Niner Noise
FanSided

Why Colin Kaepernick Should Now Sign with the Houston Texans

By Akash Anavarathan

facebooktwitterreddit

After Tony Romo’s departure from the Dallas Cowboys to CBS, the Houston Texans’ market for a quarterback to a major hit. With Colin Kaepernick still looking to find a home in 2017, here’s why he should now sign with Houston.

On Tuesday morning, ESPN was reporting Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be retiring and taking a role at CBS as an analyst.

Before this announcement, many assumed Romo would be traded, with the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans as the leading contenders.

Although Romo-to-Denver rumors were being floated around, Broncos’ GM John Elway said they were happy with their quarterback situation and wouldn’t look elsewhere.

As for the Texans, they traded away QB Brock Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns earlier this month. They currently have quarterbacks Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden on their roster.

According to Romo himself, the Texans were at the top of his wish list, if he were to continue playing (h/t Ian Rapoport of NFL Network):

The Texans desperately need an improvement at quarterback. With Romo off the market, that should leave Colin Kaepernick as the front-runner.

Kaepernick has not drawn much interest on the open market so far. John Lynch mentioned the ex-49ers QB was close to signing elsewhere, but the deal fell through. Other than that, Kaepernick’s name has not been tied to other teams.

On the outside, it seemed like the Texans had all their chips in with Tony Romo. But with his retirement, they’ll have to look elsewhere.

Houston finished 9-7 this past season with an AFC South division title. They blew past the Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders on Wild Card weekend, but their run ended at the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots the week after.

Their quarterback play all year was abysmal between Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage. The Texans ranked 28th in the NFL in scoring and 29th in yards.

Houston should be much better than their numbers show, with offensive-minded head coach Bill O’Brien, receiving weapons DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller IV and running back Lamar Miller.

More from SF 49ers News

On the other hand, the Texans had the No. 1 overall defense in terms of yards allowed. So theoretically, with a little better quarterback play, the Texans should be able to advance further than they did this previous season.

Colin Kaepernick is exactly the guy that’ll be able to do that in 2017. Although he was part of a 2-14 team in 2016, his numbers were a little better than the record shows.

Kaepernick finished 2016 with a 59.2 completion percentage, nearly 2,200 passing yards and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 16 to four.

Although he might not be the same player he was in 2012, while leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl, Kaepernick’s capable of playing better than Osweiler and Savage did last season.

With Hopkins, Fuller and Miller at his disposal, Kaepernick should be able to manage the Texans offense. Compared NFC West, Kaepernick will also face weaker defenses in Tennessee and Indianapolis.

Next: The Perfect Pair in the 2017 NFL Draft

In the past few years, we’ve seen amazing defenses carry average quarterback play, such as Denver in 2015 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2013. So why can’t that be Houston in 2017?

With Colin Kaepernick at the helm, they can sure take the next step forward.