Not a lot went right for the Houston Texans during the 2021 season. They finished with the third-worst record in the NFL and the team was handcuffed by the Deshaun Watson situation. But, Watson sitting out gave them a chance to see what they had in rookie third-round pick, Davis Mills.

Mills likely wasn’t in the plans to start games when he was selected with the 67th overall pick, but he held his own during his rookie season. He was the eighth quarterback off the board in the 2021 NFL Draft, but finished third in yardage with 2,664, behind only Mac Jones and Trevor Lawrence.

Mills completed 66.8 percent of his passes, throwing 16 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions. Jones was the only other rookie quarterback to finish the season with more touchdowns than interceptions.

Landing with the Patriots, as Jones did, is a much better place to start your career than with what the Texans were trotting out there. But, Mills more than held his own and showed major improvements down the stretch of the season.

The Stanford product started Weeks 3-8 but didn’t appear in the following three games. He was reinserted back into the lineup the final five weeks of the season and looked like a different quarterback. Mills threw nine touchdowns to only two interceptions those last five games, registering a quarterback rating under 92.2 only once.

Part of the reason that Mills found so much success was that he could throw the deep ball. How much success he had on balls 20+ yards downfield would surprise you. He had the highest passer rating on such passes in the NFL last season, coming in at 123.5, ahead of Kirk Cousins and Patrick Mahomes.

There is certainly some talent there to work with when it comes to Davis Mills. Finding that level of success as a rookie without much of a supporting cast around him, outside of Brandin Cooks, is impressive. 

He is heading into the 2022 season looking like the starter for the Texans, especially after Watson was traded to the Cleveland Browns. Armed with a ton of draft capital, the time is now to start upgrading the roster and see if Mills can be their starting quarterback going forward.