The fact that the best quarterback in the 2014 NFL draft would not be the best value in the draft, should be irrelevant to the Texans. Sure, Clowney might be far and away the best player, might be worth far more money than Johnny Bortleswater, might even be the third coming of Reggie White. (J. J. Watt is already the second coming.) But if there is a clear-cut best QB in the draft, one with a decent chance of quickly becoming a QB who would not cost the team the Super Bowl that the rest of its personnel would give it a chance of reaching, if there is another Jim McMahon of the 85 Bears, the Texans have to choose that QB.
The problem with QBs is that there are mainly only two ways to get a good one: draft high, or get lucky. It is pretty amazing that the Texans have been lousy enough to earn two #1 picks in the thirteen drafts since they got a freebie in their first year as an expansion team. In general, it is very, very hard to get the #1 pick, and even harder to get a shot at the best QB in the draft if you do not have the #1 pick. In other words, the Texans’ chances of getting another shot at drafting the best QB in any draft, now or in the foreseeable future, are very low. If they do not take a QB with #1 this year, we may all be dead before they get their next chance. So, indulging in a Clowney selection means the Texans are reduced to counting on luck (e.g., Russell Wilson in the 3rd round) as their methodology for getting somebody better than Matt Schaub.
On the other hand, if in fact Teddy Footballsworth consists of three equally un-sure things, if none of the three appears to be significantly better than the other two, the choice gets harder. And if the “other” group, Garoppolo/Savage/Carr/Mettenberger/Jeff George (oops, forgot he was retired), is generally rated as being just as good as TeddyJohhnyBlake, the whole picture changes. The point is, if you have somewhere between 3 and 7 QBs who are all decent but of the same general quality, and especially if your assessment of the drafting probabilities of the other 31 teams is that only a few QBs will go in the first round, then the quick answer is that you pair up Clowney and J.J. and tell new coach O’Brien, the reputed QB whisperer, that it is his job to work his magic and turn one of the 7 ugly ducklings into a swan.
My guess is that the Texans have already decided that the 7 ducklings are equally ugly and that they have big eyes for Clowney. And I still think they made a big mistake in saving a couple million by passing on Josh McCown and settling for Ryan Fitzpatrick as the stand-in QB while their drafted QB attends re-education camp.