Texans trade up for Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud in latest CBS Sports mock draft

The certainty the Houston Texans will take quarterback with their initial selection in the 2023 NFL draft than there is on par with sand getting one’s floorboard after visiting Galveston.

According to Tom Fornelli from CBS Sports, the Texans get paranoid another team may take their desired signal caller in the draft, which compels them to work out a deal with the Chicago Bears for No. 1 overall. While most mock drafts have the Texans taking Alabama’s Bryce Young, Houston goes further north to find its franchise quarterback in Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.

The Texans aren’t willing to risk somebody trading ahead of them and getting their guy, so they do it instead. Lovie Smith’s final give to the Chicago Bears is a Week 18 victory that netted them a few more picks. Texans fans will forgive him for it so long as Stroud pans out, and there’s a good chance he will.

The compensation package for Stroud would be what would irk Texans fans initially. How much did general manager Nick Caserio surrender to take a quarterback that the Indianapolis Colts at No. 4 overall may not have been interested in?

In such a scenario, two things would have had to have happened. The first would be that Stroud separated himself over the next two months as the elite prospect in the draft. Secondly there had to have been a team willing to pay a king’s ransom to work with the Bears for the No. 1 overall pick. Yet that raises more questions. Why wouldn’t Chicago take that offer and not the Texans’?

A clue, at least in the mock draft, of what the Texans gave up may be in future picks. The Texans still have No. 12 overall — thanks via 2022 offseason trade with the Cleveland Browns — to select TCU wideout Quentin Johnston.

The roster has been problematic for Houston since 2020. If Caserio fixes that with the 2023 draft haul, free agency, and Stroud proves he is their final piece at quarterback, Houston sports fans should be able to accept the price paid to get the former Buckeye quarterback a little early.