Houston Texans Friday Fades: DeAndre Hopkins, Ryan Mallett

Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) warms up. Can he hit up DeAndre Hopkins in his first career start? Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Texans are in the middle of the bye week, and they are also in the middle of the pack in the NFL with a 4-5 record after dropping a 31-21 contest to the Philadelphia Eagles last week. It was a game they were never supposed to win, and most of the teams they have beaten this season have been easy foes. They did, however, record a semi-impressive victory over the Buffalo Bills, and the fact that they have four wins is a huge positive. Not only are they rebuilding under new head coach Bill O’Brien after being the NFL’s worst team last season, but they are also posting a near-.500 record with a true franchise quarterback.

After benching Ryan Fitzpatrick, it’s clear that the Texans are trying to see if Ryan Mallett can be that guy, because they didn’t acquire him from the New England Patriots to sit him behind a player whom they know is a career stopgap (Fitzpatrick). Although the Texans didn’t really give up anything in order to acquire Mallett, he is in a contract year, so it’s pretty much now or never. I mean, there was no better time to make the switch than now, as the Texans are on a bye week.

1. What to expect from Mallett

The rationale for starting Mallett was already introduced in the above paragraph, but there’s just a little bit more to it. If Mallett fails, the Texans can always comfortably go back to Fitzpatrick, or they can ride him the rest of the way to a higher draft pick, which would give them a better shot at snagging a viable franchise QB, unless if they are believers in Tom Savage (I’m not, but I haven’t watched him at practices or absorbing the playbook).

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Mallett’s first start will come in Week 11 against the Cleveland Browns, and that definitely isn’t an easy way to make your first start in this league. Mallett made some cameo appearances in New England and briefly appeared in a game this year, but Week 11 will be a defining game for a former third-round pick who did nothing to inspire positivity with his erratic preseason displays.

Helping Mallett is the fact that the has three highly skilled weapons around him, as the Texans have one of the top five backs in the NFL in Arian Foster, as well as an elite wide receiver duo of DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Johnson. The pass protection has been a disappointment this season, but Mallett has enough weapons to make up for it. That said, the fact that he is a statue in the pocket and showed little pocket awareness in New England is concerning, but hopefully QB guru O’Brien has worked with him on that. If his arm talent is as good as we think it is (based on what we saw at Arkansas), then he should be able to do a competent job of feeding Johnson and Hopkins, who has been on a tear lately.

2. Nuke balling out

Last season, I wrote that DeAndre Hopkins would have received a lot more love if he played on an offense with a legitimate quarterback, especially since Johnson was being fed way more often. Johnson hogged targets early this season, but it’s been Hopkins who has impressed the most over the last three weeks. I mean, take a look at the numbers. Hopkins has had 115, 95, and 108 receiving yards in each of his past three games, and he’s needed just six, five, and six receptions, respectively, to put up those yardage totals. There’s no doubt that the former Clemson star can make big plays, and he’s averaging 16.3 yards per reception after averaging 15.4 yards per catch as a rookie.

It’s incredible to think that Hopkins is averaging 76 yards per game this season with four touchdowns, and he’s on pace for over 1,200 receiving yards. I think he’s a legitimate No. 1-type talent in this league, and I hope I’m not alone in this praise. Johnson takes plenty of pressure off of him, but Hopkins is an absolute beast, and, per the Pro Football Focus, only renowned vertical threat DeSean Jackson has a higher catch rate on throws of at least 20 yards downfield than Hopkins. Now that’s impressive.