As a first-year player in 2023, C.J. Stroud displayed the traits of an elite quarterback, winning offensive rookie of the year.
Entering his second season after helping the Texans earn an AFC South title, Stroud is poised to take a significant step forward in his development — particularly because he still has offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson surrounding him on Houston’s staff.
This week, Slowik was asked how much more input on the offense Stroud might have in his second season following last year’s success.
“It is really the same. He had a lot of input last year as well,” Slowik said in his press conference. “It is more what he is comfortable suggesting and when we had dialogue, outside of last year, we get to the answer a lot faster. There could be weeks where there is more dialogue because he has more thoughts, 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. But that really won’t change from last year.”
Slowik added that generally, the second season for a quarterback “is a really big year.”
“It is a really, 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,” Slowik said. “Like last year, there was a lot going on. You have to hit fundamentals, you have to hit verbiage, you have to hit play calls, you have to hit productions, you have to hit all this stuff. You hit fundamentals to a degree but you can only do so much.
“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 II [and] in OTA’s so far he is on board and all in. He is picking up right where he left off.”
That’s good news for Texans fans and potentially bad news for the rest of the league. In 15 games last season, Stroud completed 64 percent of his passes for 4,108 yards with 23 touchdowns and five interceptions.