Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud took a beating in his second NFL season. Across 17 starts with the Texans in the 2024 campaign, he was sacked a whopping 52 times, the second-most of any signal-caller in the league.
The Texans’ offensive line did a poor job of protecting the team’s franchise quarterback, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that Stroud is currently a bit banged up. Specifically, he’s experiencing shoulder soreness, and Stroud has yet to throw a pass with the media watching since the Texans opened their organized team activities late last month.
On the bright side for Texans fans, the team’s head coach doesn’t seem to be all that worried about Stroud’s injury. DeMeco Ryans claims that he has “no concerns” on his end regarding Stroud’s shoulder.
Texans QB C.J. Stroud continues to not throw at OTAs due to shoulder soreness. “There's no concerns with C.J.,” said Texans HC DeMeco Ryans. “It's just general soreness. We're taking extra precaution with him, but he’ll be good to go. No concerns on my end there.” pic.twitter.com/TX5MloI9BQ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 3, 2025
Stroud is one of the premier young quarterbacks in the NFL, and despite the subpar offensive line he had to work with, he still enjoyed a relatively productive sophomore season, even if he didn’t put up the numbers he did as a rookie. He threw for 20 touchdowns and 3,727 yards to go along with 187 first downs passing.
The Texans have yet to miss the playoffs since drafting Stroud with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, as they qualified with a 10-7 record in the 2024 season. It was the second straight season that Houston won the AFC South division.
However, Stroud seemingly needs players on the offensive line to step their games up in the 2025 season and protect him more effectively if he wants to get back to limiting his mistakes as much as he did as a rookie. Stroud threw just five interceptions as a rookie and ended with the lowest interception percentage of any player in the league.
However, in his second season, he threw more than two times as many picks, finishing the season with 12.
Hopefully, Ryans is right to not be worried about Stroud’s shoulder soreness and the injury will be an afterthought by the beginning of the 2025 season. If Stroud is healthy and Houston’s offensive line can show growth compared to last season, then the 23-year-old quarterback could be in store for a great third NFL season.
