One week, that's all it took for Bill O'Brien to pull the plug on the Brian Hoyer era in Houston. Unfortunately, his backup Ryan Mallett may not prove to be much more effective. Although Mallett finished 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) with one touchdown in garbage time last week, he has been consistently mediocre in the NFL since he was drafted in 2011. For his career, Mallett is completing just 54.3 percent of his passes with a 1:1 TD-to-INT ration.
Texans fans won't be surprised if O'Brien goes QB hunting in the 2016 NFL Draft. Although draft projections this far out rarely tend to be accurate, determining how teams view certain players and where they are projected to go is a valuable exercise. As of now, WalterFootball.com predicts Houston to hold the No. 16 overall pick and select Penn State signal-caller Christian Hackenberg.
"If Hackenberg doesn't get hot, he could easily slide down draft boards despite the scouting community entering the season loving his potential," Charlie Campbell wrote. "After what I've heard from sources, I have a hard time envisioning Bill O'Brien passing on him.
"To start 2015, Hackenberg had an ugly performance in a loss to Temple and played better against Buffalo. He's 25-of-52 for 231 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Hackenberg was abysmal against Temple, but versus Buffalo a number of great throws by Hackenberg were dropped, including potential touchdowns. He still has a ways to go to improve his accuracy and precision on some throws.
"Hackenberg completed 56 percent of his passes in 2014 for 2,677 yards with 12 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He played better than the numbers indicate as his supporting cast was a huge liability and the offensive line was awful. To end the season, Hackenberg led a huge overtime, comeback win over Boston College, completing 34-of-50 for 371 yards and four touchdowns.
"Hackenberg (6-4, 234) was the star recruit for Bill O'Brien at Penn State and proved the hype wasn't misplaced during an impressive 2013 season that saw him named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Hackenberg completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,955 yards with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions that season. He also ran for four touchdowns. Hackenberg has great size, a strong arm, pocket presence and showed better field vision playing for O'Brien. He does need to get more accurate and improve his decision-making."
As Campbell mentioned, Hackenberg is playing behind a porous offensive line and is lacking in offensive weapons. Despite his impressive size and physical ability, Penn State's weaknesses are holding him back. At the same time, it's concerning to scouts that Hackenberg isn't able to raise the level of play of those around him. No one is expecting any miracles, but coming into 2015 many experts expected a big bounce back season for the young passer.
If he can right the ship than it's doubtful he'd be available to Houston in the mid-first round. But if he doesn't improve, will O'Brien really want to take a chance on him?
