The Houston Texans have completely turned themselves over the last two seasons, and a lot of that is credited to their young star quarterback C.J. Stroud. Houston drafted Stroud in the first round in 2023, and immediately became one of the top teams in the AFC. The Texans have won playoff games in consecutive years, but Stroud sees himself fall down quarterback power rankings after his production took a hit in 2024. Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report ranked the Ohio State product ninth in his latest rankings.
"The 23-year-old had a triple-digit passer rating in the fourth quarter or overtime of one-score games and an AFC-best 123.4 passer rating on deep passes as the Texans won the AFC South," Gagnon writes. "During a sophomore slump last season, the 2023 No. 2 overall pick more than doubled his pick rate while ranking in the bottom 12 among qualified quarterbacks in completion rate and passer rating."
Gagnon adds that the struggles Stroud had in 2024 are the cause of his slide down the list.
"Stroud’s numbers fell off a cliff pretty much across the board. That's enough to send him to the bottom third of this list, but not enough to completely cloud a ridiculous rookie campaign, especially considering he was the most pressured quarterback in the league as the Houston offensive line struggled throughout the year. Still, Stroud will have to rediscover some of that 2023 magic in 2025 or he will lose the distinction of being considered a top-10 quarterback."
With his offensive line struggling in 2024, and trading away left tackle Laremy Tunsil, the struggles can't all be put on Stroud's shoulders. He'll have to overcome a reinforced offensive line that still has several question marks and a new group of receivers outside of Nico Collins.
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