Following an offseason in which there wasn’t much of a starting quarterback battle despite comments stating that there was, the Houston Texans named No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud the franchise’s starting quarterback.
Stroud, who was a Heisman finalist at Ohio State in back-to-back seasons, was announced as the starter to open the 2023 season shortly after Houston won its preseason finale against the New Orleans Saints Sunday night.
Presumably, that means Stroud will be the Texans’ starting quarterback in the Week Four matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers traveling to NRG Stadium to take on Houston. That will be the same day that the Texans induct franchise great and future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt into the team’s Ring of Honor.
“C.J. will be our Week One starter,” Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans said to NFL Insider Aaron Wilson after Sunday night’s preseason finale, according to click2Houston.com. “It’s been over the course of the entire process of OTAs, training camp, preseason games and seeing the complete product and knowing C.J.’s desire to continue to get better. We know we’re not where we need to be as a team overall. We all have to continue to get better, C.J. just along with all our other guys know we have to get better in that regard.”
Stroud struggled a bit in his first two preseason performances, playing just 34 total snaps against the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, grading out at a 50.1 overall from Pro Football Focus. Against the Patriots, Stroud threw an ugly interception and graded out at a rough 29.9 before he bounced back against Miami, grading out at a 66.4 overall in preseason Week Two.
In those two matchups, Stroud completed 9-of-14 passes for 73 yards and an interception, struggling to create much down the field.
The Ohio State product bounced back in a major way Sunday night, throwing his first touchdown pass in the NFL — a 3-yard strike to wide receiver Nico Collins — in the win.
In the preseason overall, Stroud was 11-of-16 for 89 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Those aren’t eye-opening numbers at all, but the rookie showed progression from his preseason debut to the preseason finale. Now, we’ll see how he fares in the regular season where the games count.
Pittsburgh gets its first crack in Week Four.
