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Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud made big changes to his offseason approach
The name of the game for Houston Texans star C.J. Stroud during the 2025 NFL offseason was build himself into not just a better quarterback but a better athlete by the time the season began. And from the sounds of it, that’s exactly what the 23-year-old accomplished over the last six months since Houston was bounced out of the playoffs by the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I [came in] pretty early with [assistant strength and conditioning coach Clint Martin],” Stroud said, according to a July 14 story by ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime. “I’ve been working really hard on getting my body right — losing body fat, trying to be faster, stronger. [Working] pocket mobility, running out the pocket, throwing the rock. Everything kind of works hand in hand.”
Stroud said he hit personal bests on a wide-range of strength and speed measurables during the offseason, a development that he said has been “really dope” and a good sign that the work he put in over the course of the spring and summer has paid off to some extent. However, the results on the field remain to be seen. It’s still nearly two months until Stroud will attempt a pass that means anything.
C.J. Stroud Looks to Bounce Back From Sophomore Slump
The prevailing narrative coming out of C.J. Stroud’s second NFL season is that the 2023 Rookie of the Year had something of a down season during his 2024 campaign, and if you compare the numbers between these two respective seasons, this sentiment does appear to be accurate.
2023 season: 15 games, 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 64% completion, 100.8 Passer Rating
2024 season: 17 games, 3,727 yards, 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 63% completion, 87.0 Passer Rating
However, it all shouldn’t fall on C.J. Stroud’s shoulders. Yes, he was more loose with the ball in 2024 than in 2023, and no, he didn’t come close to leading the league in passing yards per game, as he did during his rookie season. But there were factors outside of Stroud’s control that explain this dip in production and efficiency.
Texans O-Line Did C.J. Stroud No Favors in 2024
After keeping the rookie quarterback relatively clean during the 2023 season, Houston’s offensive line didn’t hold up nearly as well in 2024. Stroud was sacked 14 more times during his second NFL season than he was during his rookie year, and he was pressured on about 5 percent more of his dropbacks in year two than he was in year one.
“He’s getting the [expletive] beat out of him,” one anonymous team executive told The Athletic’s Jeff Howe back in December 2024. “He’s been getting hit all year.”
To combat these issues, the Texans reshuffled the offensive line in the offseason. Houston traded Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders for four draft picks, shipped Kenyon Green to Philadelphia, and then added Cam Robinson and Laken Tomlinson in free agency before selecting Aireontae Ersery with the 48th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Whether this offensive line makeover will pay dividends for Stroud and the Texans remains to be seen. But at the very least, one of the NFL’s most promising young quarterbacks got his body right during the offseason, and now, in his words, “it’s ball time.”
Sonny Giuliano Sonny Giuliano is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has over a decade of experience writing about football, basketball and various pop culture topics. More about Sonny Giuliano
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