Russ Lande of Sports on Earth reports that “trusted sources” have informed him that the Houston Texans are “leaning towards” taking either UCF QB Blake Bortles or Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel with their No. 1 overall pick.
According to Lande, new Texans HC Bill O’Brien isn’t sold on Manziel due to his work ethic and intangibles and how that would impact the face of a franchise.
As for Bortles, if he’s their guy, Lande believes they should consider possibly moving down the board a few spots and allow someone to trade up for one of the other quarterbacks or possibly even Jadeveon Clowney.
The Texans are widely expected to release QB Matt Schaub at some point in the next few months. However, Lande mentions that releasing Schaub is “no done deal.” At least until they are fully confident in one of the quarterback prospects available in the draft.
Schaub stands to make up to $11 million depending on roster bonuses, and counts $14.125 million against the team’s 2014 salary cap. Releasing Schaub would free up about $3.6 million or so, which is something that they could really use to address other areas of need.
It’s still very earlier on in the draft process, so things could change drastically by the time May rolls around. It appears as though Bortles is gaining some traction for the top overall selection and we actually have the Texans going that route in our most recent 2014 NFL Mock Draft.
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