The Houston Texans quarterback controversy is over before it even began as coach Bill O’Brien announced that Ryan Fitzpatrick has won the job.

O’Brien announced the decision to the team Tuesday morning and then to the media soon after at a press conference. O’Brien said he believes that having a clear starting quarterback was an important part of the offseason as they approach the mandatory workouts.

"He earned it," O'Brien said. "He earned it with his preparation. He earned it with his accuracy.”

"Everybody on our team every single day has to go out there and earn their spot on the team, earn their starting spot," O'Brien said. "So quarterback is no different. We have confidence in his ability to lead our football team. He's done a really good job in the offseason of picking up our system and he's executed it well.”

The Texans signed Fitzpatrick away from the Tennessee Titans this offseason and neglected to draft a quarterback until the fourth round when they took Tom Savage out of Pittsburgh. O’Brien had maintained that the quarterback competition was wide open going into mandatory minicamp, but finally made his decision among Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, T.J. Yates and Savage.

The Texans cut quarterback T.J. Yates after announcing that Fitzpatrick had won the job and O’Brien made it clear that the renaming three quarterbacks can still improve.

"With all three of those guys we need just a little bit more consistency," O'Brien said. "It has nothing to do with effort or work ethic. Those guys have all worked extremely hard. They've all done what we've asked them to do.”

Fitzpatrick is entering his 10th season in the NFL and has found some success as a seventh round pick out of Harvard. Fitzpatrick threw for 2454 yards to go with 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last season in relief of Jake Locker.

[ESPN]

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