The Texans added to their quarterback room on Saturday afternoon when they picked Florida's Graham Mertz in the sixth round at 197th overall.
Mertz, who spent the past two seasons in Gainesville after beginning his career at Wisconsin, celebrated with friends and family at his home in Kansas City. He was thrilled to get the call from Houston.
"It means everything," Mertz said. "I went on a visit there and obviously met with everybody, and they're just great people. You know what they're about. You know what you're going to get with the team. Hearing that Houston picked me really fired me up."
In five games last season with the Gators, Mertz completed 76.6 percent of his passes for 791 yards, with six touchdown passes to just a pair of interceptions. In 2023, Mertz tossed 20 touchdowns and just a trio of picks, and finished with 2,903 passing yards. He completed 72.9 percent of his passes that year.
"Playing the position of quarterback, that's the biggest thing: it's accuracy," Mertz said. "It's anticipation. It's being able to really dissect the defense and attack their weaknesses. That's something you want to try to hang your hat on as a quarterback is being an accurate person."
Mertz spent 2019 through 2022 at Wisconsin. In all, he played in 48 career games in college, and threw a touchdown in 31 of his final 35 career starts.
Watch the selection:
