The Houston Texans announced earlier this week that Ryan Mallett will take over the starting quarterback job from Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Texans are just 1-4 in their last five games with Fitzpatrick completing under 50 percent of his passes during that span.
But how long will Houston stick with Mallett?
"Mallett has an expiring contract. The Texans will have a few weeks to determine whether they should pay him or send him into the free agent market," wrote Randy Harvey of the Houston Chronicle.
"That also will give them more time to see whether rookie Tom Savage, drafted in the fourth round, is ready to play. He hasn't been active for a game yet, but they've been watching him closely in practices."
Coach Bill O'Brien didn't have much to say when asked about Savage this week.
"He's a young player," O'Brien said this week. "He's working really hard. He studies a lot...I think he's a young player getting better every day."
"But don't be surprised if Savage takes some snaps before the season is over so the Texans will know if they have to go into the draft looking for a quarterback," Harvey added.
Mallett could also be used only sparingly to avoid giving the New England Patriots a better draft pick via the trade that brought Mallett to Houston.
"If Mallett plays at least 40 percent of the Texans' offensive snaps this season, the Texans have to give the New England Patriots a sixth-round pick," ESPN's Tania Ganguli wrote. "If he plays fewer, the Patriots get a seventh. So, I did some math. This season Ryan Fitzpatrick has played 550 snaps in the Texans' nine games. That's 61.1 snaps per game, ranking 19th in the league. Operating an offense that has had trouble staying on the field makes those numbers fairly low. If Fitzpatrick doesn't play again this season, then Mallett would need 363 more snaps (he played in four against the Oakland Raiders) to have played in at least 40 percent of the Texans' snaps. The Texans are giving Mallett a real chance to show what he can do, which means there's a good chance he plays out the rest of the season. In that case, it's likely he'll hit that 40 percent mark. Three-hundred fifty-three snaps is just 51.86 snaps per game and there are 35 quarterbacks who have averaged more than that this season."
