Ryan Mallett trade: was it worth it?

Stew Milne/US Presswire

Yesterday, Ryan Mallett was traded to the Houston Texans for a 6th round pick. A shock? Definitely not. It's clear that the Patriots had chosen Jimmy Garappolo as the heir apparent to Tom Brady if and when Brady retires. A good move? Yes. It makes sense for all parties involved.

For Mallett, he gets a chance to start. He's been backing up Tom Brady his entire career to date and he finally gets a chance to start at a team that needs a quarterback. In his limited game time, he hasn't shown anything that has screamed "I'm the guy to replace Brady." And for the Patriots, it's clear they didn't see enough from Mallett in preseason this year to keep him over Jimmy Garoppolo. As I said above, it's clear they decided to go with Garappolo as the quarterback of the future, so Mallett leaving was an inevitability. They could have let him walk without getting anything in return, but a 6th round pick is better than nothing.

And for the Texans part, they're thin at quarterback. While Mallett barely has any experience in 3 years in the league, the Texans will be hoping he learned some tricks from Tom Brady that will translate well as a starter with them. Who knows how successful he'll actually be, but at least Mallett will get a chance to play, which I'm sure he'll be happy about after being a bench warmer for 3 years.