Should the Houston Texans Release Matt Schaub?

By Patrick Conn on January 21, 2013

With Houston’s season over it’s that time of year to take a look at the current roster, mainly let’s look at Matt Schaub.  The question on my mind is should the Texans’ keep him on the roster or not?  They did make it to the divisional round last season with rookie third-string quarterback TJ Yates. 

Yates came out of nowhere last year, being a fifth-round pick out of North Carolina and behind Matt Leinart on the depth chart.  Yates had a 3-4 record last season, postseason included, and is not that far behind Schaub’s .530 winning percentage.  Now you could make the case based on age.  By opening kickoff in September, Schaub will be 32 years of age, compared 26 for Yates.  Where it could get tricky to remove Schaub would be his contract.

Schaub signed a four year $60 million extension at the beginning of this season, so you have an average of $15 million a season till 2017.  If Houston expects to contend for years to come they cannot afford that kind of cap hit.  There is the possibility of a trade with teams that need a quarterback.  Kansas City, Arizona, New York Jets or even Philadelphia comes to mind but what would it cost them? 

Going with Yates over Schaub is a little far-fetched, it’s not like we have a Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith situation here.  You will have to deal with a lot of growing pains if Houston goes with Yates; he wasn’t tearing up defenses in Schaub’s absence.  Where Houston should be concerned is finding a complimentary number two wide receiver across from Andre Johnson or a big play tight end.

Either way Gary Kubiak, it’s your move.