Our final 2026 NFL Season Preview feature is an extensive look at the player under the most pressure this season: Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Our two-parter on this team’s defense — OUTLAWS — is right here as well, icymi.
How will Joe Brady attack this defense? Here’s our 1 on 1 with the Bills’ head coach.
Links to all summer features are also below.
In an alternative universe, one within the realm of reality, the scene inside Levi’s Stadium looks quite different at the conclusion of Super Bowl LX. The Houston Texans outlast the Seattle Seahawks in a 12-round bareknuckle brawl for the ages. Bodies stagger. Wounds hemorrhage. Butkus and Nitschke and Deacon Jones smile from above as two defenses straight out of our grandfather’s NFL preserve the violence of football in all its forgotten glory.
The Texans are victorious and there is no debate.
They’re universally crowned one of the greatest defenses in league history.
Azeez Al-Shaair takes the microphone. He’s choked up. Not too long ago, Park Avenue suits cast him a villain unfit for its league. Now, look at him. A champion. The kid who saved his brothers and niece from a burning house, whose family of 11 then crammed into an extended-stay motel at $370 per week, who rode the city bus 2 ½ hours to school because he needed to drop those two little bros off at elementary school is now immortalized as one the generation’s most feared linebackers.
Will Anderson Jr. is announced as the Super Bowl MVP. This monster of a man was once the runt of the family, tortured by his five older sisters. It’s their fault he’s afraid of the dark. Back in Hampton, Ga., they’d shove him into a closet and lean against the door so he wouldn’t escape. Or lock him into their dungeon of a basement. Or dress him up in a giraffe costume and push him into the backyard with the family’s three pit bulls. After screaming, “I’m going to Disneyland!” into a camera lens, Anderson is surrounded by those sisters on the field. He hugs them, kisses them, thanks them for all the tough love.
The party rages on inside the locker room. At the vortex of a champagne whirlpool, IG Live catches one player spouting off a viral one-liner that perfectly encapsulates this curb-stomping. Naturally, it’s Kamari Lassiter. The kid who started playing tackle football at 4 years old and has been suplexing fools ever since. He once told us he’d give his “life” to this sport.
Finally, a nickname sticks. Maybe they’re the savages, as coined by safety Calen Bullock. Maybe the ‘25 Texans is enough.
We should be able to remember this defense in such fashion.
This would’ve been justice in American Football.
Because — when history books are written? — this may go down as the defense that broke the generation’s greatest talent: Patrick Mahomes.
I know, I know. He’s a deity. Doubting the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is heresy that warrants a thorough burning at the stake. There’s always been unparalleled wizardry to his dominance. He may go down as the greatest player of all-time. But en route to his fifth Super Bowl appearance the season prior, in 2024, this Houston defense made him look… ordinary. Specific principles — call ‘em the “Mahomes Rules” — utilized by head coach DeMeco Ryans, defensive coordinator Matt Burke and this ransacking Texans defense in those games were implemented by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, sources from both teams confirm. Vic Fangio is a mastermind in his own right, obviously, but there are a few acute fundamentals to follow. The result was carnage. At halftime, Philly had more points (24) than KC had yards (23). Mahomes’ passer rating was 10.7. Mahomes didn’t even cross the 50-yard line until his team trailed, 34-zip.
This was Michael Jordan going 3 for 28 in a Game 7. This was Tiger Woods quadruple-bogeying the 16th hole at Augusta. (We’ll get to those specific rules later.)
Philadelphia, not Houston, was worshipped for authorizing a defensive masterpiece.
The next season, the Texans treated Josh Allen like a piñata, put a dagger in Mahomes’ Chiefs season, body-bagged Aaron Rodgers in the wild card round and then headed to Foxborough with their own eyes set on immortality. Three more wins and they’d unquestionably join the ’85 Bears, 2000 Ravens and 2013 Seahawks as an all-time defense. We told the story of this Texans defense with this two-part series.
Instead, they lost.
Instead, the defense in Seattle is lionized. Seattle wins the Super Bowl. From his home, one offensive coach on this Houston staff watched Seattle thump New England 29-13 and the room went silent. His wife finally spoke up. “You guys really fucked it up,” she told him.
Into the offseason, rent was due. Anderson received the richest non-QB contract in NFL history. Danielle Hunter was re-signed. Al-Shaair inked a new deal, too. The franchise operated with maximum urgency on this side of the ball.
Over on offense, however, one player did not receive a new contract.
It’s no coincidence that this same player cost the team its season.
