Deshaun Watson's emotional evening culminated in the 12th overall selection of Thursday night's first round.
But as expected, the hard work is just beginning.
Despite sacrificing nearly all of their high-end draft capital in 2018 to clear out the quarterback room and make the trade up to get Watson, the Texans are insisting that Tom Savage is still Houston's starting quarterback.
"We've said all along that we feel comfortable with Tom Savage," Texans general manager Rick Smith told NFL Network's James Palmer on* NFLÂ Total Access*Â after the first round of the draft on Thursday night. "Tom Savage, in this offense, knows how to operate this offense. So that's our expectation. Deshaun comes in and learns. I think he has some things to improve on. But we're in a good situation where we do feel good about Tommy at the position. We'll let Deshaun come in and learn, compete and do all those things we do at every other position on the football team."
For now, Watson seems eager to learn from the veterans on the team.
"They have a lot of weapons," Watson told Texans reporters Thursday, via comments distributed by the team. "They can spread you out. There's so many different things you can do from what I've seen and I've learned from Coach (Bill) O'Brien over the visits. They have a great defense. A great O-line, great weapons around me. For me, all I need to do is keep my head down, don't say anything, learn from all the veteran guys, learn from Tom Savage, learn from Brandon Weeden and just play my role, whatever role that is, play it well and help the team out, win."
The problem with this scenario is there is no smooth transition of power in the NFL. Year in and year out, we digest countless quarterback selections and envision a regal, crown-passing ceremony from one quarterback to the other. The one example of this going well in the past decade might have been Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre, and even that got uncomfortable and ugly before it paid off.
Savage watched an opportunity slip through his fingers last year after getting injured before Houston's playoff game against New England -- a game that was within the Texans' grasp. He's not going to roll over for Watson, but will the Texans roll over Savage given how much they've already invested in their 'quarterback of the future?'
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