C.J. Stroud Got What He Asked For in a New-Look Texans Offense. Now What?

Very interesting story, several good quotes and a discussion of different offensive philosophies.

Some excerpts below:

Both Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley and quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson say that Stroud’s football obsession makes their respective jobs a lot easier. They don’t need to push the QB to prepare harder or watch more film; he does that on his own. “He studies ball,” Caley told me recently on a cold and gloomy day in West Virginia, where the Texans held a week of training camp practices. “C.J. studies the league. I mean, he watches. It’s amazing how much tape he watches.”

Caley says that he picked up on his quarterback’s passion for the sport in their first interaction, an hours-long conversation back in the spring. Caley was hired away from the Rams in February and says that he and Stroud have hit it off quickly, even though they have two very different personalities. Stroud is laid-back—even when arguing with Parsons on a podcast, the quarterback never seemed too worked up—while Caley is all energy. You wouldn’t need to know that he spent the past two years in L.A. to recognize Sean McVay’s influence on his coaching style. Get him some blond hair dye and a more form-fitting shirt, and Caley could pass for his former boss.

“They talk the same,” Stroud joked of Caley and McVay. “They have the same tone of voice, which is kind of funny. Caley is a little turned up. Well, not a little. He’s turned up to the max. And I’m more of a chill guy, at least on the field. … It’s yin and yang.”

Caley said that he and C.J. “might have different personalities, per se, but it’s fun to be around people that share a common interest, and I love working with him.”

The feeling is mutual. “I’m excited to work with him,” Stroud said of his first-year play caller following a preseason win against the Panthers. “He’s a great guy, loves football, knows football, knows why we’re calling things, how to call them, when to call them. He’s been great, and I’m very grateful to have him as an OC.”

“He was put in some adverse situations [last season],” Jerrod Johnson told me. “But our job as quarterbacks is to find solutions. We always take the mindset, what can we do to help? … I’m looking to get more easy downs for him. With that being said, one thing is guaranteed out there on Sunday: Something’s going to come up, and it’s our job to find the answer.”

Typically, when a young quarterback struggles through a tough season, the solution isn’t to put even more on his plate. But that’s exactly what the Texans are doing in 2025. Stroud asked for more ownership of the offense after last season’s disappointing results, and Ryans and Caley are giving it to him. For the first time in his NFL career, Stroud will be able to change protections and call audibles before the snap. Houston will be leaning on Stroud’s knowledge and feel for the game in ways it didn’t over the past two years. It’s the type of control that the best quarterbacks across the league enjoy—from Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. But with that comes another layer of pressure for Stroud.

“I don’t want to say it lights a fire under [quarterbacks],” Texans tight end Dalton Schultz told me during a post-practice chat. “But it’s like, Hey, you better be on your s**t. You omit one word from the play call, now everything’s messed up. It puts a little more pressure [on him] in that sense. But at the same time, with responsibility comes a lot of freedom—the feeling that you can put your own twist on it.”

As Stroud will point out, this autonomy may be a new feature of the Texans offense, but it’s not entirely new to him. “It’s like what I’ve done in the past,” Stroud said after Saturday’s preseason win over Carolina. “Like high school, I had a lot of other ways to get to plays, protections. Same thing in college. Our schemes the last two years really didn’t have those capabilities—at least not yet—so I really didn’t get to do it. But this year we’ve introduced that, and I think it’s been great to just have some ownership, know what’s going on, not always have to throw hot [with] all these guys in my face.”

“My role as quarterback coach is to mentor quarterbacks,” Johnson said. “It’s our job to help them on their journey finding greatness, and I think C.J. wants to keep progressing in this league going into year three. And I think he’s at a place in his career where he can handle it. It is more challenging and it requires more preparation, but having more control should help him have more success.”

Stroud and the Texans aren’t just looking to bounce back after a frustrating year. They’re looking to take a step forward and establish themselves as challengers to the Chiefs, Bills, and Ravens at the top of the AFC. Stroud asked for ownership of the offense to help him compete with the MVP-winning quarterbacks who lead those teams. His coaches all agreed that it was a necessary step in his development and handed him the reins. What he does with them will determine how far he can take Houston this season—and whether he’ll make the leap to join the league’s class of elite quarterbacks in his third year.

More here: https://www.theringer.com/2025/08/20/nfl/cj-stroud-houston-texans-new-offense