Nobody in the NFL faces more pressure to perform than the quarterback in Houston.
All 32 starters carry a burden on their shoulders. It’s the nature of the profession.
Nobody, period, has more at stake than C.J. Stroud.
Inside today’s story:
Where have things gone wrong for the 2023 offensive rookie of the year? And what’s the key to Stroud becoming everything we thought he’d be?
Insight from Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Warren Moon.
How has this Texans D made Mahomes look human? The rest of the NFL watched closely.
Driver vs. Irons dilemma for OC Nick Caley.
Why nobody should expect regression from this rabid Houston defense.
The hidden trait inside Stroud the Texans must unlock in 2026.
GM Nick Caserio did not slide a blank check across the negotiating table. Instead, the Texans eliminated all possible excuses around the quarterback position with another round of signings, trades and firings. This is Year 4. If Stroud excels, he could earn himself a contract worth $60 million per year. Not too long ago, Hall of Famers like Kurt Warner were in awe. This flame-throwing rookie appeared destined for greatness. If he falters, he won’t get a new contract and, odds are, the Texans will have no choice but to scramble for a new QB1 while they can with this defense.
Both outcomes are possible.
This summer, Go Long canvassed the league — including sources who’ve been around the QB up close — to see which path he takes.
A team can only do so much around the quarterback position.
Stroud must make his move in 2026. This is the most consequential season of his football life.
First, the bad news. On the field, he isn’t seeing the field like he did as a rookie. Something’s off and it’s baffling Warner. Inside the building, Stroud butted heads with one OC (Bobby Slowik) and is onto another. Last season was littered with growing pains with Nick Caley. Explosive plays were down. Some wish the QB brought more of an alpha personality to the office.
The good news? There is an edge to this quarterback. A spunk that could — in theory — complement this defense. Don’t mistake public reticence for private indifference.
Flash back to the spring of 2023. Back to when he left a magnetic first impression with NFL teams. Those who interviewed him — coaches, execs, scouts — sure didn’t question whether he possessed the requisite amount of alpha then.
He had attitude.
Teams saw a face of the franchise.
“We were blown away by him,” says one source inside the Atlanta Falcons room then.
“Blown away.”
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Jekyll and Hyde
Yes, the Falcons were interested in C.J. Stroud ahead of the 2023 draft. The only problem was that they were out of range at the eighth overall pick.
When the Ohio State quarterback sat down with the team, he was blunt. He declared that he’d be taken No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers.
Which is when the team’s head coach, Arthur Smith, served as the bearer of bad news.
He told Stroud, point blank, that Alabama’s Bryce Young would be Carolina’s pick. Stroud was perplexed considering those same Panthers were bringing him into town on a visit. “I’m going to tell you the truth,” Smith responded. “It’s not going to happen.” The Falcons coach knew the truth because he shared the same agent as Young and Nick Saban: heavy-hitter Jimmy Sexton.
Stroud sat in silence. “Stunned,” one source recalls.
Then, Smith explained that they’d do everything in their power to trade up for him. Everyone was in on Stroud. QBs coach Dave Ragone loved his character, his swagger, and, of course, that smooth-as-silk throwing motion. Draft night in Kansas City, Mo., arrived, Carolina took Young and the Houston Texans sniped Stroud at No. 2, killing any dream of any team trading up.
Stroud embraced his family, fit a Texans flat brim atop his braids, glided toward the main stage and shouted “Let’s gooo!” at full throat before embracing commissioner Roger Goodell.
In his mind? No. 2 was too low.
“There was a chip on the shoulder,” says one former coach on the Texans staff. “When Bryce Young went first, that fueled him because he felt that he should have been the first pick in the draft, and he wasn’t.”
Stroud wasted no time torching pro defenses with one of the finest rookie seasons in NFL history, throwing for 4,108 yards with 23 touchdowns and only five interceptions in 15 starts. “He was such an aggressive downfield thrower,” one ex-Texan coach recalls. “He was standing in there. He wasn’t bailing in the pocket.” The HOF’er Warner — one of the toughest graders of the position — was “blown away” by his complete game. When we were chatting about Jordan Love one day, he pivoted to Stroud. Dubbed him a Top 5 quarterback.
Midseason, Go Long sat down with the team’s coordinator for a piece on all three rookie quarterbacks.
Slowik was effusive in his praise. The future, for both, appeared limitless.
“We could not do all we want,” Slowik said, “unless he walks out and has a great command of every play and what’s going on and where things are going to be. I mean, he lets balls go when they need to be thrown. A lot of times it’s happening when someone’s sticking their foot in the ground to indicate where they’re breaking.
