The Big Lead

Texans Owner Bob McNair Would Rather Submarine His Season Than Sign Colin Kaepernick

By Ryan Phillips

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Houston Texans rookie phenom Deshaun Watson is out for the year after tearing his ACL during practice on Thursday. The young quarterback was in the middle of a stellar season and had the Texans battling for an AFC South title. Now, because owner Bob McNair won’t take a risk, Houston will likely settle for a mediocre finish with the thoroughly-underwhelming Tom Savage at quarterback.

So far this season, Savage has completed 7 of 13 passes for 62 yards. That’s a stout average of 4.8 yards per attempt. Oh, and he was sacked seven times in the one game he started. That is the guy McNair and company will roll with under center. Oh and they signed Matt McGloin on Thursday. Yay?

The thing is, I can guarantee you McNair would rather tank this season than take a shot with the one available quarterback who might be able to replicate what Watson could on the field. The Texans, more than any quarterback-needy team could actually be a good fit for Colin Kaepernick. Instead, they’ll roll with two awful options instead.

We know what McNair thinks of the NFL’s player protests, which were begun by Kaepernick. Because of those feelings, he’s not even going to consider signing a guy who could actually make his team better.

As a reminder, Kaepernick completed 196 of 331 passes (59.2 percent), for 2,241 yards, with 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions in 2016. He also ran for 468 yards and two more scores. He’s better than Tom Savage or Matt McGloin.

If McNair cared more about winning than proving a point, he would have at least brought Kaepernick in for a workout.

I get it, Savage has been with the Texans for a while and knows head coach Bill O’Brien’s offense. So sure, give him the first chance to replace Watson. But does anyone have any level of confidence that he can help the Texans win games? Because I don’t. Kaepernick could have come in as the team’s backup and come in if Savage tanks.

But no, that would take outside-the-box thinking and a willingness to take a risk. It would also take a desire to win football games above all else. That’s clearly not McNair’s priority.