The 2023 No. 2 pick has been at the center of a Texans rebuild that has them on the verge of winning their second straight AFC South title.
Stephen A. Smith and Chris"Mad Dog" Russo debate whether the NFL was right for suspending Texans LB Azeez Al-Shaair three games for his hit on Trevor Lawrence. DJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in July of 2022 after covering the New York Jets. He's a former athlete who finished his college career at Louisville. You can catch DJ on ESPN Radio on his show,"Talkin' Texans."were looking for answers.
It hasn't always been perfect around Stroud, but his success shows the foundation is something to build on. He's outpaced fellow top-five picks from his draft class in, who both were benched at different points this season. Even though Stroud's passer rating has dipped from his first season to his second , he ranks 10th in passing yards this season for an offense that is 11th in scoring .
Collins and Diggs became the go-to options for Stroud. He had a passer rating of 104 and completed 73% of his passes when targeting Diggs, who had 496 receiving yards and three touchdowns before suffering a season-ending right knee injury in Week 8. In 2024, the unit hasn't matched its price tag. Stroud has been sacked 41 times, second most, and pressured on 39.5% of his dropbacks, third most, and his time to pressure is 2.57, fourth fastest among starters. among left tackles and 14th among tackles, according to ESPN Analytics. Mason, Scruggs and Green have given up 22 sacks combined, and they have struggled with communication on blocking stunts.
"Having the right coaches is understated," an NFC executive told ESPN."Baker Mayfield is the perfect example of that. He's on his fourth team. He just got with the right coach, and he got in the right situation. Now he's thriving."Slowik emphasizes communication with Stroud and their connection has led to Stroud having the NFL's second-most passing yards since Week 1 of 2023.
"A lot of the conversations, we're instilling confidence in certain plays," Slowik told ESPN."So it's always really at the forefront of my mind. In between series, we're always having a conversation about things like that. We had a conversation at half. We knew the hole was wide open. We were just waiting for the right time to call the play and let it rip."
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