Texans commit to Savage as starting QB despite drafting Watson

The Houston Texans selected their quarterback of the future Thursday night, but their incumbent starter apparently isn't going anywhere.

Houston traded up 13 spots with the Cleveland Browns to select Deshaun Watson with the No. 12 pick. Watson led Clemson to a national title during his final collegiate season, and some believed he'd be the first quarterback off the board.

Despite the pick, Texans head coach Bill O'Brien and general manager Rick Smith committed to Tom Savage as the franchise's starting quarterback.

"Generally speaking, as a rookie quarterback it's a big jump," O'Brien told reporters Thursday, according to Paul Gallant of CBS Houston. "Tom is our starter. Deshaun will come in, and he's going to work hard, and we're going to teach him and feed him a lot of information. And he'll work at it."

"I don't know that people really believe us," Smith said. "But we're comfortable with Tom Savage as our quarterback. And we've been saying that for the last several months. So he comes in and he does exactly what Bill just described. He learns. He puts his head down and he goes to work. He starts to try to earn the respect of his teammates. He'll try to learn how to play quarterback in pro football."

Houston signed Brock Osweiler to a four-year, $72-million contract in March 2016, but he submitted a disastrous campaign in his lone season with the organization. He was eventually benched in favor of Savage, and then traded to the Browns last month.