Ryan Fitzpatrick is a journeyman quarterback, just good enough to be a backup. So what are his chances with the Houston Texans?
Actually, according to Greg Cosell, an NFL Films observer, pretty good.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Fitzpatrick has his best year in the NFL [in 2014]." http://t.co/xgNO1MxSqF pic.twitter.com/OnUTGG6n2I
— NFL (@nfl) June 7, 2014Case Keenum and T.J. Yates are back and have experience as starters. Tom Savage got a lot of draft buzz. But if just could be new coach Bill O'Brien has keen interest in a move veteran QB as summer progresses.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Fitzpatrick has his best year in the NFL. We're not suggesting he's a top five quarterback but I think he's got some tools. I think he's a smart kid, he's got some movement to him," Cosell said recently on Nashville radio station WGFX-FM.
Considering he has 77 starts on his resume, that's a bold statement. Fitzpatrick gave the Buffalo Bills a glimmer of hope as full-time starter for two seasons. He made nine starts last season for the Tennessee Titans and previous played for the St. Louis Rams and Cincinnati Bengals.
Experience, it seems, helped.
"We really liked his intelligence," O'Brien told ESPN on Friday. "We liked the fact that he had played a bunch of football. We liked that he played football in a similar system relative to Chan Gailey's system in Buffalo. We liked the fact that he was a guy who we thought would be a good system fit meaning he was an intelligent guy, a good leader, a guy who was an accurate passer. We felt like what was best for the Houston Texans was to find a good fit at quarterback for our system."
If nothing else, O'Brien has issued a challenge to Keenum and Yates, holdovers on the Texans rosters. New to the job, he is making sure his players take nothing for granted.
Contributing: NFL.com