Back at the NFL scouting combine, Texans general manager Nick Caserio described the trade speculation around C.J. Stroud as “moronic.” He also called the exercising of Stroud’s fifth-year option a “no-brainer” a few days ago. But one has to wonder if it would also be ridiculous to consider extending Stroud at a time when Houston just made Will Anderson Jr., an edge rusher who went one pick after Stroud in the 2023 draft, the highest-paid defensive player in football.
Having the offensive and defensive rookies of the year from the same draft class is a luxury issue, but we’re going to discover in real time what happens when those players’ career arcs begin to resemble less of a steady ascension on parallel tracks. The Jets, for example, didn’t have to wonder. Both Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson were extended within days of one another in 2025. Ever since their starlit rookie campaigns in ’22, the team has made a conscious effort to market them together and promote them as a kind of dual-headed hydra of the future. That is, until new management deemed Gardner tradeworthy in a sweetheart deal that even members of the Jets’ organization employed when Gardner was drafted would have taken without much hesitation.
Here’s where a situation can be deemed “nothing” until it’s “something.” Stroud is entering the final year of his rookie contract before the club option kicks in for 2027. Then, there’s the arduous franchise tag year standoff after that. Quarterback is the most important position on the roster. Not having that quarterback under a long-term contract at a time when other players of the same draft class are signing long-term contracts may simply be an obvious representation of where the Texans are, that isn’t met with a moment of hesitation. Or, it could be a sign in the locker room as to where they are not.
Stroud, if we’re being blunt, has not been able to return to form after an incredible rookie season. The team has changed offensive coordinators and is in the process of retooling the offensive line. Stroud’s initial offensive coordinator, Bobby Slowik, was let go and wound up becoming an integral part of Mike McDaniel’s staff; so much so that Slowik was a kind of pseudo coordinator for the Dolphins during McDaniel’s final season and received enough positive reviews to get the title promotion under new coach Jeff Hafley.
Laremy Tunsil was traded in a move that was couched as more of a locker room-based decision than a skill-related one. Tytus Howard was traded. Coming into 2026, there will be three new starting offensive linemen (plus whatever Houston comes up with in the draft). Stroud will also have a new quarterbacks coach after Jerrod Johnson, who had been with the quarterback since he was drafted, was let go after the ’25 season.
All of these individual decisions could have perfectly understandable microexplanations that, unfortunately, when pieced together, form the narrative that Houston is still deciding how to get what it wants out of its quarterback, or, through these moves, wondering if that quarterback can deliver what the team ultimately needs. The message is confusing—is it not good enough around Stroud, or is Stroud not good enough?—at a time when Houston is extremely competitive and deep enough on defense to win a Super Bowl with an offense that can land closer to league average (similar to the setup we saw from the Broncos last year).
And, certainly, there is a fair argument to be made that the Texans should exhaust all options on Stroud, especially during an offseason in which the best consolation prize was Aaron Rodgers, Jimmy Garoppolo or Kirk Cousins. (I wonder, personally, if fielding max value for him now and trying to deal him to a team like the Steelers, Vikings or Rams made sense, especially given how few starting-caliber options were available through the 2026 draft, but I digress.)
Waiting on Stroud to prove he is undoubtedly a long-term option, which the Texans seem intent on doing, could end up costing them. The class after Stroud included the transcendent 1-2-3 punch of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye (with Bo Nix not far behind). When that class becomes extension-eligible, those quarterbacks leapfrogging each other could jettison the average annual salary of a young, starting NFL quarterback to more than $70 million.
Meanwhile, there aren’t as many pending edge rusher contracts from the 2024 class that would seemingly make signing Anderson right now a financial emergency.
Again, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Houston would have wanted this the other way around. I also don’t think it’s unfair to say that, while nailing the Anderson pick (and remember they traded up on draft night to get him) is worth celebrating on a day like Friday, it will shift the spotlight as to what happens with the other player taken ahead of him in that draft class.
It may place undue pressure on the quarterback, knowing that we’re now entering a very finite window that could determine the next five years of his professional and financial life. Then again, not being able to handle that kind of perform-on-command spotlight would be a quality the Texans aren’t seeking out of their long-term answer at the position, anyway.
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CONOR ORR
Conor Orr is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, where he covers the NFL and cohosts the MMQB Podcast. Orr has been covering the NFL for more than a decade and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. His work has been published in The Best American Sports Writing book series and he previously worked for The Newark Star-Ledger and NFL Media. Orr is an avid runner and youth sports coach who lives in New Jersey with his wife, two children and a loving terrier named Ernie.
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