Deshaun Watson was the Texans’ pick, but he might not be the starter

The Houston Texans traded next year’s first-round selection to the Cleveland Browns to move up and select quarterback Deshaun Watson with the 12th overall pick. Still, head coach Bill O’Brien and general manager Rick Smith say Tom Savage is still the Texans’ starter.

Watson was the third quarterback off the board, following Mitchell Trubisky to the Bears at No. 2 and Patrick Mahomes to the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 10. Watson has a track record of winning in college, but like the rest of the prospects in this draft class, needs some development to become a true franchise quarterback.

Watson is talented, and O’Brien said via the team’s website that Watson’s winning ways were a factor in picking him.

“He’s a winner, 33-5 as a college quarterback, national champion,” O’Brien said after the selection was made. “When I met him at the combine, very poised guy. I felt that he was a guy that answered the questions very honestly, had a good memory, good recall of specific plays that happened during his college career.”

Still, he’ll have a learning curve as he adjusts to the timing and footwork associated with taking snaps under center, which is something he wasn’t called upon to do much in college. That’s the reason the team doesn’t want to force him into starting when he isn’t ready.

Watson’s leadership and work ethic were also factor’s in the Texans’ decision to trade up for him, and Smith thinks that will help Watson get up to speed.

“He comes in, he learns, puts his head down and goes to work,” Smith said. “Starts to try to earn the respect of his teammates to try to learn how to play quarterback in pro football.

Savage does have three years of experience, with two career starts, both of which came last season as Brock Osweiler struggled.

“Right now, we’re very comfortable with where we are with the quarterback position with Tom,” Smith said. “Tom is going to continue. I like Tom’s potential in this offense.”

Savage reached out to his new teammate right away.

Houston clearly believe its found the franchise quarterback of the future in Watson, and it’s still possible he will go into training camp and earn the starting role. But giving Watson time to develop and putting him in a position to compete for the top spot on the depth chart isn’t a bad thing.