Former Arkansas star quarterback Ryan Mallett’s days of sitting behind NFL legend Tom Brady are over.

The Patriots made it obvious that Mallett, a 3rd round draft pick in 2011, was not to be the successor to the 37-year-old Brady when they drafted Jimmy Garoppolo this year in the 2nd round. The pick was colored by many draft analysts as a reach at the time, they expected the Eastern Illinois, a college that belongs to the lowly FCS division rather than FBS, quarterback to fall into the mid-rounds. But Garoppolo has shown up his critics by playing well in the preseason.

Understandably content with Garoppolo as Brady’s backup and eventual replacement, the Patriots have squeezed some value out of Mallett in the form of a 6th round draft pick from the Houston Texans. A late-rounder is a small price to pay for the Texans, who are in desperate need of starter-quality quarterback.

Matt Schuab was terrible last year and got traded away to Oakland in the offseason. The Texans then picked up career backup Ryan Fitzpatrick to be their starter, with the only other QBs on the roster being rookie Tom Savage and 2013 undrafted free agent Case Keenum.

Those three players did not inspire a lot of confidence in the Texans chances of being successful in 2014. Houston has a lot of good pieces on their team, especially defensive end J.J. Watt, who is arguably the best player in the entire NFL, and 2014 first overall pick Jadeveon Clowney, who will also be a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. Throw in future hall of fame wide receiver Andre Johnson and there’s a lot to like about this Houston squad.

But there is no position more important in football than quarterback. Mallett will get every opportunity to take over as starting quarterback in Houston, a position he never had the slimmest chance of achieving in New England barring injury Brady. The Texans will hope Mallett can make the absolute most out of this opportunity.