Battle Red Blog
Imagine if playing QB for the Houston Texans became the Carr family business.
Perhaps one of the biggest post-draft NFL headlines centered on New Orleans Saints’ QB Derek Carr’s retirement. Carr left the NFL as a 4-time Pro Bowler, playing for two franchises: Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints. He amassed a 77-92 record (0-1 playoff record), 257 TDs and 112 INTs.
Maybe Carr never lived up to the promise of being a true franchise QB for either the Raiders or the Saints. Yet, his path might have taken a different turn. There was a chance that maybe Derek followed the path of his older brother, David, and called Houston his first professional home. What if Houston decided to make that happen?
The 2014 draft class didn’t have the can’t-miss QB of 2013 (Andrew Luck). The top QB prospects along with Carr: Blake Bortles (UCF), Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville) and former Heisman Trophy Winner Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M). However, most felt DL Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina) rated the top overall prospect. On night one the draft plays out the same as in reality. Houston goes with Clowney to pair with J.J. Watt to offer one of the most devastating pass rush combinations in the league (that didn’t quite happen). Bortles (3), Manziel (22) and Bridgewater (32) still go in the first round. Thus, when night two opens, Houston against sat in the pole position, able to select the best of the remaining prospects. If Houston wanted a first-round valued QB for a second round price, Carr was right there.
Yet, a couple of things hinders Houston picking Carr. Included in the wreckage of the 2013 was bad offensive line play. The Texans offensive line offered little consistency in 2013, and with a new offensive philosophy, change was inevitable. Plus, BO’B and the new staff felt that Houston lacked a degree of interior toughness in 2013, and bringing in some muscle might fix some long-standing toughness issues.
Then the curse of history. Most remembered older brother David was the first pick of the then-expansion Texans in 2002. Blessed with a rocket arm and good looks, David Carr appeared straight out of central casting for a franchise QB. Unfortunately, Houston forgot the supporting cast of offensive lineman. David Carr suffered five years of pain in Houston, never able to elevate the Texans to where they wanted to go, but also, he left Houston broken after 249 sacks. Thus, the Carr family might have had less-than-warm feelings towards Houston, and the Houston fanbase, disappointed by David Carr’s inability to elevate the team, felt the same about the Carrs.
History is uncertain if the Texans worried too much about the past, but Houston went with OG Xavier Su’a-Filo (XSF) from UCLA, and Derek Carr fell to Oakland a few picks later. XSF graded by some as the best guard in the draft, but he never lived up to the billing. While Carr would not play in Houston, [he later confessed that he was “heart-broken”...
