The Houston Texans head into another offseason with QB uncertainty

Last season, Houston Texans’ quarterback Brock Osweiler failed to live up to the high expectations that came with his $18 million salary. As a result of his poor performance, the Texans may look to move on from Osweiler in the 2017 season.

One route that most teams use to find a quarterback is the NFL Draft. The Texans, however, have usually chosen not to take a quarterback in the draft.

The Texans have turned to free agency for their starting quarterback the last three seasons, bringing in Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2014, Brian Hoyer in 2015 and Osweiler in 2016.

This year, however, some experts expect the Texans to finally take a quarterback early in the draft due to the low level of talent available to them in free agency. The failed Osweiler experiment may have also made the front office weary of spending a lot of money on an unproven quarterback again.

The problem the Texans will face if they want to get a quarterback in the draft is that they do not get to make a selection until late in the first round at pick no. 25. This spot makes it difficult to get a good quarterback because the best ones usually go early in the first round; both of the first two overall picks in last year’s draft were quarterbacks.

The Texans also have the option to trade up in the draft in order to acquire a higher pick to take the quarterback that they want. However, this route is the most unlikely due to the large number of draft picks they will have to trade away in order to move up in the first round.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson of the Clemson Tigers, the 2017 NCAA champions, is regarded by many as the best quarterback in the draft and could be a solution for the Texans should they decide to trade up in the draft. North Carolina Quarterback Mitch Trubisky is also an option, but he is projected to be the no. 1 overall pick in recent mock drafts.

There is also the unusual situation of Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys’ 36-year-old quarterback, who is likely to be looking for a new team this season after rookie quarterback Dak Prescott took over the starting role when Romo was injured. Romo is currently under contract with the Cowboys, but he is expected to be released and become a free agent.

Romo has had a productive career and has been named to the Pro Bowl four times. What makes Romo’s situation rare is that quarterbacks of his pedigree do not usually become available to other teams.

There has been buzz recently around the possibility of Romo joining the Texans’ line up next season, as many NFL analysts see Romo as a perfect fit and a short-term solution to the Texans’ biggest weakness.

There are, however, many red flags when it comes to acquiring Romo, who is in the twilight of his career. He is always a risk to miss many games due to his tendency of being injured throughout his career. Romo was injured for much of 2015 and 2016 after breaking his collarbone in both of the last two seasons.

Despite Romo’s age and injury concerns, he has the best track record of any quarterback the Texans have a chance at acquiring this offseason.

There is also the possibility that the Texans do nothing at all with the quarterback position and decide to give Osweiler one more chance to prove himself next season.

Texans fans will have to wait until the start of free agency March 9 and the NFL draft April 27 to see which of the many directions the Texans will take to address their quarterback situation.