One thing I quickly recognized when I was enlisted in the United States Army was who the true leaders in my command were. They carried themselves in a manner that commanded respect while giving respect to others. Many could tell that these individuals tended to take charge of any situation by developing a natural, effective way to complete any task.
Those attributes can be applied to Houston Texans second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud, who picked up right where he left off in his rookie campaign during voluntary OTAs.
Even though there was no actual game planning during the 7-on-7 and full team drills, Stroud’s command stood out from the line of scrimmage to the completion of the play. His leadership skills, which are starting to show up even more to his teammates, are a promising sign for the team’s future.
“C.J. has already done a great job of that,” said Texans tight end Dalton Shultz about Stroud’s ability to lead. “With little things such as commanding a huddle. He has definitely gotten more comfortable, and he has taken that next step of being that verbal guy, that verbal leader that quarterbacks in the league have to be.”
Given the number of prime-time games awarded to Houston this season, all eyes will be on them. This spotlight will naturally extend to Stroud, the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year recipient. His presence at OTAs, where he is building chemistry with his new offensive weapons, including wide receiver Stefon Diggs, is crucial. Despite Diggs’ absence during media availability the first week, he was on the field on Thursday, adjusting to playing with Stroud.
With just a glimpse of what he can do, the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver displayed why Texans general manager Nick Caserio acquired him through trade from the Buffalo Bills this past offseason. His ability to get in and out of breaks during team drills had the media members talking amongst themselves about what dynamics he would bring to a wide receiver room that consists of playmakers such as Nico Collins and Tank Dell.
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| Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs |
Houston will have the summer to ensure that all of the offensive skill players are on the same page, and that starts with Stroud advancing Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s system, which also had former Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon added to the mix.
“He had a lot of input last year as well,” said Slowik about Stroud being involved in the play calling his rookie year. “It is more what he is comfortable suggesting. There could be weeks where there is more dialogue because he has more thoughts, and there could be weeks where we are already on the same page because of what we went through last year, and there is not a lot of dialogue needed. The biggest thing going into Year Two for C.J. is that Year Two for a quarterback is a really big year.
“It is a really impactful year to me that really sets the trajectory for the rest of his career, and I think a lot of that is that you get to hammer the fundamentals. Now we really get to dive into the fundamentals of this is what we do and how we play and what makes him great, and really fit that and grow that within our offense. That, really, to me, has been- just through phase two in OTAs, so far, he is on board and all in. He is picking up right where he left off.”