The Houston Texans have done what a lot of teams struggle to do. I don't want to shoot too many strays, but look how long it's taken the Denver Broncos to find their franchise quarterback. They won the Super Bowl in 2015, Peyton Manning retired, and they have tried since to find their guy.
And, who knows, Bo Nix may or may not be the guy. But, the Houston Texans were able to move on from Deshaun Watson pretty quickly, and still find their next franchise quarterback quicker than it takes most teams. And, Stroud is already better than the guy they had before, which is an even crazier thing to think about.
So, the Texans and Caserio have already conquered one of the hardest things to do in the league. Now, it's about winning with their guy, and they have started that in year one, by making a three-win team in 2022, a team with a playoff win under their belt heading into 2024. Sure, not all of that is because of Stroud, but he is a key cog in what they have done. And, he's just getting started.
Some would say that Stroud's potential is limitless, much like the sky.
“The sky is the limit for this guy,” legendary wide receiver Terrell Owens told KPC2 Sports. “Coming in as a rookie living up to the expectations and it’s only going to get better. The expectations for him and Houston, the team goals, obviously, is to win the Super Bowl championship. If they surround him with the right weapons and obviously you have a great coach in DeMeco Ryans, defensively there’s a lot to be said for those guys and what they did last year. You put all those things together and win ball games.”
Stroud entered the season with a bit of trouble. He faced a ferocious Baltimore Ravens defense in Week 1 and played fine. Nothing terrible, nothing amazing. Around Week 4, we really started to see what Stroud could be. He had a pretty good game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, another great defense, and from there on started dominating. Like most rookies, it took him a minute to get comfortable.
Once Stroud was comfortable, he started doing big things. He even made Texans history after winning their playoff game against the Cleveland Browns. If anyone knows what it takes to be a great quarterback, it's one of the best wide receivers of all time in T.O. If he says Stroud has limitless potential, I think everyone should believe that.
For any other QB, that may be a ton of pressure and weight on their shoulders. But, for Stroud, it's the pressure he can handle. He welcomes it, actually.
