As the QB turns … Houston head coach Lovie Smith stated rather emphatically earlier today that the team, the NFL’s only remaining winless squad who would have the #1 pick overall were the 2023 draft held this week, currently have no thoughts of replacing Davis Mills at QB. According to Smith, Mills is ‘the last of the Texans problems.’ Mills in fact has been respectable enough for the Texans this fall completing 62% of his pass attempts for just over 900 yards and 5 scores, versus 4 picks, and an 80.4 QB efficiency rating. However, respectable enough usually isn’t good enough to win an NFL championship which suggests that the Texans likely will be looking at QBs like C.J. Stroud of Ohio State, Alabama’s Bryce Young and Will Levis of Kentucky if they do ultimately end up with one of the top picks at next April’s draft. Of course, Smith also doesn’t have much of a choice these days as the only other option in the Texans’ QB room is veteran journeyman Kyle Allen who in almost no way represents an upgrade … There also isn’t a QB controversy in Carolina, which is 1-3 and would have the 2nd or 3rd pick if the draft were held today, but only because Sam Darnold isn’t playing because of a bad ankle. If he was there would probably be screams for Darnold to replace Baker Mayfield who has really struggled since coming over from Cleveland, although of course Darnold has himself never been particularly effective in his career. Again, one has to figure that the Panthers will also almost assuredly be looking at the position along with the Texans next April. On the other hand, Pittsburgh has pretty much confirmed that Kenny Pickett, the first QB selected at the 2022 draft, will be their starter for the rest of the season, barring injury. Pickett came off the bench to replace a struggling Mitch Trubisky in the Steelers’ embarrassing home loss to the lowly NY Jets, although there was both and bad in his outing. Pickett managed to complete 10 of 13 pass attempts (good) and scored a couple of rushing TDs (also good), but his three incompletions were all picks (not good).
