After a stellar rookie season, back-to-back underwhelming years had raised doubts about C.J. Stroud as the long-term solution for the Houston Texans. Despite being up for a contract extension, he chose to bet on himself to prove himself worthy of a big payday.
So far, through six weeks, he’s proving to be worth the cost. Even though the team has had a slow start, the fourth-year quarterback has put up some incredible numbers. Now, after consecutive wins over the Titans and Jaguars, Stroud’s resurgence is drawing plenty of attention.
C.J. Stroud Is Making Believers Once Again
Despite two supposedly excellent defensive units facing off in Wembley Stadium, it was a true shootout between the Texans and the Jaguars. But a last-second field goal sealed the deal for a 34-31 Texans victory.
However, the story of the game for them was Stroud, who tallied 312 passing yards and three touchdowns, while completing 24 of 34 passing attempts. With no David Montgomery available for this game, the onus of the offense fell on him, and he responded in a big way.
Leading the game-winning drive for the Texans’ second win of the season, he continued the strong season that has him ranked at number 11 on PFN’s Quarterback Impact Metric. And the NFL world was starting to take notice.
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“C.J. Stroud is the quarterback people want Justin Herbert to be,” Raheem Palmer of The Ringer argued. “He’s playing well in spite of a bad head coach, bad offensive line and no run game.”
With Bryce Young also seemingly making a huge improvement in his fourth season, Ian Hartitz jokingly claimed, “Maybe the answer to Bryce Young vs. C.J. Stroud was just ‘yes.'”
This offseason, as contract negotiations between Stroud and the Texans began, the former first-round pick turned down a reported $50 million-per-year extension. At the time, the decision felt inexcusable.
But six weeks in, the discussion has completely changed, withBrandon Carney claiming, “C.J. Stroud is getting that $70M.”
“C.J. Stroud is an absolute sniper right now with his ball placement,”Lance Zierlein of the official NFL website wrote. “Absolute sniper.”
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Coming into the game, Stroud was fourth in the league in passing yards with 1,402 yards to his name, just six yards behind Jordan Love at number 3. He had also thrown for six touchdowns without a single interception.
“There are not 5 quarterbacks playing better than C.J. Stroud right now,”one fan argued, and the numbers seemed to back up his assessment.
But for some people, the Texans’ circumstances made Stroud’s production all the more impressive. Despite Montgomery’s injury and a porous offensive line, he was putting up big numbers that were finally translating into wins as well.
“With a struggling run game, C.J. Stroud’s playing really, really good ball,” Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote. “And not just today, but all year to this point.”
Mina Kimes, too, was impressed, claiming, “C.J. Stroud, who has been awesome all year, is absolute hooping today. My goodness.”
Emmanuel Acho, too, showered praise on Stroud, adding, “C.J. Stroud is going CRAZY right now! Incredible to see.”
It remains to be seen if he can continue this level of production over the rest of the season. But with the Texans not producing at the same defensive level as they did previously under head coach DeMeco Ryans, they will need Stroud to be elite to remain in the playoff race.
If he can continue to produce at this level, then his bet on himself could pay off in a big way in the offseason.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.