Houston Texans depth chart: Rookies with clearest paths to starting

How quickly will Houston Texans rookies get on the field in 2021? Head coach David Culley must treat this season as a major learning opportunity.

The Houston Texans have not had a good couple of offseasons, to put it as nicely as possible. There is no question that losing a franchise legend like JJ Watt stings, but it is only compounded by the horrendous trade of De’Andre Hopkins last year, way too many valuable assets poured into aging or injury-prone running backs, and to top it all off, the situation with Deshaun Watson surfacing.

There is arguably no roster in the entire league that will look as different in 2021 as the Houston Texans, so what does that mean for their rookie class?

The Texans had a pretty modest 2021 NFL Draft class with no first- or second-round picks.

Houston Texans 2021 NFL Draft class

• 3a. Davis Mills, QB, Stanford
• 3b. Nico Collins, WR, Michigan
• 5a. Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami
• 5b. Garrett Wallow, LB, TCU
• 6. Roy Lopez, DL, Arizona

How quickly will the Houston Texans be expecting these young players to make an impact?

Typically, an NFL team that also had first- and second-round picks might not even expect a third-round draft pick to play right away, but will that be the case for Houston?

With so many new players all over the roster, a new coaching staff, a new general manager, and an opportunity to really evaluate this season, we could see some significant contributions from some of these draft picks.

Here’s how things might end up going.

Davis Mills, QB

Every team that has had Tyrod Taylor has discovered their long-term solution at the quarterback position either shortly after his departure or shortly after his arrival.

That might be a bit of a stretch considering he left the Baltimore Ravens in the 2015 offseason and Baltimore didn’t draft Lamar Jackson until 2018, but Taylor left the Buffalo Bills after the 2017 season, they drafted Josh Allen in the Spring. He joined the Cleveland Browns in 2018, they draft Baker Mayfield. He signs with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019, they draft Justin Herbert in 2020.

Tyrod Taylor signs with the Houston Texans in 2021, and Houston drafts Stanford’s Davis Mills.

What will end up happening with Mills?

Mills only appeared in 14 games at Stanford and started just 11 of those games. A former big-time high school recruit, Mills struggled to get himself fully healthy in order to be on the field consistently.

When he was healthy, Mills showed NFL stuff, obviously.

He’s got size, arm talent, smooth mechanics, and plenty of mobility. With just 11 games under his belt and injury issues in his past, however, what do we really know about Davis Mills as it relates to his NFL prospects?

The Houston Texans are banking quite a bit on his future, picking him with their top overall selection in this draft and a top-70 pick overall.

It’s not like they used a first-round pick on him, or anything, but it’s significant that they didn’t wait to take him, or any other QB for that matter.

I think this speaks volumes to Deshaun Watson’s status for 2021, and there’s a real chance he doesn’t play football at all this year.

If Watson doesn’t play at all, you’ve got to think there is a strong likelihood that we see Davis Mills for a big sample of games.

Unless the Texans open the season 4-0 or something like that with Tyrod Taylor at the helm, I think we’ll get at least five or six starts from Mills at some point in the season so Houston can see what they’ve got before ultimately trading Deshaun Watson, if that becomes a legitimate option again.

Nico Collins, WR

Of all of the Houston Texans’ rookies in the 2021 season, it’s safe to expect Nico Collins to get the most playing time.

The Texans’ wide receiver depth chart is fairly wide open with veterans Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb likely two of the top three, and Collins can cement himself right there as the WR2.

Collins has already made an early impression at Texans OTAs. He’s impressed the coaches by knocking off the rust from opting out of the 2020 season due to concerns over the pandemic.

Learning the playbook and knocking off the rust — that’s all great. Houston won’t be expecting De’Andre Hopkins type of stuff from Collins right away, but they are expecting him to bring big-time playmaking ability right away.

At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Collins clearly didn’t spend his time away from the Michigan program during the pandemic just eating cheeseburgers and donuts.

This guy is an elite athlete.

In studying Donovan Peoples-Jones for the 2020 NFL Draft, it was always Collins who was jumping off the tape and making the biggest plays for the Michigan passing game.

He averaged 19.7 yards per reception in his final year with the Wolverines with seven touchdown catches.

There is undoubtedly WR1 potential here and Houston should be very excited about Collins, even if they paid way too high of a price to move up to get him.

Brevin Jordan, TE

The Houston Texans’ depth chart at the tight end position starts with former third-round pick Jordan Akins, who has done pretty well over the past couple of seasons.

Akins may not be emerging as one of the top tight ends in the league, but he has two straight seasons with 36/37 receptions and over 400 yards. Again, those numbers are not other-worldly and won’t be earning Akins Pro Bowl honors anytime soon, but they are solid.

Although the Texans may have reached on Davis Mills and overpaid to move up for Nico Collins, they got one of the best values in the entire 2021 NFL Draft in Miami tight end Brevin Jordan.

Jordan is a model of versatility at the tight end position, able to line up in-line, motion out into the slot, get into an H-back position, or whatever he’s asked to do. Not only that but Jordan is known for his pass-catching abilities and should be better-known for his blocking skills.

Just like with Nico Collins, there is a pretty clear path to playing time for Brevin Jordan as long as he can get up to speed with the Texans’ offense.

Lucky for him, he is starting out on a pretty even playing field with Jordan Akins in that regard.

We should see Jordan really emerge in his rookie season as one of the Texans’ top two tight ends, and don’t be shocked if he takes over TE1 duties at some point.