For Davis Mills, it is the smallest of sample sizes, just one start as an NFL quarterback plus one unplanned second half against the Cleveland Browns. However, in part because it makes the handful of upcoming games more intriguing and in part because, DAMMIT, I want to be excited about SOMETHING Texans-related, let’s imagine a world where the Texans’ third round pick actually shows enough this season to, at the very least, delay the choice of his replacement for another year.
Through the first three weeks of the regular season, Mills has taken his first steps to making Nick Caserio’s decisions very interesting this offseason. I will repeat that IT IS EARLY, but in his first start last Thursday against the Carolina Panthers, Mills did enough to wind up with the best passer rating of the five rookies who started games this past weekend:
Now, is this a “best looking toad” contest, of sorts? Sure, but we are just comparing the ROOKIE quarterbacks, and it’s worth mentioning that Mills did his work in Week 3 against arguably the best opposing defense of all the rookies. Also, it is highly relevant to note that the other four quarterbacks were all taken in the top 15 picks in the draft. Mills was drafted 67th overall.
All I’m saying is that it’s given us something interesting to monitor over the next month with the Houston Texans, especially when you have head coach David Culley apparently admitting that they need to let Mills cut loose a bit more in these next few games:
I’ll mention here that the Texans are 17 point underdogs to the Bills on Sunday. In the history of the organization, they’ve only been a bigger underdog twice, and both times were before Twitter was even invented (2002, Week 4 at Philly, and 2005, Week 10 at Indy, and for the record, the Texans covered in BOTH games, WOO HOO!).
Hey, if you are into the Davis Mills storyline, and you want some fiscal skin in the game, why not throw down a sawbuck on Mills at 35/1 to win Offensive Rookie of the Year?
Player (Team) Odds
Mac Jones (New England) +350
Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville) +550
Justin Fields (Chicago) +600
Najee Harris (Pittsburgh) +800
Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati) +1000
Trey Lance (San Francisco) +1000
Devonta Smith (Philadelphia) +1600
Zach Wilson (N.Y. Jets) +1800
Kyle Pitts (Atlanta) +2000
Elijah Mitchell (San Francisco) +2000
Jaylen Waddle (Miami) +2500
Rondale Moore (Arizona) +2500
Javonte Williams (Denver) +3500
DAVIS MILLS (Houston) +3500
Kenneth Gainwell (Philadelphia) +3500
Elijah Moore (N.Y. Jets) +5000
Terrace Marshall, Jr. (Carolina) +5000
Trey Sermon (San Francisco) +5000
We will close out with the season QB Ratings through Week 3. This is ESPN.com’s proprietary method of rating quarterbacks, on a scale of 0 to 100:
Mac Jones, NE: 52.3
Davis Mills, HOU: 38.0
Trevor Lawrence, JAC: 23.3
Zach Wilson, NYJ: 22.1
Justin Fields, CHI: 7.1
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2021.
