Former Patriot Ryan Mallett was Texans Second Choice; Eagles Involved

The New England Patriots traded quarterback Ryan Mallett to the Houston Texans for a 2016 conditional 7th round pick, which can be bumped to a 6th round pick if Mallett plays 40% of the snaps. It was a far cry from the rumored first or second round pick that was in play during draft season and some wondered how the Texans managed to grab Mallett for next to nothing.

Lance Zierlein of Sports Talk 790 in Houston announced some interesting background information on his morning show: Ryan Mallett was the Texans second choice.

It appears that the Texans had reached out to the Philadelphia Eagles to try and acquire their back-up quarterback Matt Barkley.

Of course, this could be just another layer in front office gamesmanship. The Texans know that Bill Belichick and the Patriots are close with the Eagles franchise and Chip Kelly, and that Belichick would hear through the grapevine that a top acquisition target for Mallett was sniffing in a different direction.

Whether or not their interest in Barkley was legitimate, there's a clear chain of responses that led Mallett to the Texans for a possible 7th round pick in a draft that's two years away. The last question is why the heck the Texans needed to give away anything for Mallett since they were at the top of the waiver wire. If no team was going to beat a 2016 7th round pick, it makes you wonder if any team was going to offer anything at all.