HOUSTON -- Ryan Mallett didn't want to go anywhere else, and he made that known to his agents.
"That is one thing I told them," Mallett said. "Make sure -- I want to be here at all costs, if at all possible, and that’s what we ended up doing."
Mallett is expected to be joined by Brian Hoyer shortly, and neither has any guarantees coming into the 2015 season. Mallett will be in a competition for the Texans' starting job after a strong initial audition in the one (mostly) healthy game he played for the Texans against the Cleveland Browns. Hoyer was the quarterback on the other side that day, and Mallett came out on top.
The pending competition doesn't bother him.
"Our football team is based on competition," Mallett said. "I don’t think the quarterback position should be treated any differently. I can’t wait to get out here with the guys, go to work and get going."
Does he think he can win it to become the Texans quarterback, and perhaps a playoff quarterback?
"I have no doubt in my mind I can be," Mallett said. "I just gotta go to work and stay healthy and do the right things day to day and be an NFL quarterback. That’s what I wanted to do. I got the chance to do it in a great city so I’m excited."
When Mallett got his first opportunity to start an NFL game, he mused that at times he wondered if that day would ever come. It came and went because of a torn pectoral muscle he suffered that required surgery. He's still working through the rehab for that injury and says it's going well. Now he'll get an opportunity for a legitimate competition to win back that job.
"I feel like we’re really building something here," Mallett said. "We got a lot to build on and I want to be a part of it."
