EXCLUSIVE
The NFL made a huge mistake on C.J. Stroud and now everyone else is paying the price as the Houston Texans soar as the hottest team in the league
C.J. Stroud was not good enough.
Cut through all the intentionally leaked pre-draft misinformation, and that's effectively what was being whispered in the shadowy corners of the NFL.
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Alabama's undersized Bryce Young had been locked in for months as the No. 1 overall pick of the quarterback-heavy 2023 draft.
A former Ohio State QB with a 7-to-1 touchdown ratio and 69.3 completion percentage was on the verge of sliding downward.
How horribly wrong the NFL was last season.
How perfectly right the Houston Texans were, as they turned what was the laughingstock of the league into the sport's hottest team in just one season.
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DeMeco Ryans, who lost the 2023 NFL Coach of the Year award as a rookie on a tiebreaker, guided the Texans' stunning turnaround.
Stroud ignited it, making Deshaun Watson forgettable in Houston and suddenly making the Texans cool again, completing 63.9 percent of his passes for 4,108 yards, 23 TDS and a 100.8 rating, and winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
John McClain, who's covered the NFL for 48 years in Houston and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, exclusively told talkSPORT that a pre-draft S2 cognititve test was at the core of the smokescreen that surrounded Stroud.
"I remember reading some scouting reports about how receivers made him look good at Ohio State, and that wouldn't translate to the NFL because he wouldn't have great receivers like he did at Ohio State," McClain said.
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"And that S2 cognition test that he took -- that agents won't let their guys take anymore -- in one area he did poorly, and it was processing. And if you have a quarterback that can't process, you got a problem.
"Well, the Texans didn't subscribe to that. Not every team did, and they didn't have an issue with it."
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Young went No. 1 to Carolina and suffered through a 2-15 season that saw Frank Reich fired as HC in Week 12, while the 5ft 10in QB from Alabama threw just 11 TDs with 10 picks.
Stroud started 0-2 but threw for 382 yards in just his second pro game.
He only became sharper, leading the NFL with 273.9 passing yards per game and propelling the remade Texans to a 45-14 home blowout win over the Cleveland Browns in an AFC Wild Card contest.
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"The third game, they go to Jacksonville," McClain said. "Jacksonville is heavily favored to repeat as division champions -- as the Texans are this year -- and they beat them by 20 points.
"The next week, they came to play Pittsburgh. They beat Pittsburgh worse than any Houston team since the Oilers beat them in 1991.
"All of a sudden, you start thinking, 'This kid, boy, he's got a chance to be good.' But we didn't have any idea he would be as good as he as he was.
"He doesn't have a great arm. What he has is great processing. He is very, very accurate. He's very cool under pressure."
After a 3-4 start and a frustrating 15-13 road loss to Carolina in Week 8, the Texans finished on a 7-3 run and claimed the AFC South.
Stroud finished eighth in NFL MVP voting and made the Pro Bowl, and will enter a new season as one of the most exciting players in the league.
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"With C.J., we’re very proud of his success in his first year," Ryans said. "He came in and probably shocked a lot of people at how he played, and he played at a very high level. He continued to progress and get better throughout the entire year, so we’re very excited about what he was able to do."
Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Dalton Schultz and Joe Mixon give a franchise that produced a woeful 11-38-1 record from 2020-22 serious buzz in 2024.
It all starts with Stroud.
The NFL was embarrassingly wrong about the No. 2 pick from Ohio State.
The Texans were right, and haven't looked back since drafting Stroud and changing the franchise with one huge pick.
While Daniel Jones threw two interceptions on Saturday, Stroud was 7-of-10 for 88 yards in the Texans' 28-10 home preseason win over the New York Giants.
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The second-year QB enters 2024 only trailing Patrick Mahomes in NFL MVP odds.
"He can make any throw on the field, and his timing and his accuracy and his decision making are pretty incredible," McClain said.
C.J. Stroud's rookie dominance in NFL
A debut season to remember
- Completion percentage: 63.9
- Passing yards: 4,108
- Touchdowns: 23
- Interceptions: 5
- Texans' record: 10-7 (1-1 in playoffs)
- Honors: Offensive Rookie of the Year, 8th in NFL MVP voting
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