The saga of C.J. Stroud as a Houston Texan has been one of the more intriguing, and at times infuriating, starts to a Texan career in the history of the franchise. After one season, a campaign which saw Stroud take home the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, it looked like Stroud was strapped to a rocket ship, on his way to a future MVP award.
However, after his second and third seasons, in particular a four-interception performance in an elimination game against the New England Patriots, the future is much murkier for the hopeful franchise QB for Houston’s football team. A massive second contract, a seeming formality after Stroud’s first two seasons, is likely postponed for at least one more year.
Stroud has conducted himself in a much more private fashion this offseason and last offseason, as compared to the spring after his rookie season, when he was seemingly a guest on every football podcast, happy to discuss how elite his performance was in 2023. We only get small glimpses now into what he’s doing in February, March and April.
For what it’s worth, the team is still “in” on Stroud as their leader. Nick Caserio said, at the NFL Scouting Combine, that any talk of trading Stroud was “moronic.” Cal McNair said last week at the NFL Owners Meetings that ownership backs Stroud, and that Stroud is “bought into” the team and his role. Finally, DeMeco Ryans said last week that Stroud is “getting after it” in his workouts and routine this offseason.
So, where are Texan fans on Stroud? Are they still as supportive and excited as the people in the building for the Texans seem to be. Has the New England game fully soured them on Stroud? Does the truth lie somewhere in between?
Well, I put that question to a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), and asked that exact question — how do you feel about C.J. Stroud’s future as the Texans’ franchise quaretrback? Here are the results:
Let’s examine each of these, in the order they’re listed in the Penderpoll post:
I’m ALL IN on C.J. Stroud — 19.8 percent
It was an interesting trend for this choice. About halfway through the vote, Stroud’s “all in” percentage was around 12 percent. For whatever reason, a massive percentage of the Stroud supporters came in on the back end of this poll. At any rate, it was kind of nice to see that, of the people in the two extreme categories, “all IN” and “all OUT,” there were far more who are extremely IN than OUT.
I’m in, but cautiously so — 42.1 percent
VERY much wait and see — 31.7 percent
Not surprisingly, most of the voting constituency in this particular poll are living in the gray area. In my mind, the folks who are still “in” but cautious are slightly more optimistic than the “wait and see,” crowd. Almost by the definition of “wait and see,” you’re straddling the 50-50 coin flip line. The bottom line is that training camp and the upcoming season are true Stroud Referendum for nearly 74 percent of the fan base.
I’m OUT on C.J. Stroud — 6.3 percent
If you’re someone who prefers their fan base to be aligned, to some degree, and rooting in the same general direction, 6.3 percent of the fans being in the “completely OUT” category is a positive. That’s not a very big number, at all. Whether Stroud can win any of the people in this extreme category back this fall remains to be seen. For the Texans’ Super Bowl hopes, it’s probably a necessity.
