HOUSTON – The Texans have secured their backup quarterback for another year, securing a valuable insurance policy behind starter and Pro Bowl passer C.J. Stroud.
The defending AFC South champions signed quarterback Davis Mills, Stroud’s backup, to a one-year, fully guaranteed $7 million contract extension through the 2025 season, according to a league source. He was previously signed to a one-year, $5 million extension last year.
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“I think the backup position is extremely valuable,” Mills said last year. “Anything can happen. That’s the mindset I’ve carried ever since I got here, preparing every day like you are the starter. If you ever get your shot, don’t break your stride and you keep the offense rolling. You’ve got to be on your job and run the offense efficiently.”
Mills (6-foot-4, 225 pounds) has a 5-19-1 record as a starter, with all of those starts before the arrival of coach DeMeco Ryans as the Texans had losing records in 2021 and 2022.
“If something happens to your starter, (if), you don’t have guys behind him who can go out and perform and keep the team moving, then, most of the time, your season is just done,” Ryans said. “I feel really good about Davis. Davis has had the best camp that I’ve seen since he’s been here.”
Mills’ comeback victory he engineered over the Indianapolis Colts in the final game of the 2022 season meant the Texans would draft second overall instead of first, and they used that pick to select Stroud, a Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after his first season. In that game, he passed for 298 yards and three touchdown passes and a game-winning two-point conversion pass to tight end Jordan Akins.
The rapport and friendship between Mills and Stroud keeps growing each year.
With Stroud here, Mills has passed for 385 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
“Me and Davis have created a great relationship when I first came in,” Stroud said. “He’s always been really quiet, but, as time has went on, he’s definitely helped me out a ton. He helps me out not only on the field, but off. We have our little dinners and whatnot and just being able to talk to him and his wife and see where they come from and just really have brotherhood and fellowship has been amazing in that quarterback room, which I think is huge.
“So, I’m very excited for him, very happy for him. He’s grown as a player in my opinion, just in this offense, of owning it, owning his role and doing the things for the team to get better. I’m very happy and proud of him.”
Why sign a backup deal in Houston rather than perhaps look for an opportunity to compete elsewhere? It’s a fair question. It comes back to Mills being happy where his cleats are and having made a home in Houston with his wife. Mills recently announced the couple is expecting their first child.
“I think I’m still young in my career,” Mills said when he signed his last extension. “Hopefully, opportunities down the road will come. As of now, I’m really focused on what’s going on with the Texans organization and what I can do right here to make my teammates around me better and make myself better every day. Houston has been great to be. It’s been a lot of fun seeing how the team has progressed and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
It’s evident how much Mills has improved. He was sharper and more commanding. He appeared to be a bit more vocal than the past. And he played a lot faster, operating the offense like a basketball point guard.
“Thank you, I think the big thing is this is my first season in the same scheme two years in a row,” Mills said. “A lot of that builds on itself. My mindset always has been to go out there and react, play quarterback, be a facilitator. Everything is going to happen post-snap. A lot of our progressions are based on, if the first guy isn’t open, get through it and be efficient.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com