C.J. Stroud, the Texans' rookie quarterback, tosses an interception right away and suffers in his NFL preseason debut.
C.J. Stroud's NFL career with the Houston Texans will be plenty of highlights. That implies it's just going uphill from here.
Stroud, the NFL draft's second overall choice out of Ohio State, threw an interception on his first preseason series. Jalen Mills, a veteran safety for the New England Patriots, read Stroud and broke on his third-and-21 pass downfield, grabbing an easy interception. Stroud will learn from his error. The safeties are far more observant than in the Big Ten.
Stroud completed only two of four passes for 13 yards before being relieved after two series. When the Texans started Stroud in the preseason opener, they certainly expected a different outcome. They certainly don't want to go back to a QB competition.
The Texans immediately let Stroud pass it. He took a short dropback on the opening play, studied the field, and hit Nico Collins for an eight-yard gain. That was his most successful play.
His second dropback reminded everyone of his inexperience. Stroud returned, held the ball a little too long as his first read was covered, and was sacked for 15 yards by defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale. On the next play, he spun out of a sack and made a 4-yard run, demonstrating his athleticism. Then there was Mills' interception.
Stroud rushed a ball under pressure on the second series and threw too high on a short flare out by running back Devin Singletary, resulting in an incompletion. On the next play, he was pressured and unloaded a pass for another incompletion, although there was a roughing the passer flag on the play. After that, Stroud had a short completion, and his scramble on third down fell short of the first down. When the Texans got the ball back, Davis Mills was the quarterback.
The Texans' training camp began with head coach DeMeco Ryans announcing a full quarterback competition between Stroud and Mills. It was difficult to take that seriously given that most quarterbacks selected in the top two rounds of the NFL Draft start immediately away, or very early in the regular season.
When Ryans named Stroud the Texans' starting for the first preseason game, everything seemed promising. Most teams would not start a highly drafted rookie in the first preseason game, then demote him for a veteran in the second preseason game unless he actually failed in the first. Stroud's start on Thursday put him on track to start the regular season opener.
Stroud has plenty of time to improve in the next seasons as well as this preseason. The Texans will want to see growth and not have to second-guess their quarterback choice for the regular-season opening.
