Former Los Angeles Chargers defender Tyrod Taylor reached an agreement on a one-year contract worth up to $ 12.5 million with the Houston Texans, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Taylor will join Deshaun Watson as the only two quarterbacks in the Houston squad. Watson, who signed a contract extension less than six months ago until the 2025 season, told coach David Culley that he does not want to play for Houston going forward.
Watson was frustrated by the process that Houston used to hire general manager Nick Caserio, as Schefter previously reported. On Thursday, Houston said that Texans “are very committed to Deshaun [Watson] as our quarterback “and said the team didn’t have a contingency plan if Watson didn’t report to the training camp.
Upon reaching a one-year contract with Taylor, Houston now has a contingency plan in place if the team chooses to switch Watson or if the quarterback resists.
Taylor signed a two-year, $ 11 million contract with the Chargers in 2019 and, after playing behind Philip Rivers in his first season, he was named starter last season and was named captain.
He was in charge for just one game, however, after a team doctor accidentally punctured his lung with an analgesic injection while trying to treat a rib injury before the Chargers’ Week 2 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. When he was healthy enough to return to the action, he remained on the bench because of the emergence of quarterback Justin Herbert. Chargers’ then coach, Anthony Lynn, considered the decision the most difficult of his life.
Taylor, 31, later decided not to file a complaint against the Chargers.
He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2011 draft and after several injury-filled seasons, he signed with Buffalo Bills in 2015, earning the title from then coach Rex Ryan. He started 43 games for the Bills and was selected for the Pro Bowl in 2015, when he set career records with 3,035 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes, throwing just six interceptions. He also ran for 568 yards and 4 touchdowns. Bills traded him to the Cleveland Browns in 2018, where he started the first three games before losing his job to Baker Mayfield in a Week 3 game against the New York Jets.
In 10 seasons of the NFL, he passed 9,770 yards with 54 touchdowns and 20 interceptions and ran 1,850 yards and 16 touchdowns.
ESPN’s Sarah Barshop and Shelley Smith contributed to this report.