Houston Texans Bench Davis Mills, Name Kyle Allen New Starting QB

Houston Texans have switched quarterbacks, benching Davis Mills and replacing him with Kyle Allen, a former Washington and Carolina player.

HOUSTON -- Kyle Allen is officially the Houston Texans' new starting quarterback heading into Sunday's road game against the Miami Dolphins.

Texans coach Lovie Smith made the announcement formal Friday, days after making the switch Wednesday morning when the former University of Houston and Texas A&M quarterback was simply inserted into practice with the first-team offense as the new starter with Davis Mills benched.

"Kyle will start this week," Smith said. "We've named a starter. To become a starter, we feel you give us the best chance to win. That's why we're in this situation now. I feel like when a guy is the starter he should have an opportunity to show what he is.

"I feel like we have a body of work to go into it this way for this Miami game. What gives us the best chance to win against MIami? It's short-term. This decision is based on that. This is what we think we need to do for this game."

Mills will still be active and operate as the backup behind Allen.

Allen, who has previously played for the Washington franchise and the Carolina Panthers, has a 7-10 career record. The former blue-chip recruit from Arizona has passed for 4,318 yards, 24 touchdowns and 17 interceptions with a 63.1 completion percentage.

Allen was signed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with a maximum value of $3 million during the offseason. He played in two games last season and completed 12 of 19 passes for 120 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. The former undrafted free agent rushed for 11 yards on two carries.

Allen (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) has an 84.9 career passer rating. He has 162 rushing yards and four touchdown runs. He was traded from Carolina to Washington in 2020 and started four games before breaking his ankle. As a freshman at Texas AA&M, he passed for 1,322 yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He passed fro 3,532 yards, 33 touchdowns and 14 interceptions before transferring to Houston where he passed for 751 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions before being replaced by Kyle Postma and declaring early for the NFL draft in 2018.

"Kyle can make all of the throws," Smith said of Allen, who passed for 8,000 yards and 86 touchdowns in high school. "He has a history of good play in the NFL. He's a veteran who's been in situations. He gets rid of the ball quickly. There's a lot of things to like about what Kyle has done.''

Although the change had already been made, Smith repeatedly declined to name a starting quarterback during a press conference Wednesday, citing competitive advantage.

"I do not announce who is starting through the week," Smith said. "We have a starting lineup, the last one that we have. When it changes, we’ll let you know. But during the week, of course we’re not going to announce anything like that. "I think that would give the opponent an advantage. Our starting lineup, as far as you are concerned, and I would have said the same thing three weeks ago, it’s the same one until told otherwise.”

Like Smith, Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, who was involved in the decision, declined to acknowledge that Allen had been named the quarterback.

"No, we haven’t made any changes," Hamilton said then. "I will stay away from hypotheticals. I think all the guys on our gameday roster, we feel like they give us a chance to go and play competitive football.”

Hamilton did say, "Are we getting the results? No. So, all those kind of questions like that, I think you know the answer. It’s no.”

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