Most “teams having private workout for draftable quarterback” stories are fairly formulaic. A team with a high pick and an obvious need at quarterback will work out all the top prospects, so the individual permutations of “this guy/that team” are less important than the bigger picture.
This one is slightly different.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Texans had a workout with Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson yesterday.
The Texans found their quarterback of the future last year, when they traded up to take Deshaun Watson. But he tore his ACL, and while the early results on his comeback are encouraging, you never know.
The odd part is the Texans don’t pick until the third round (68th overall) thanks to previous moves to add Watson and get rid of Brock Osweiler. The conventional wisdom is that Jackson would be taken well before then, if not in the first round.
Perhaps the Texans realized the greatest thing you could do in terms of roster construction is have quarterbacks on cheap rookie contracts, and want to stockpile them. Or perhaps they have their eye on a move, and want to be prepared in case they’re able to make it. If nothing else, it would give them starting and backup quarterbacks with similar traits, which seems more logical than having some statue like free agent T.J. Yates in perpetual reserve in case anything happened to Watson again.
The only other quarterback on the roster at the moment is Taylor Heinicke, so they’re going to have to find a backup plan at some point. That they’re looking at a rookie is interesting to file away.
