Texans’ CJ Stroud throwing at Stefon Diggs will have NFL defenses trembling in fear

The Texans’ bounce-back campaign

Landing a four-time Pro Bowler such as Diggs shows that the Texans are all in on continuing where they left off last season. Entering their 2023 campaign, Houston had missed the playoffs for three straight years, with only 11 wins to their name in that entire span (11-38-1 record from 2020-2022). However, Stroud’s entry in 2023 was nothing short of a blessing. With the young quarterback leading the way, the Texans shocked the country, finishing their regular season with a 10-7 record to top the AFC South.

In the playoffs, Stroud dominated in his first-ever appearance, throwing for 274 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Texans past the Cleveland Browns in the Wild Card round. Houston eventually ended their resurgent run with a Divisional-Round elimination at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.

CJ Stroud now has a much deeper arsenal of weapons

Going back to the present, what makes the addition of Stefon Diggs even scarier is how the Texans still have Stroud’s top three passing targets last season, namely, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Dalton Schultz. While the team did lose running back Devin Singletary to the New York Giants, acquiring former Pro Bowler Joe Mixon addressed the issue immediately. With Diggs entering the picture, CJ Stroud now has another lethal weapon at his disposal. Just look at the stats.

Last season, Diggs caught the football 107 times to tally 1,183 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 17 regular-season starts. Throughout his career, the wideout has amassed regular-season totals of 9,995 receiving yards and 67 scores in 136 games played. Diggs has plenty of postseason experience as well, being less than a hundred yards short of achieving 1000 postseason catching yards (909 yards currently).

As for the Texans’ franchise quarterback, Stroud finished his debut season with 4,108 passing yards and 23 touchdowns on a 319-of-499 (63.9%) completion percentage. Besides winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, the 22-year-old also made his first Pro Bowl appearance.

As scary as the offense is, the defensive side of the ball looks good as well. Let’s not forget that the Texans also have the reigning defensive Rookie of the Year, Will Andersen Jr. Drafted in 2023 right behind Stroud, Andersen will be hunting quarterbacks in a D-line that includes the newly-attained Danielle Hunter, who is coming off his fourth Pro Bowl season.

Could the Texans possibly go from bottom dwellers to Super Bowl contenders in the span of two years? On paper, it may be possible — and Houston fans are surely excited to find out come September.