If you're looking for proof that the Houston Texans' final five games of the 2021 season, in which they went a modest 2-3 (which is not horrible for a team coached by David Culley, and a team that finished 4-13 for the entire season), is the NFL equivalent of the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one there, look no further than the speculation about the team's quarterback position.

In those aforementioned final five games, rookie quarterback Davis Mills had a passer rating of over 102.4.  If you extrapolate that number out over the full season, it would have placed him seventh in the league in passer rating, just head of Tom Brady, In other words, Mills was well above average in those final five games. Yet that has not stopped prognosticators and experts from trying to replace him with lesser solutions this offseason.

To wit, check out the odds on where oddsmakers seem to think San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo could wind up before the start of the upcoming season. Courtesy of BetOnline.ag, here are those odds (provided Garoppolo moves on from his current team, the San Francisco 49ers):

Browns +225(9/4)
Giants +350 (7/2)
Seahawks +350 (7/2)
Texans +400 (4/1)
Lions +500 (5/1)
Bears +1200 (12/1)
Jets +2000 (20/1)

So the Texans are viewed as a 4 to 1 shot, which is a good sporting chance, to land the services of Jimmy Garoppolo, either via trade or by signing him once he has presumably been cut from the Niners. The reasons people, from afar, connect Garoppolo and the Texans are obvious. First, Mills, despite his stellar final five starts in 2021, is far from a sure thing as a future franchise guy. Second, Texans GM Nick Caserio was part of the regime in New England that drafted Garoppolo into the league in 2014.

That said, I think you can make a better case for acquiring Garoppolo for pretty much every other team on this list than the case you can make for the Texans. Here are said cases in one sentence:

CLEVELAND: If Deshaun Watson misses any significant chunk of time with a suspension, Garoppolo is a better option to win games than Jacoby Brissett.

NEW YORK GIANTS: Daniel Jones is terrible, and the Giants know it, so why not grab a guy who can win you a few games?

SEATTLE: The Seahawks two quarterbacks — Geno Smith and Drew Lock — might be the worst two guys in any sort of "starter" conversation anywhere in the league.

DETROIT: Garoppolo is an upgrade over Jared Goff, and if you're going to go with a "going nowhere" veteran, why not win a couple more games than anticipated?

CHICAGO: Garoppolo went to Eastern Illinois, so ... HOMETOWN HERO!

NEW YORK JETS: Zach Wilson is too busy "cougar" hunting, so get a veteran like Garoppolo who, at the very least, knows how to balance his "cougar" hunting time with film study.

Of this, I am fairly certain, though — Jimmy Garoppolo will NOT be a Houston Texan.

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.