3 ‘what if’ moves that would have changed the NFL as we know it

The internet collectively made the Russell Westbrook face when Bill O’Brien insisted earlier this week that the Houston Texans didn’t regret passing on Derek Carr.

“We evaluated all the quarterbacks in that draft and we felt like he was definitely one of the better quarterbacks,” O’Brien said of Carr, via the Houston Chronicle. “When it comes to the draft, Rick and I, we just try to make the decision for the team and that’s what we did. We chose who we chose and we’re happy with who we chose, but Derek is having a good year.”

Yeah. Sure.

The Texans average an NFL-worst 187.3 passing yards per game, and the team’s four-year, $72 million investment in the offseason, Brock Osweiler, hasn’t come close to living up to the big paycheck. A week ago, he couldn’t even eclipse 100 passing yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So O’Brien claiming the Texans are perfectly happy with not having an MVP candidate in a Houston uniform certainly rings hollow.

The Texans picked guard Xavier Su’a-Filo instead of Carr, but the reality is that the Texans never even considered taking the former Fresno State quarterback.

With the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NFL Draft, Houston picked his older brother, David Carr, and stuck with him as starter for five seasons while he posted a 22-53 record. It may have been the tough memories of losing seasons with his older brother that dissuaded them from taking another Carr. But whatever the reason, the Texans didn’t even toy with the idea.

“They never talked to me,” Derek Carr said of the Texans on Thursday, via the San Jose Mercury News. “I never talked one word to a Houston scout, G.M., coach, anything. So I’m just happy to be here, I can tell you that.”

The Texans will get a close-up look at the player they could’ve picked when they meet the Oakland Raiders in a Monday Night Football game in Mexico City. But it’s not the only ‘what if?’ game of the weekend.

There are three other matchups featuring teams facing quarterbacks they had the chance to scoop up.

It’s hard to imagine Ben Roethlisberger in anything other than black and yellow. He’s in his 13th season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and closing in on his 11th consecutive season with at least 3,000 passing yards.

The Cleveland Browns have had just four seasons since 1991 with a quarterback finishing with more than 3,000 passing yards. But in the 2004 NFL Draft, the Browns had the chance to take Roethlisberger. They took tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. instead.

“When Cleveland passed on me, technically my hometown team, that was it,” Roethlisberger told ESPN in April. “I couldn’t wait to have a team and play the Browns at some point. Funny how it works out I’d go to Pittsburgh and play them twice a year.”

This week, Roethlisberger told reporters he thought he was going to be drafted by the Browns. Instead, he went to a rival and has a 20-2 record against the Browns over his career.

But it could’ve been different if the Cleveland quarterback situation wasn’t so jumbled at the time. The Browns were still paying off the seven-year contract Tim Couch received as the No. 1 pick in the 1999 NFL draft, and the team had just signed Jeff Garcia, who was one year removed from three consecutive Pro Bowl seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2000 to 2002.

That meant the Ohio native didn’t get to play for the hometown team, and that worked out for the best for him. It didn’t work out so well for the Browns.

Unlike a first-round pick like Roethlisberger, there were a lot of teams that can sit and regret not taking Russell Wilson. Only the Oakland Raiders didn’t have a first- or second-round pick to take Wilson. Every other team selected another player with Wilson on the board.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have caught plenty of flak for taking punter Bryan Anger five picks before the Seattle Seahawks pulled the trigger with pick No. 75. But it was the Philadelphia Eagles who most rued the pick made by the Seahawks.

“[Former Eagles coach] Andy [Reid] called us right after the pick and gave [Seahawks GM] John [Schneider] some trouble about it,” Pete Carroll told reporters, via FOX Sports. “They’re old friends. But we were really sweating it out ... He was just giving John a hard time for taking his guy.”

The Eagles, like many other teams, had their chance to take Wilson earlier. With the No. 46 and 59 overall selections, Philadelphia took a pair of defenders, and by the time No. 88 rolled around, they settled for Nick Foles instead.

Foles started 24 games for the Eagles and even made a Pro Bowl, but his career obviously pales in comparison to Wilson, who has a 52-20-1 record with the Seahawks to go with 116 touchdowns and 36 interceptions.

With Carson Wentz looking like a promising player for the Eagles’ future, Philadelphia doesn’t need to be nearly as regretful as the Browns with Roethlisberger. Still, the Eagles were just 13 picks away from getting ‘their guy’ in 2012, and the NFC East could look much different today if they did.

Unlike the others, there’s no Photoshop necessary to see Brady in some San Francisco 49ers gear. Some old photo albums from the Brady family do the trick.

Brady grew up rooting for the 49ers and was even in the crowd for Joe Montana’s iconic throw to Dwight Clark known now as “The Catch.” But plenty of players don’t end up getting to suit up in the colors of their childhood favorite. And Brady’s time with the New England Patriots has certainly served him well.

But he had plenty of reason to think the 49ers could’ve been the team to call him up during the 2000 NFL draft.

Concussions ruined Steve Young’s 1999 season and eventually forced retirement before the 2000 season began, and Jeff Garcia hadn’t given the 49ers much reason to be hopeful with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions during a 4-12 year.

Garcia’s play improved dramatically in 2000, but the 49ers still drafted Hofstra quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi in the third round and Louisiana Tech quarterback Tim Rattay in the seventh round. Between those two quarterbacks, Brady went off the board to the Patriots in the sixth round.

“I’ll never forget I worked out for the 49ers back when I was coming out in 2000,” Brady told reporters earlier this week. “They obviously went in a different direction. And that’s, I’m very happy where I ended up. And I think was very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time with the Patriots.”

The 49ers were as quarterback-needy as it gets that year, and they whiffed on taking one of the NFL’s all-time greatest at the position.

Maybe in another dimension the Browns are perennial contenders in the AFC North with Ben Roethlisberger shaking off Pittsburgh defenders. And maybe Tom Brady is wrapping up a lengthy and decorated career as the latest and greatest quarterback for a franchise that had Montana and Young before him.

That dimension might also feature Russell Wilson beating up on the rest of the NFC East with the Philadelphia Eagles and Derek Carr shredding AFC South defenses for the Houston Texans.

But instead, all four quarterbacks will face those teams in Week 11. And all four can feel good about the spots where they landed.