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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mark Lane

Dog bites man: Texans last in Touchdown Wire NFL power rankings

The Houston Texans appearing as the No. 32 team in NFL power rankings will be a summertime fixture, at least until preseason games can help erase the perception.

Touchdown Wire released their pre-training camp power rankings, and Mark Schofield went with the crowd and pegged the Texans as the worst team in the league.

Following an off-season of player movement and legal concerns over quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Houston Texans will finally open training camp facing more questions than answers. Watson’s status for the season remains in jeopardy given the ongoing civil litigation against him involving allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. Incoming general manager Nick Caserio did not have a ton of draft capital at his disposal, which makes his decision to use Houston’s first pick in the 2021 NFL draft on quarterback Davis Mills even more fascinating.

Schofield points out that one of the biggest questions for Houston is who will start at quarterback in Week 1: Mills or former Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor? The real question is who will be the starting quarterback by Week 18. Taylor has the edge on Mills, who is not as talented out of the box as Baker Mayfield was in 2018 and Justin Herbert was last year. There is a chance Taylor doesn’t get supplanted by a rookie quarterback after it happened to him with the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers.

New coach David Culley brings positive energy and a consistently sunny approach to the corridors of NRG Stadium. How that can hold up as the Texans go through the normal attrition of an NFL season will reveal what kind of team Houston really has, and their place among the rest of the league.

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