Former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor has agreed to a $ 12.5 million one-year deal with the Houston Texans, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Taylor will join Deshaun Watson as the only two fullback on Houston’s team. Watson, who signed an extension to his contract that goes through the 2025 season less than six months ago, told coach David Culley that he does not want to play for Houston in the future.
Watson was frustrated by the process that Nick Caserio, general manager of Houston, appointed, as Schefter reported earlier. On Thursday, Houston said the Texans “are very committed to Deshaun. [Watson] as our fullback ”and said the team did not have a contingency plan if Watson did not report to training camp.
By reaching a one-year deal with Taylor, Houston now has a contingency plan in place if the team decides to trade Watson or if the quarterback will hold on.
Taylor signed a $ 11 million deal with the Chargers in two years in 2019 and after playing his first season there behind Philip Rivers, he was named starter last season and made a captain.
However, he only started one game after a team doctor accidentally stabbed his lung with a pain shot while trying to treat a rib injury ahead of the Chargers’ Week 2 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. When he was healthy enough to return to action, he stayed on the bench due to the rise of quarterback Justin Herbert. The then Chargers coach, Anthony Lynn, called the decision the most difficult of his life.
Taylor, 31, later decided not to file a grievance against the Chargers.
He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2011 draft and after several seasons of injuries, he signed with the Buffalo Bills in 2015, earning the starting coach for Rex Ryan. He started 43 games for the Bills and was selected for the Pro Bowl in 2015 when he hit career highs with 3,035 runs and 20 times, while throwing just six interceptions. He also rushed 568 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Bills traded him to the Cleveland Browns in 2018, where he started the first three games before losing the job to Baker Mayfield in a Week 3 game against the New York Jets.
In ten NFL seasons, he passed for 9,770 yards with 54 touchdowns and 20 interceptions and he rushed for 1850 yards and 16 touchdowns.
ESPN’s Sarah Barshop and Shelley Smith contributed to this report.