Houston Texans first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans recently declared he’ll let the starting quarterback competition between C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills roll into training camp.
The Texans drafted Mills, then a product of the Stanford Cardinal football program, with the 67th overall pick in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. By contrast, the Texans selected Stroud out of Ohio State with the second overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Stroud impressed Ryans with his response to throwing an interception in an intrasquad scrimmage by throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Dalton Schultz on the ensuing drive.
“For a quarterback, you have to have a short memory. You can’t let one bad play become three bad plays, right? Put that behind you. You’re going to make some bad plays, but as long as it doesn’t matriculate into other bad plays, then I’m fine with that,” Ryans said, according to D.J. Bien-Aime of ESPN.
“To see him and see his resolve, the way he was able to come back, compete, drive the offense down for a touchdown there at the end of practice — that was pretty cool to see.”
According to ESPN’s report, Stroud has looked “comfortable” playing under center in Houston, something he only did six percent of the time as a two-time Heisman finalist at Ohio State.
“It’s a matter of just getting reps. Nothing magical about it. It’s just getting under center and doing it. C.J. had reps under center in college. It’s not foreign to him,” Ryans said. “He’s done it before. He’s done a good job these past few days in practice of understanding, and we haven’t had any issues with that. C.J. is doing a great job.”
Stroud also raved about his acceptance from his new teammates.
“This team has been very accepting of me, very honest, and very transparent. What I love about it, man, nothing has been given to me,” Stroud said. “I have to earn everything, which I love. It’s been like that my whole career.”
Barring Mills completely overshadowing Stroud the rest of the preseason, it’s hard to envision the Texans starting anyone but Stroud at quarterback considering the draft capital they expended to get him.
[ESPN]
