Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud Is 3rd All Time

Where are the doubters now?

The Houston Texans’ 37-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday shouted to the world. The message: quarterback C.J. Stroud was worth every ounce of draft capital Nick Caserio and Demeco Ryans invested in him with this year’s #2 overall pick.

Despite all the “Ohio State Buckeye quarterbacks can’t hang in the NFL” narrative to the contrary, Stroud is not only hanging, he’s hitting marks, setting records and showing out.

As of this writing, and barring some miraculous performance by either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield or the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts in tonights Monday Night Football matchup, Stroud is one of only 4 NFL passers in 2023 with over 900 air yards.

But that’s not all. With yesterday’s 280 yards, Stroud landed 3rd all-time in most passing yards by an NFL rookie in their first 3 games.

The players with the most passing yards in their first three career games in NFL history:

Cam Newton Carolina 2011 1,012

Justin Herbert L.A. Chargers 2020 931

C.J. Stroud Houston 2023 906

Patrick Mahomes Kansas City 2017-18 866

Andrew Luck Indianapolis 2012 846

To make matters worse for Houston haters, Stroud also set an all-time NFL record:

ESPN

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Houston Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud made history during Sunday’s 37-17 upset of the Jacksonville Jaguars after he went 20-for-30 for 280 yards and two touchdowns.

The outing made him the first quarterback in NFL history to have at least 900 passing yards, four pass touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first three career starts, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Stroud currently has 78 completions on 121 attempts for a 64.5 completion percentage. A 7.5 yard per pass average and a rating of 98.0. Against the Glitter Kitties, he hit a 118.8 rating.

Plus this:

Meanwhile. #1 overall draft pick Bryce Young has a paltry 299 passing yards, 2 touchdowns to 2 interceptions and a sad 66.6 QB rating.

Even though the Texans current depth chart looks like the patient list a M.A.S.H unit, head coach Ryans is proving that he was also the right choice.

And Ryans owes a lot of that to Stroud.

Demeco Ryans via ESPN

Sky is the limit for C.J., he just keeps his head down and keeps working. C.J. is a very humble young man. Everything starts with the quarterback, and we have a good one who’s doing really good things. He’s improved every week. And that’s what I like and admire about C.J. is he’s dialed into improvement every week. He’s not satisfied. He’s been a leader for us as an offensive unit, and it’s impressive to see a young man continue to get better each week and lead that group.

Next up, former Texans’ great J.J. Watt’s little brother T.J. Watt and the Pittsburgh Steelers.