Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud kept a low profile this offseason, taking time to focus on himself as he enters his fourth NFL season.
It was a much-needed break after his performance in the AFC Divisional Game, where he threw a career-high four interceptions in the loss to the New England Patriots, which was highlighted across all sports outlets.
“As with anything in life, you grow as you continue to do it,” Stroud said on Thursday. “Going into my fourth year, I’ve been playing football my whole life, so every year I get better at something, every year I learn something. So, it’s been a joy.
“I really do enjoy what I do, I love what I do. I think I’ve learned every single year, every offseason, every season, something new and something that I can take not only just for the next season, but also for life.”
The changes Stroud went through in the offseason weren’t just internal.
As he addressed the media after the completion of Texans OTAs, the external appearance had changed as well. His signature dreadlock hairstyle is gone, and he now sports a beard that he says is a little scruffy but is growing.
Normally, an NFL player changing his hairstyle garners attention on social media. Still, many believed that, because of his poor playoff performance, Stroud was in crisis mode, which caught him completely off guard.
“I was told that people thought I was, like, depressed or that I wasn’t doing okay,” said Stroud with a smile on his face. “I’ve been thinking about cutting my hair for a long time, and I was actually going to do it months prior, but I just didn’t know how my helmet was going to fit, so nothing really too serious.”
What the former Ohio State quarterback wants fans and critics to know is that he has had one of the best off-seasons of his career.
He used that time to become more familiar with second-year offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s playbook, a hurdle both had to overcome, with Caley being a first-time play caller and Stroud preparing to deal with his second coordinator in three years after the Texans fired Bobby Slowik.
“I watched a lot of our self-scout (video) to try to fix some things,” Stroud said about incorporating more of his style into the offense. “I try to introduce some things that I’m used to that I’ve done in my past that I like to do, so we can do that a little more.
I think we’re both growing, creating a better relationship, and growing as an offense, just trying to make it the offense for the 2026-2027 Texans, doing things that everybody is good at and doing things that we’ve done in the past. So, we’re growing in that area.”
For as many questions as Stroud will have to answer on the field, the one that will be looming the most off the field will be about his contract extension. The Texans picked up the fifth-year option, which will pay him $25.9 million for the 2027 season.
Houston also picked up the option with defensive end Will Anderson Jr., but signed him to a record-breaking three-year extension worth $150 million in April, making it the largest deal in NFL history for a non-quarterback.
Stroud, who the Texans selected with the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, was asked about the challenges of continuing to prepare for the season while contract negotiations are ongoing behind the scenes.
“I let my agent handle it,” said Stroud. “If it’s time to do it, then it is. If it’s not, it’s not. My job is football; that’s what I focus on, just getting better. I think I’ve held my bargain up on that end, so whatever happens, happens.”