The Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud had a turbulent 2025 campaign, casting doubts about his long-term future. The franchise, however, is not shaken by the disappointing season, as owner Cal McNair offered his take on what's next for the 24-year-old.
"We're fully committed to C.J," said Texans CEO Cal McNair recently. "We extended it, we exercised his fifth-year option. We'll see how it works out."
The quarterback was a first-round pick (2nd overall) from the 2023 NFL Draft. Just like any rookie, he signed a four-year deal valid until the end of the 2026 season. With that season approaching, the franchise faced a May 1 deadline to exercise the final year of his rookie deal. McNair has confirmed that the team is fully committed to using Stroud's services in Houston until the end of the 2027 campaign.
For the 2026 season, his cap hit is set to be $11.5 million, but the fifth-year extension will see a significant jump in his income, boosting the figure to $25.9 million.
While it's a short-term year-long extension, the owner also indicated that a lengthy contract extension is being discussed and will be handled "behind the scenes" by general manager Nick Caserio. Given the dip in his 2025 performance, the team may prefer to wait one more season before handing a high-value extension.
Since roping in Stroud in 2023, the organization has shown impressive consistency, reaching the playoffs three seasons in a row. They won the AFC South division in 2023 with a 10-7 record, but lost to the New England Patriots in the Divisional round. The same story repeated the following year before another Divisional round elimination to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2025, the Houston failed to win the division after falling short behind the Jacksonville Jaguars , but their postseason fate refused to change after another Divisional Round defeat against the Patriots.
In his debut season, the pocket passer won his first Pro Bowl with a strong 4,108 passing yards, and in the 2024 campaign, he kept an impressive form, throwing 3,727 passes. Nevertheless, in his third season, the numbers dropped to 3,041 passing yards, as he missed three games because of a concussion.
As the expectations are high for the QB1 next season, he is putting in serious work behind the scenes this offseason.
After guiding the team to another playoff berth last season, the fans were expecting a deep postseason run, especially after the dominant 30-6 Wild Card Round win against the Pittsburgh Steelers . However, Stroud had a forgettable Divisional round game against the Patriots , where he had 4 interceptions and 42% passing completion, and it significantly affected the result, as the Texans lost by 28-16 and were eliminated.
Now, moving to the next season, he is ready to move past that disastrous performance and put in the effort day in and day out this offseason, per coach DeMeco Ryans .
"CJ has done a really good job all off-season," said Ryans in a recent interview. "He continues to be locked in, continues to be prepared the right way. He has been dialled in to our training sessions, our coaching sessions, and meetings."
The quarterback has gone through a noticeable physical change this offseason. Besides cutting his long hair, he is looking significantly leaner than before. A leaner physique could elevate his speed for a better pocket movement, and if he gets faster, it would help him evade defenders, considering he has an alarming 113 career sacks in 46 games.
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