CJ Stroud is one of the big discoveries of this NFL season and the reason for the Houston Texans’ recovery. But in addition to his sporting glory, the quarterback experienced many dark, private years – without a father and in poverty.
There is only one quarterback this season who has thrown for 470 passing yards in a game. And if that wasn’t outstanding enough, this quarterback is also the only one to score five touchdowns in a game – in the same one – this season. This quarterback is a rookie and has only played ten NFL games. His name: CJ Stroud.
The Houston Texans playmaker is one of the discoveries of the season so far – and his performances are the reason why the Texans are so surprisingly strong. Last year, Houston only won three of its 17 games. Now the Texans are in the middle of the playoff race with a record of 6:4 wins after ten games.
Already three quarterback rookie records
This Coleridge Bernard “CJ” Stroud IV has only been in the league for almost two and a half months, but Stroud has already left his first clear mark. For example, his 192 pass attempts without an interception at the start of the season are an NFL rookie record, as are the aforementioned 470 passing yards and five touchdowns on November 5th in the 39:37 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “Are you kidding, CJ Stroud?” NBC Sports then asked.
In a thrilling game, the playmaker served wide receiver Tank Dell with a 15-yard pass for the winning touchdown six seconds before the end of the game. Shortly before, the guests had been celebrating when they scored a touchdown in the final minute to give them a 37:33 lead with only 46 seconds left on the game clock. But Stroud only needed 40 seconds to lead his team 75 yards down the field with five accurate passes and to successfully complete the attack – and therefore the game.
At times considered a possible MVP candidate
CJ Stroud is unstoppable in his rookie season.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
“Sports.yahoo.com” then wrote that it was “probably the most pleasing story of this NFL season.” After his historic performance, his name was even mentioned – albeit in the absence of a clear favorite – as a possible season MVP. However, as things happen so quickly in this league, nothing is as old as the statistics from the last game, or in Stroud’s case, the game from two weeks ago.
In the 21:16 home win on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, the 22-year-old threw his touchdowns number 16 and 17 – but also three interceptions. This time it was not because of his strong passes that Houston won the third game in a row, but because of their good defense. Because none of the interceptions resulted in points for the guests.
Comparison with NBA superstar Steph Curry
Other rookie quarterbacks might have been a little unsettled after such a performance. Stroud, on the other hand, reached for the highest shelf and compared himself with probably the best long-distance shooter in the NBA basketball league. “Steph Curry never stops throwing. And I won’t stop either,” he said on the club’s website.
At the end of April, the Texans selected the 1.91 meter tall, 99 kilogram Californian second in the draft. New coach DeMeco Ryans wanted to wait a long time in the summer before announcing his starting quarterback. Stroud and last season’s number one, Davis Mills, should fight for the position. But Ryans soon noticed how the older players followed newcomer Stroud. Then the decision was made – and no one in Houston regretted it.
Not a rookie, but “a brilliant quarterback”
In the ten games so far, Stroud has thrown passes for 2,962 yards. Only Andrew Luck (2965), Justin Herbert (3015) and Patrick Mahomes (3185) had better values in NFL history in their first year. “In my opinion, CJ Stroud doesn’t look like a rookie, but like a brilliant quarterback. Hats off, very impressive,” said Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield.
When the Texans started the season with two defeats, that didn’t really bother anyone in the oil metropolis on the Gulf of Mexico. Because the expectations were extremely low anyway. Houston had worn out four coaches in the previous three seasons – and still only won eleven of 50 games.
First win and first wow moment
The first victory came on the third matchday. It was a pretty surprising 37-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars – and it was Stroud’s first wow moment. He threw the football 53 yards toward the Jaguars end zone. The only player there was wide receiver Tank Dell, but he was surrounded by three defenders. But Stroud’s pass was so precise that the defenders had no chance of getting to the ball and Dell, in turn, just had to grab it with his hands ready to catch it.
“I still can’t believe it,” Dell says even today. Dell emphasizes that all of the Texans’ wide receivers have now learned that they don’t have to follow the trajectory of the football when Stroud throws it, as it almost always falls right into their arms.
Life imprisonment for the father
Even when the pass rushers are rushing towards him and the spaces into which he can throw the football are only a few centimeters large, Stroud remains calm and therefore precise. “It’s one thing to make these throws in practice. But in the game. Every pass. Over and over again. I’ve never seen anything like that from a rookie,” says tight end Dalton Schultz. “Every week he has a litter that is my new favorite,” adds Case Keenum. Although he is now only the quarterback’s backup man, he has seen pretty much everything at his position in his ten years in the league.
As brilliant as CJ Stroud’s sporting side is, his private side was just as sad. He has spent most of his 22 years, at least the ones he can remember, without a father. When CJ was 13, Coleridge Stroud III was sent to prison. He had pleaded guilty to car hijacking, kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault. And he was a repeat offender. The crimes were decades ago – but the past caught up with him in 2014. The verdict: 38 years to life imprisonment.
Little money, small apartment, angry son
The father is gone – and so is the family’s breadwinner. Money was always tight, the apartment in a suburb of Los Angeles in which mother Kimberly had to raise her four children alone was far too small for five people – and CJ was angry with “Pops”, as he always called his father.
He had once taught him how to throw a football properly. So that it rotates through the air in a spiral motion. He had always been the one to catch his son’s balls. The one who praised him, gave him high fives and positive feedback, making CJ want to throw more footballs.
No contact with his father for many years
But when Stroud Senior went to prison, they were no longer in touch. The son had ignored all of his father’s calls for six years. Coleridge III is one of around 2,500 inmates at Folsom State Prison, almost two hours’ drive northeast of San Francisco. The online portal “The Athletic” recently wrote about it in detail.
“I’ve been through hell and back,” CJ Stroud once said in college. But those years also taught him to “scratch and bite.” He has now forgiven his father and they both talk on the phone regularly. Coleridge Stroud III watches all the games on television, is now considered something of a celebrity, says CJ, because of his son, and has turned everyone in his cell block into Texans fans.
Thanks to an app on his phone, the father can receive photos and videos from CJ and thus follow his son’s first NFL season a little more closely. The relationship between the two is now “like it used to be,” emphasizes CJ. He has fulfilled his biggest dream of making it into the NFL. But he also has a second thing: that his father will be released early and can see him play live. That’s what CJ Stroud says he’s praying for.