The New England Patriots have traded quarterback Ryan Mallett to the Houston Texans in an expected move that had been mentioned in rumors for months and now the former backup to Tom Brady could challenge Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter in Houston after previously working with head coach Bill O'Brien in New England when he was QB coach and he could be a worthy fantasy football pickup.
The Texans appear set to start the season with Fitzpatrick at quarterback, but the team has been mentioned since back at the NFL draft as a team interested in Mallett and a deal came down as teams are trimming rosters to 53 players. According to Pro Football Talk, the Patriots and the Texans have agreed on a trade for Mallett and the compensation going the other way is a seventh round pick and that is a solid return. Mallett was drafted as a backup for Tom Brady and he has handled that job well, but the team drafted Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round and now he is poised to take over.
The Patriots have been interested in trading Mallett for a while, since they have not taken on three quarterbacks into the season in quite some time. Mallett is potentially a starter option for the Texans and since he was heading into the final year of his contract, the Patriots knew they likely would not sign him back. Belichick picked Mallett in the fourth round and ended up getting a sixth back and now Jimmy Garoppolo can get the chance to step in as the backup for Brady and potentially his replacement one day.
Mallett has been mentioned in connection with the Texans for quite some time and he has had limited playing time in his career, which is to be expected with Brady the starter. The Texans gave Fitzpatrick some guaranteed money so he is sticking around and likely will be the starter in Week 1, but if he struggles there is a good chance that Mallett gets the starting job. Last season the team used Matt Schaub and Case Keenum and now Keenum could end up as a cut player, since the team will not keep four QBs and they are not cutting Tom Savage after just drafting him this year.
The Texans are coming off of a 2-14 season and they are looking to bounce back while the Patriots were hoping to get anything they could for Mallett, since there was chance they would cut him. The team values its roster spots and Mallett taking up one as the third quarterback probably was too much for Belichick. The team had a solid backup and a player that caused no trouble for four seasons and now they have a rookie coming in and a draft pick for Mallett.
