Davis Mills is “the Unquestioned Leader of this Team”

With his first ever draft move as a professional NFL general manager, Nick Caserio turned in the card for pick #67 in the third round of the 2021 draft, selecting Stanford quarterback Davis Mills.

To say the response from media and fans alike was underwhelming would be an understatement.

Nick Caserio

I think Rich Eisen lost his mind when we made the pick [for Mills]

Mighty Matt Weston

...this pick doesn’t make much sense.

To say Mills surprised a lot of folks with his performance last season is also an understatement. The rookie passer had a level of success essentially no one expected on a team with poor coaching featuring a roster starved for talent.

Now that Mills Year 2.0 is upon us, no one is shocked anymore, and most are expecting the second year signal caller to take a big step forward.

Pep Hamilton, Houston Texans offensive coordinator

We feel like he’s playing faster, and that’s really just processing information as you drop back as opposed to just saying, okay, what happened pre-snap is the determining factor in where we start. That’s not the case at all. You’ve got to be able to make post-snap reads, and we’ll continually working on that, but that’s something that I feel like he’s improving that.

Big part of his job, big part of our quarterback’s job is to manage bad plays, and that’s going to happen throughout the course of the game. We feel like if we’re not turning the ball over, we just give ourselves another opportunity to score the ball.

Nico Collins, wide receiver

[Mills’ is] just getting comfortable, man. We’ve got his back 100% of the way. He’s the quarterback. We’ve got his back. We trust in him and he trusts us, and that’s what it’s all about.

Davis Mills on his progression

I feel really good. I think I’ve developed a lot since the end of last season. I think I felt the progression at the end of last year and then really taking it into the offseason, big momentum and stacking on it has allowed me to come out here and start playing really fast at the start of training camp and throughout OTAs. I’m excited to keep progressing.

Unfortunately, the Texans roster is still starving for talent. The offense alone is in desperate need of a quality run game, better play from the offensive line. The team also needs a defense that can actually stop opponents from scoring. Until all that happens, much of the surrounding roster will handicap all of Mills efforts.

Now, to really take the next leap in the NFL, to become a household name, Mills will need to get some sponsorships. His mother had a great suggestion after all the joking about his neck length last season: