Does Texans Rookie QB Davis Mills Have ‘Tom Brady DNA’? – State of The Texans

Rookie quarterback Davis Mills kicked off his NFL career as the official "he's our starting quarterback'' last week with a disappointing 33-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but the Stanford producthad himself a decent game.

And in fact, while the overall reviews surrounding Mills' performance have been generally positive, one former player has gone as far as to compare him to NFL royalty.

"I like him, I think he's far better than the third-round draft pick, and I said this some time ago guys, and I'm not exaggerating and it's always going to sound foolish to people when you have the ability to project the future, but this is the same type of DNA that Tom Brady showed," former Houston Oilers running back Spencer Tillman said.

"He didn't have great skills per se, but his intellect was off the charts and you saw the potential that was there and at that position, there's no more virtue or value that you need to have in your arsenal of talent, your skillset, that the ability to process information."

Comparing Mills to Brady seems ... a little bit of a reach at this stage in his career. Mills has completed 179 of his 272 attempted passes for 1,737 yards, eight touchdowns, and eight interceptions through his nine games (seven starts) so far.

Compared to his fellow rookies, which seems a little more appropriate comp than one with the GOAT, Mills ranks fourth in yardage, third in TDs, fourth in interceptions, and second in quarterback rating (81.1). Mills also has the most 300-yard games to his name with three.

All this, despite having fewer starts than all but one of the rookies (the Niners' Trey Lance).

And something Tillman also pointed out which he also believes to be a positive sign is Mills' choice to play without a crib sheet.

"The fact that he immediately is willing to step up and confront the things that terrify most young quarterbacks; that is listen to what's being articulated in his head," Tillman said. "There's nothing more intimidating than having the fortunes of your entire team in your hands in that moment with no crib sheet. Just the content that came into your helmet, you take that and you go to try to make something happen.

"That's an intimidating situation, but the fact that he's willing to confront that tells me more about him than anything that I've ever seen that's been really put out there to evaluate this young talent."

Whether or not Mills will prove to be anywhere near the realm of Brady is a long way from being realized.

However, forgetting this comparison for a moment, Tillman's point about Mills being worth more than his draft pick is certainly valid. All other rookies who have seen the field this year were first-rounders, and outside of New England's Mac Jones, Mills' performances have been right up there with the rest of them, even better than many.

Certainly, against the Seahawks, he was accurate, looked far more at ease in this offense than earlier in the year, and the timing with his receivers was vastly improved.

If he can continue to show some level of improvement in each of their final four games this year, maybe Mills can cement himself that starting job again next year and really begin his journey to becoming the next ... Tom Brady? Or, at least, a capable first-team QB, which Houston desperately needs.

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Does Texans Rookie QB Davis Mills Have 'Tom Brady DNA'? - State of The Texans