ESPN update: C.J. Stroud in a “Elite” circumstance

Every quarterback in their second year receives a PFF grade.

C.J. Stroud was billed as the backup pick in the NFL draft earlier in the previous season. After selecting Bryce Young, the Carolina Panthers were ready to make a winning transition with their team. While critics responded, “Sure… sure,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio was telling everyone who would listen that they had wanted Stroud all along.

After a full year, Stroud is regarded as one of the league’s greatest rookie quarterbacks, if not the best. The Panthers are idling around wondering what went wrong, while the Texans are the current AFC South Champions.

And that was just predicated on Stroud’s play in the previous campaign.

Earlier this week, our amazing, very own VBallRetired wrote a piece about what to anticipate from Stroud in year 2.

In a recent article titled “Grading the situations of second-year quarterbacks,” PFF also highlighted Stroud.

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• The Texans passing attack for 2024 is expected to be formidable, led by veteran Stefon Diggs, youngster Tank Dell, and Nico Collins, who is still in an excellent position.

In 2024, Stroud and Collins’ chemistry should only get better.

Dell and Stroud will connect early and frequently for a lot of yards and points if Dell can overcome his gunshot wound and remain on the game.

Diggs, a receiver who is already all-pro, elevates this passing offense to a terrifying level.

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HOUSTON TEXANS, C.J. STROUD: ELITE

The Texans have transformed from a rebuilding squad into a competitive team in one of the fastest turnarounds. The main factor is Stroud’s fantastic play in his debut campaign, but Houston has quickly assembled a talented supporting group to surround him. Unbeknownst to us at the time, but Stroud found himself in a fortunate circumstance when he was paired with Bobby Slowik, the team’s new offensive coordinator, who successfully combined their pass and run game to provide Stroud clear-cut, simple selections for the entire season.

The Texans have a very effective young receiver group, led by rookie Tank Dell and Nico Collins, in addition to their new play caller. With 2.22 yards per route run, Dell was the second-best rookie wide receiver. In his third NFL season, Collins had a breakthrough campaign, placing third among all receivers in terms of overall grade. Of the three NFL clubs, the Texans had two wide receivers with grades in the top 15. Then, to improve an already outstanding passing offense, the team went out and acquired Stefon Diggs, a top-tier experienced wide receiver.

Laremy Tunsil is an excellent offensive lineman who can assist protect Stroud’s blindside even though Houston’s offensive line may not be among the best in the NFL overall. Tunsil has never allowed more than 32 pressures in a campaign and has never had a season with a pass-blocking grade below 75.0.

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JJ Watt intensifies his efforts to avoid retirement

JJ Watt is the subject of unretirement rumors, but he doesn’t appear to be eager to return to the field anytime soon.

The Houston Texans seem determined to build on their successful 2023 season, as seen by their remarkable summer work. Even with all the players they have signed in recent months, there are still speculations circulating that iconic defensive lineman JJ Watt may come out of retirement, which is something many fans would really like to see.

In his first year off the pitch, Watt entered the world of sports broadcasting after retiring following the 2022 campaign. There have been some unfounded speculations, though, that he would decide to come out of retirement in an attempt to rejoin the Texans and support their defensive line. While Watt hasn’t completely refuted the speculations, he has reiterated how unlikely it is that he will ultimately rejoin Houston.

“If it came to a really dire situation where they needed assistance, I would provide it.” However, I don’t think people realized just how rare it is and how much would have to happen for that scenario to come to pass.As a matter of fact, I’m retired and content and extremely comfortable. — Pat McAfee Show, JJ Watt

Texans shouldn’t place a lot of money on JJ Watt retiring.

Watt is still free to come out of retirement if he so chooses, but he has stated on a few occasions that he is not in a rush to get back on the field and that Houston would have to experience some dire circumstances before he would do so. In other words, the team shouldn’t be counting on him to come out of retirement because, barring a catastrophic injury to their defensive line, that won’t happen.

Watt recorded 12.5 sacks in 2022 with the Arizona Cardinals, demonstrating that he was still a capable player. It is likely that Watt will play again for the Texans and contribute right away as a pass rusher. Although he isn’t the same player who earned three Defensive Player of the Year honors in a four-year period from 2012 to 2015, if he felt driven to give it one more go with Houston, he could still have a significant influence in pass-rushing scenarios.

It just doesn’t seem very likely to happen, though. One of the best young defensive lineman in the game is Will Anderson Jr., and the Texans have one of the best D-line tandems in the league thanks to their free-agent acquisition of standout pass rusher Danielle Hunter. Even though Watt’s longstanding team is making an offer, he makes it clear that fans shouldn’t expect to see him play anytime soon. However, the door is being left open to some extent.