Sometimes in life you have to just clear your mind and do what comes natural to you. If I could have a side conversation with Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills, that would be exactly what I would tell him. I am by no means quarterback guru, nor will I ever claim to have played the quarterback position at the level on which Mills is on, but I do know about overthinking a situation.

In the Army, you are taught and trained at a high level to think like a fifth grader. Simplicity is the key in a lot of situations and overthinking could cause a mission to be harder than what was originally planned.

What Mills needs to do is to go back to a time when football was fun for him and then execute that on the field.

The NFL is a fast-paced game with a lot of moving parts, but at the end of the day it is still just football. He has consistently been late on throws in the drills to the point of in 7-on-7’s on Saturday a receiver was wide open clapping his hands for the ball and Mills nev

er looked his way.

There have also been times where he has overthrown and underthrown receivers when no defense is on the other side. Instances like that is sign to me that he is inside his own head and instead of just being who he was in high school and college, which was as relaxed and poised as they come, he is overthinking situations.

Too many times it seems as if he is trying to make the perfect pass or play to impress offensive coordinator Tim Kelly or quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton, when in all actuality he just needs to be himself and let his natural ability take control.

His time on the field thus far during training camp has been minimal and we can’t expect him to come in and be at an elite level in five days, so he definitely deserves time to evolve and get better like he did on Monday.

After throwing five interceptions on Saturday, he didn’t have a single turnover, which is progress and even had head coach David Culley impressed about his turnaround after such a putrid performance on Day 4 of training camp.

“I thought he bounced back really well today,” coach Culley said. “What that tells me about him is he is not going to get rattled.”

If Monday is any indication that Mills is starting to get settled in and relaxing a little, he may be poised enough to take some first team snaps during the regular season.