The Texans have moved on from David Carr who never lived up to his bast potential.  Part of that was his fault and part of it was the Texans’ inability to put a good offensive line in front of him.  The offensive line will be a weak one again this season and the Texans haven’t done much to improve it, so the new QBs should beware.  The Texans paid a big price for Matt Schaub of the Falcons and he will get his big chance to prove all of the experts right or wrong this season.  Schaub was a backup QB and holder on placekicks last season in Atlanta and he played in all 16 games (0 starts).  In those 16 games, Schaub completed 18 of 27 passes (66.7%) for 208 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions (71.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 7 times for 21 yards (3.0 ypc).  Schaub is allegedly a good passer but we will see if he really is or if it’s hearsay.  Schaub has played in 38 NFL games (2 starts) in his career and he’s completed 84 of 161 passes (52.5%) for 1,033 yards with 6 TD passes and 6 interceptions (69.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 24 times for 123 yards (5.1 ypc) with 0 TD runs.

Sage Rosenfels will be the #2 QB again for the Texans.  He did a good job for them as a backup last season and he would likely have gotten to start a couple of games if he had stayed healthy.  Rosenfels played in 4 games (0 starts) last year for the Texans and he completed 27 of 39 (69.2%) passes for 265 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 interception (103.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 4 times for 5 yards (1.3 ypc).  Rosenfels is a career backup type that would likely struggle if he were forced to start because the defenses would get time to find out his weaknesses and expose them on the field.  Rosenfels has played in 17 games (2 starts) in his career and he’s completed 81 of 148 (54.7%) passes for 1,041 yards with 9 TD passes and 7 interceptions (77.6 QB Rating).  Rosenfels also has carried the football 13 times for 10 yards (0.8 ypc).

Bradlee Van Pelt and undrafted rookie Jared Zabransky will battle it out for the #3 QB job.  Van Pelt might have an edge due to the connections with Kubiak in Denver.  Still, Van Pelt doesn’t have much experience and he’s not as good of a passer as Zabransky is.  Van Pelt has only played in 3 NFL games (0 starts) and he’s only completed 2 of 8 passes (25%) for 7 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (39.6 QB Rating).  He also has carried the football 11 times for 48 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Zabransky does have a good chance to win the #3 job and hold a clipboard.  He could challenge Matt Schaub for the starting job in the future if he makes the team as he should’ve been drafted.

Zach Diles has an impressive skill set for a linebacker.  He is 6′2″, 233 pounds and he can run a 4.6 40.  He can make plays from sideline to sideline with his speed.  He does get pushed around in the power running game and he sometimes overpursues and it leaves him out of position.  In 24 games at Kansas State, Diles played in 24 games (13 starts) and he made 149 tackles, had 5.5 sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, forced 3 fumbles, recovered 1 fumble, intercepted 1 pass and broke up 2 passes.  If nothing else, Diles will be an outstanding special teams player.

The Texans reached for Studdard in the draft as many experts had him going undrafted.  He is an excellent run blocker and he played for the Longhorns so you can see a couple of reasons why he appealed to the Texans.  But, he’s not a good pass blocker and that will likely make him nothing more than a backup player in the NFL.  He started his last 38 games at offensive guard for the Longhorns and he has nice size at 6′2″, 307 pounds.  Don’t expect much from Studdard.

The Texans needed to draft offensive linemen a little earlier than they did but Frye could develop into a decent player.  Frye is a good pass blocker and he’s athletic enough to make blocks in space.  Frye has nice size at 6′4″, 302 pounds and he’s quick as he runs a 4.94 40.  Everything sounds good so far…..now to the negatives.  He plays very soft and often doesn’t finish blocks.  He only started his senior year in college and he doesn’t have much experience at the position.  He only played in 24 games and started 12 of them at Virginia Tech.  He might have to move inside to guard where he would have more help.

The Texans probably got a bargain when they selected Brandon Harrison in the 5th round.  He only slid in the draft because he missed some time last season due to injury.  He has nice size at 6′2″, 215 pounds and he’s got adequate speed as he runs a 4.6 40.  Harrison is also a hard hitter when WRs venture over the middle.  He also will help out on special teams for the Texans.  In 44 games at Stanford, Harrison made 186 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, defensed 16 passes, forced 1 fumble and recovered 3 fumbles.