A funny thing happened at the home of quarterback C.J. Stroud on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the Texans lost a third-straight AFC Divisional Playoff game in a performance that was easily the worst of his career, and with every talking head and former NFL player saying it’s time to move on from the third-year quarterback.
“I woke up this morning, the sun was bright, of course, it wasn’t easy, but there’s beauty. I think there’s beauty in ashes,” Stroud said Monday afternoon in the wake of the Texans’ deflating 28-16 loss to New England that knocked them out of the playoffs. “The Lord can do that, and there’s beauty in long suffering and in this suffering time that I’ll go through, for whatever it is, I’m going to take full accountability and full ownership. I think, in that, I’ll learn from it, and then it’ll be a lesson, not a loss.”
It’s not that Stroud is being flip or isn’t dealing with the weight of the situation seriously. Stroud not only owned his part in the second-round exit after throwing four first-half interceptions and being off on so many throws, but also owned not playing well when the Texans needed it this season.
He gets it.
But the real question is, do the Texans get it? The franchise has a growing perception problem: Its chosen quarterback can’t get it done.
Even the most ardent Stroud supporters are throwing up their hands. So are all the NFL analysts on every type of platform. Former NFL talking heads are piling on. The only people who seem to be still sticking with Stroud are his teammates and coaching staff.
The consensus is that Stroud is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league and that you don’t lead your team to AFC Divisional Round appearances in each of your first three seasons.
“We are all behind him,” said Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr., noting that Stroud is like a brother to him. “One thing I really appreciate about this locker room is that we don’t go into the media and bash anybody, bash our teammates, and do any of that stuff because that’s not how we are built. That’s not the culture that we have here.”
Stroud is grateful for that type of support, not just in the locker room but inside the entire building. He has felt it from head coach DeMeco Ryans, general manager Nick Caserio, and the McNair family.
“It means the world. I really appreciate that. It’s not taken lightly,” Stroud said to me when asked about the support he has received from the entire organization. “We always tell each other we’re in it together. That’s something that DeMeco, the McNairs, Nick, they’ve all built that foundation. It’s like, we’re not just in it when it’s good, but also when it’s bad. So, I appreciate them for always having my back, and I’ll always have theirs, and it’s really appreciative on my side.”
Ryans told the media that he will take about a week to do a deep dive into what moves to make within the franchise. He responded short and sweet when I asked him about his decision-making process.
“I’ll take the week to reevaluate and evaluate everything,” Ryans said.
But outside the building, evaluations and decisions about what the Texans need to do with Stroud began before Sunday’s game was even over. Stroud isn’t the answer and needs to go this offseason.
Those are the easy decisions fans and talking heads can make. It’s not that easy for the franchise.
The Texans have invested heavily in Stroud, using a second-overall draft pick to take him a few years ago. So chances are they aren’t about to give up on Stroud so soon, and that’s the right decision. It’s hard to find a good starting quarterback in this league.
No, we haven’t seen the consistent growth from Stroud since his sensational rookie season when he looked like the NFL’s next big thing. But there have still been enough hints that that guy is still within Stroud. You can see it sometimes after he makes a mistake and bounces back with a spectacular throw downfield.
Somehow, that needs to be sustained.
The first place outsiders are going to point is to first-year offensive coordinator Nick Caley, whose system is definitely a work in progress. When Ryans starts to do his evaluations next week, he will probably have to take a hard look at quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson because Stroud’s accuracy issues, decision-making, and pocket presence just haven’t improved as they should. Stroud finished Sunday’s game with a 28-passer rating, which could have been 10 points higher had he just thrown every pass out of bounds or in the dirt.
More alarming is that in his two playoff appearances, Stroud holds the dubious distinction of being the only NFL player to give five interceptions and five fumbles in the same postseason. Definitely not what you want.
Stroud is still a quality NFL quarterback and arguably a Top 10 quarterback, but something about him needs to be fixed. The evaluation Caserio and Ryans must make this offseason is whether the person for the job is already on staff or they need to look elsewhere.
As it stands now, Caserio and Ryans are at a challenging juncture because this is the offseason that they would be talking with Stroud and his agents about a contract extension that would pay him somewhere in the neighborhood of $55 to $60 million. But you can’t even broach the conversation coming off these playoffs.
The only thing the Texans can do is kick that can down the road to next season. In the meantime, the best move is to stay the course with Stroud, fix the offensive line again, get Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Joe Mixon back healthy, and see if the offense can hold up its end of the bargain with the defense next season.
In the meantime, Ryans just wants Stroud to avoid social media and any spaces where he might hear negative conversations.
“I just told him, ‘Don’t listen to anything. Put your phone away. Don’t listen to anything, because there’s going to be a lot of negative talk out there for you,’” Ryans said. “Specifically, I just told him to get away, clear his mind. Because right now, at this moment, I know there’s going to be a lot of attention on him, a lot of negative media, and today, a lot of questions about him. That’s what it is, and he understands the position that he is in.”
