did right by the team in his first NFL season.
“Obviously, my whole thing is just going out there and playing my best, playing my heart out on the field. I hope I’ve proved enough,” he told SI.
In 2021, Mills filled in for the much-injured Tyrod Taylor, who was initially brought in as a stopgap while the Texans attempted to ship the disgruntled Deshaun Watson elsewhere.
Watson, whom Houston nabbed in the first round of the 2017 draft, is embroiled in legal trouble stemming from multiple sexual assault claims.
According to SI, the Texans went 2-9 with Mills as the starter. One of those victories was a 41-29 thumping of the Los Angeles Chargers the day after Christmas. Mills threw for 254 yards and two scores on 21-for-27 passing. He completed 2021 with 16 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a respectable 88.8 passer rating, SI reported.
While Mills’ future isn’t a matter of speculation, head coach David Culley’s is.
NFL.com reported that the Texans will consider whether to bring the first-year coach back in 2022.