on march 11, 2015, hoyer signed a two-year, $10.5 million contract with the houston texans. on august 24, he was named the starter for the regular season over former patriots teammate ryan mallett. in the first game of the 2015 season, with houston trailing to the kansas city chiefs 27–9, hoyer was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of mallett. on september 17, head coach bill o'brien announced that hoyer would be benched in favor of mallett for the second game of the season against the carolina panthers. in week 5, during a matchup against the indianapolis colts, mallett was injured and was replaced by hoyer for the remainder of the game. hoyer threw for two touchdowns but also threw a costly interception to give the colts a 27–20 victory. hoyer was then announced as the starter for the next game against the jacksonville jaguars by head coach bill o'brien. hoyer led the texans to a 31–20 victory over the jaguars and was announced by o'brien as the starter going forward. on january 3, 2016, hoyer led the texans to their first playoff berth and afc south title since 2012 with a 30–6 victory over the jaguars.