CJ Stroud drops truth bomb on Texans’ offseason progress

When the Houston Texans hired Nick Caley as the new offensive coordinator, they hoped he would be a perfect pairing with quarterback CJ Stroud. Caley was the passing game coordinator and tight ends coach for the Los Angeles Rams last season. Rams head coach Sean McVay had another coach leave for a promotion.

Sports Illustrated broke down the pairing between Stroud and Caley and how the Texans’ offense is expected to improve in 2025 and beyond.

In the SI article, it mentions that Caley wanted to get to know Stroud right away after the hiring.

“It was just to tell him, I’m here to try and allow him to be at his best, which ultimately will help our offense,” Caley said. “If you can get a quarterback to be at their best, your offense has a chance to be at its best, starting off there. And honestly in the spring, before we got into it, it was getting to know each other and finding out what’s important to him, what’s his why, how is he wired, how am I wired. We both love football, we both care an awful lot about it, and that kind of sparked our relationship.”

Football brings a certain bond that forces you to trust others. All 11 people on the field must do their jobs at the same time to be successful. Caley wants to trust Stroud and vice versa. Depending on how the offense is run this season, we could see that trust firsthand. Caley wants Stroud to be able to figure things out on the fly, something the Texans were unable to do a season ago.

Here is how Stroud sees it from his point of view.

“The ability to do some of that run-and-gun stuff that the Rams did, a lot of motion, to add some of the scheme that the Patriots did during the dynasty, it’s a little bit of both,” Stroud said. “The protections have been solid, we know what’s going on most of the time, I’m not throwing hot every play, which is nice. So yeah, it’s been a good mixture of both. Nick’s done a nice job with the balance.”

The Texans are dealing with some injuries on offense. Stroud has depth at the receiver position, but will be without running back Joe Mixon for at least the first four games. Tank Dell and Brevin Jordan will also miss the entire season.