The Houston Texans appeared to have their franchise QB in C.J. Stroud, but recent performances have brought forth massive questions. Stroud had an impressive rookie season, capturing the Rookie of the Year award, in 2023 after being selected second overall. Since then, he seems to have regressed, and the playoffs this year marked an all-time low for the QB.
There’s never a good time for a quarterback to start struggling, but after showing such promise is not ideal. The Texans probably felt he was their franchise QB and were counting the days until he could sign an extension. Now that he can, it doesn’t seem all that likely that he’s going to. His fifth-year option still looms as well. What do the Texans do now?
What do the Texans do with C.J. Stroud?
At first, it looked like the Houston Texans might be able to win in spite of C.J. Stroud. He wasn’t good against the Pittsburgh Steelers, fumbling five times, losing two of them, and tossing an interception. His defense, however, is historically good, so they dominated. That appeared to be the case early on against the New England Patriots. Then Stroud threw four interceptions in the first half.
It marks the end of a worrying trend for Stroud. Most of his numbers have gone down since his rookie year, and the film doesn’t look great, either. The Texans offense has a bad offensive line, and their pass-catchers have been hurt. The running game has been nonexistent for much of his career, too, so it’s not all on Stroud. But he no longer resembles a QB able to overcome any of that and make plays.
“I just feel like I let people down. … It hurts, and I’m not used to it,” Stroud said after the loss via ESPN. “I didn’t play my best this year. But I’m gonna respond, keep my chest up, my chin up high and I’m gonna just keep battling forward. If God is before me, who can be against me? I’m just gonna rely on that.” But the question is, what will the Texans do?
The fifth-year option
C.J. Stroud’s rookie season was so good that the Texans have virtually no other choice but to pick up his option. He was good enough, even long ago, to justify another year to see if he can recapture the magic. Plus, with the team around him, namely the defense, so good, it’s wise to try to stretch his rookie contract as long as possible to maximize this window.
They have until May to decide, but it seems likely they will. But will he ever get back to 2023 form? It doesn’t look realistic, making the decision the Carolina Panthers made to take Bryce Young instead of Stroud age better every day. The Texans were happy with Stroud, but they might not be for long. The alternative options, unfortunately, aren’t great.
This is clearly a Super Bowl-level team, at least with a defense able to carry the load and drag them to relevance. Starting over with a new QB, especially one from the draft, would likely close that window quickly. Stroud may not be great right now, but he knows the offense and has NFL experience. A rookie doesn’t. Free agency doesn’t have too many inspiring names, either.
Those who might be better than Stroud are likely to be re-signed or end up rather costly, so Stroud at a fraction of the cost might be smarter. Those who aren’t going to get re-signed probably won’t move the needle much for Houston. The only solution is to let it ride with Stroud, invest in the offense, and pray he can return to form. If not, their window will likely close after the 2027 season, and they’ll be staring down another potential rebuild.
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