Houston Texans Announce Their Starting Quarterback—and It's Not Deshaun Watson

With the NFL set to make its triumphant return on Thursday night, now would be the opportune time for coaches to put a ring on it by announcing their starting quarterbacks for the upcoming season. Cam Newton learned his fate in New England last week, and now it’s Deshaun Watson’s turn to find out if we’ll be seeing him on the field while he’s tied up in an unprecedented legal battle.

As we’ve previously reported at The Root, over 20 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and/or sexually inappropriate behavior that occurred during private massage sessions; 10 of whom have filed complaints with the Houston police. And now that the FBI is officially involved in the investigation, it appears that the Texans would much rather bench Watson in order to protect his value in an inevitable trade than deal with the headache of playing him under these circumstances and risk public backlash or him incurring serious injury.

On Sunday, Texans head coach David Culley named his starter at quarterback, and in what should come as a surprise to no one, journeyman Tyrod Taylor got the green light.

“#Texans coach David Culley tells reporters that Tyrod Taylor will start at QB, which confirms what appeared clear: Deshaun Watson will sit on the roster but not play,” tweeted NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

Rapoport then made an appearance on the NFL Network to further explain the bleak situation in Houston.

“Deshaun Watson is still on the roster, [he’s] probably not gonna play this year barring some sort of dramatic change,” he said. “Unless the Texans do something as you go into the year, [they’ll] probably try to trade him next offseason and we’ll be doing this all over again.”

While I’m sure Taylor is grateful for the opportunity to prove he can still provide value at the position, this is also a guy who somehow always ends up in the worst possible situations to do so. Case in point: the Texans are a sweltering dumpster fire, with most NFL experts projecting them to finish this season with the worst record in the league. There’s also the fact that the last time the 32-year-old was named a starter (for the Los Angeles Chargers last season), he lost his job only because a team doctor punctured his lung while administering an injection for his cracked ribs.

You can’t make this shit up.

It’s going to be a looooooooooooong season in Houston, with this Deshaun Watson situation unlikely to end anytime soon.