Midway through the preseason, the Houston Texans have their starting quarterback, Brian Hoyer.
This leaves Ryan Mallett as the backup again. Both players signed two-year deals during the offseason, with Hoyer making a little bit more money overall ($10 million to $7.5 million). The two have been competing for the job through voluntary and mandatory practices up into training camp and preseason games.
Hoyer was the one who started in the first preseason game for the Texans, throwing a touchdown pass on his first drive, before making way for Mallett and later Tom Savage. Mallett started in the second game, as both he and Hoyer failed to get the Texans into the end zone.
Hoyer was a starter for most of last season in Cleveland, for about half a season or more, looked like a guy that despite his numbers was leading the Browns towards the playoffs. He started in 13 games and played in 14, finishing with 12 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He was ranked in the bottom three in the league when it came to completion percentage (55.3%), TD-INT ratio and his total QBR (39.8). He did, surprisingly, rank ninth in yards per attempt with 7.6.
Mallett started twice last season for the Texans before a pectoral injury took him out for the season. Both of them were backups together under Tom Brady in New England, where head coach Bill O’Brien also worked in the past.