While it has seemed obvious who the Texans’ Week 1 starting quarterback would be for a while, first-year coach DeMeco Ryans made it official after the third and final preseason game.
Rookie C.J. Stroud, the No.2 overall pick out of Ohio State in this spring’s NFL Draft, has gotten the nod to be the Texans starter when they open the regular season at Baltimore on Sept. 10. Stroud has made strides in three preseason games as a starter and seemed a foregone conclusion.
“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,” Ryans said. “We are not where we need to be as a team overall. We all have to continue to get better.
“It’s just having the mindset to do that; and C.J., along with all of our other guys, know that in order to get better.”
Stroud hasn’t made any bold statements about wanting to be the Week 1 starter, but he was quite pleased when it became official following Sunday night’s preseason game at New Orleans. But he also understands he still has a lot to improve on.
Stroud had been in competition with incumbent Davis Mills, who had been the Texans’ starter for much of the last two seasons.
“Just having this opportunity, man a blessing to be able to play this game, especially in the league,” Stroud said. “But you got to keep working. It’s something that I think I worked for and definitely earned but at the same time nothing else really changes. I’m still going to work the way I’ve been working, even more now.”
The announcement came on the heels of his most impressive outing yet during the third preseason game. Stroud played just two series but he guided the offense to a score in the first quarter, throwing a perfectly placed 3-yard pass to wide receiver Nico Collins. It was Stroud’s first town pass in a game as a pro.
“It’s something you’ve been yearning for for a long time, and you’re trying to make all these plays to get in the end zone – and to see it finally happen – you can just see the happiness and the big sigh of relief like, ‘Yeah, we finally got in,’” Ryans said of the scoring pass. “So, it was fun to see the energy, see the excitement from everyone on the sideline. I think everybody was happy for C.J. to make that play, him and Nico. He needed that, and we all needed to see that [and] see him make that happen, and it was a cool moment for our entire team.”
In three preseason games, Stroud completed 11 of 18 passes for 89 yards, one touchdown and interceptions over eight offensive series. He was 2-of-4 for 16 yards and a touchdown in the preseason finale.
“I think every day in practice I pushed myself to not just get away with the easy things but try to push myself to make the hard throws, make the hard protection calls or whatever. It’s tough,” Stroud said. “So, practice is hard but when it comes to the game, it feels like the game slows down for me. I think from OTAs to now, everything is slowing down.”
