What's wrong with C.J. Stroud? Why Texans QB has regressed during 'sophomore slump'

After winning conscionable 11 games betwixt 2020 and 2022, it was wide that the Texans needed a implicit overhaul of their roster and coaching staff. Ahead of the 2023 season, they brought successful erstwhile 49ers antiaircraft coordinator DeMeco Ryans to service arsenic the team's caput manager portion selecting Ohio State backmost C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 wide pick.

Oftentimes, bringing successful a game-changer astatine backmost tin marque up for different deficiencies connected the roster and nonstop a squad connected an wholly caller trajectory. Stroud did conscionable that successful Houston, starring the squad to 10 wins and a playoff berth past play portion besides becoming the 5th rookie backmost to walk for 4,000 yards.

A palmy rookie run for Stroud and emerging endowment beside him led to the Texans being pegged arsenic a Super Bowl contender up of this season. The preseason hype didn't halt there; galore had Stroud labeled arsenic an MVP frontrunner.

Unfortunately, Stroud and institution didn't unrecorded up to those lofty expectations and squeaked into the 2025 playoffs by finishing archetypal successful the NFL's softest division. Stroud seems to person taken a measurement backmost arsenic well, some connected movie and successful the container score.

The question looming successful the backmost of everyone's caput is, why?

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What's incorrect with C.J. Stroud?

If you've tuned into a Texans crippled this play oregon simply checked the postgame stats, you've apt noticed that Stroud doesn't person "it" this season. After a sensational rookie season, it appears that Stroud is successful the midst of a sophomore slump. But what precisely is going connected successful Houston?

Offensive enactment play

The struggles of Houston's violative enactment person been well-documented this season. While their play has been mediocre overall, they person besides been banged up passim the season.

With assorted pieces of this violative enactment missing clip passim the year, the Texans person been forced to rotation retired a multitude of combinations of their beforehand five. When players are regularly being cycled successful and retired of the lineup, it becomes hard for the enactment to find the cohesion that they truthful desperately request to succeed.

Without accordant violative enactment play, Stroud was nether unit connected 37.8 percent of his dropbacks this season, the second-highest complaint of immoderate backmost (min. 300 dropbacks). This comes aft Stroud ranked conscionable 16th successful unit complaint during his rookie season.

Stroud isn't doing his violative enactment immoderate favors by having the fourth-highest clip to propulsion (2.75 seconds) among quarterbacks this season. When the violative enactment is the anemic nexus of the offense, holding onto the shot isn't precisely the champion idea.

Some of the blasted falls connected Stroud, but astatine the extremity of the day, it's inactive rather wide that the violative enactment is severely hampering Houston's violative production.

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Injuries to cardinal weapons

Coming into the season, the Texans were wide regarded to person 1 of the best, if not the best, weapons arsenal successful the NFL. After spending the offseason salivating implicit this offense, we hardly got to spot them astatine afloat strength.

It didn't instrumentality agelong for the wounded bug to deed Houston's offense... hard. Joe Mixon sprained his ankle successful Week 2 which knocked him retired for 3 games. Tank Dell sustained a thorax wounded successful Week 3, causing him to miss Week 4. Nico Collins past popped his hamstring successful Week 5, starring to an IR stint and 5 games connected the sideline.

This radical couldn't rather enactment steadfast down the agelong either. Stefon Diggs tore his ACL successful Week 8 portion Dell suffered a horrific wounded successful Week 16, ending some their seasons.

Ultimately, Houston's highly-touted wide receiver trio played conscionable 3 games unneurotic this season. This volition genuinely spell down arsenic a "what could person been" play for the Texans' offense.

Plenty of adjacent misses

In the NFL, wins and losses often travel down to a fistful of plays. The aforesaid goes for however radical comprehend players. If players tin find occurrence connected a fistful of explosive oregon captious plays, our cognition of them tin alteration drastically.

After regularly connecting with Dell and Collins for big-time plays past year, Stroud's transportation with his receivers hasn't been each the mode determination this season, resulting successful plentifulness of adjacent misses.

CJ Stroud deed this propulsion astir 100% of the clip past season. pic.twitter.com/dyIAyBT2Zh

This is conscionable 1 illustration of 1 of those adjacent misses, but Stroud struggled to person connected high-leverage plays passim the season. This was a vastly antithetic acquisition from past twelvemonth erstwhile Stroud seemed to beryllium capable to find his receivers astatine will.

Plenty of the blasted for the deficiency of occurrence connected these coin-flip plays goes to Stroud. However, carnivore successful caput that we measure the endowment and accomplishment of NFL players connected a comparatively tiny illustration size. It could beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic Stroud uncovering himself connected the incorrect broadside of variance this season.

C.J. Stroud stats

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