“That’s more than coaching. That’s a massive credit to him.”
Slowik later added: “He’s a special kid.”
Our final exchange is quite telling in retrospect. After Slowik told me that he sincerely did not know Carolina was selecting Young until the card was turned in, I asked if Stroud was his preference all along. A softball for any coach who would’ve loved his game — especially in real time with the getting good. Instead, Slowik said his pre-draft evaluations “will remain locked in my drawer.”
Good vibes in ’23 swiftly faded into ’24.
QB and OC worked on their relationship for a while. One source recalls Stroud entering Slowik’s office unannounced to talk ball for 30+ minutes at a time. But when Houston’s offense slipped into a malaise, those 1-on-1 sessions abruptly stopped. The two became strictly co-workers. Little more. “They hardly talked unless they had to,” one coach on staff recalls. Houston made the playoffs at 10-7 and the two tried to rekindle the meetings to piece together a run. But it was too late.
One assistant believes Slowik grew frustrated in Stroud not “mentally exhausting” himself after the banner rookie season. In that, he’d watch a ton of NFL games but not necessarily study installs the night before.
“He had that year and it was kind of like, ‘Alright, well, I made it,’” this source recalls. “And that’s not the case. You have to do it for an extended period of time. I think he lost a bit of his edge.”
When I bring up Stroud’s low score on the pre-draft S2 Cognition test (18%), as reported here by our Bob McGinn, one ex-Texans coach says the quarterback can digest and comprehend everything. To him, it’s not a matter of ability.
Slowik was fired and ex-Patriots, ex-Rams assistant Nick Caley was hired as OC.
Stroud was a mixed bag in 2025. He produced the eighth-best EPA per dropback in the NFL and the fifth-lowest turnover rate. Gritty moments like this third-and-3 stiff-arm of Chris Jones endeared him to teammates. When everything was going wrong that night at Arrowhead, wideout Christian Kirk said Stroud rallied the offense together at the end of the third quarter to say: “We’ve got to go take this thing. These are the defending world champs. They’re not just going to sit back and hand it to us.”
One source who’s familiar with each coordinator puts the philosophical difference between Slowik and Caley in golf terms. With Slowik, the Texans were using their driver off the tee. Which led to birdies and bogies. With Caley, the offense preferred to use their irons and keep the ball in the fairway to make par.
“With Bobby, we were trying to hunt explosives in the run and the pass game,” this source says. “And with Nick, we were trying to avoid negative plays. And sure, it looked OK. But we weren’t built to win games offensively. We didn’t call games to win offensively. The defense would do their job. And if the defense had a bad day, we weren’t going to be able to bail them out for a multitude of reasons.”
“And when it got to the playoffs and the kid started turning the ball over, we had no shot.”
If Ryans chooses keepaway over gunslingin,’ can we blame him? This Texan defense is an anaconda constricting its adversary into bone-crushing submission. Then again, one coach on the current staff counters that a defense this freakin’ good could actually compel the offense to take more chances deep. Because if you fail, it’s not a big deal. You’re getting the ball right back. Each opponent requires its own unique gameplan. But considering one of Stroud’s greatest gifts is the deep ball and considering Nico Collins (profiled here) possesses a gear most 6-foot-4, 222-pound receivers do not, more big-play hunting makes sense in 2026.
The decline in dynamic plays might’ve been rooted more in the Swiss cheese offensive line, too.
Bring up “confidence” to one coach and he pushes back. Draws a distinction.
This coach doesn’t believe Stroud lost confidence in himself last season. Rather, in his offensive line. Rather, in a front five that ranked 32nd of 32 teams in run-block win rate (68.4 percent) and 30th in pass-block win rate (55.5). Ineptitude fed a skittishness. So even when the pocket was clean, he’d get nervous. Bail. Panic into a bad decision. To the layman, such helter-skelter moments probably looked bizarre. Stroud thought his clock was speeding up when he actually had ample time to stand firm in the pocket.
“He’s got to be confident in that everybody else around him is going to be doing their job for him,” this coach adds, “and then he can just go fucking operate and be who he is. Because he is a confident kid. He’s got to feel the O-Line. He’s got to feel like, ‘Oh man, we’re running the ball better. I can pair with this play-action. I can take these shots. I can hold the ball, take longer.’”
Given the personnel changes on offense, perhaps Caley dials up more bombs and Stroud is less antsy.
No assistant coach faces more pressure than the man who scored the most coveted coordinator gig in the ‘25 offseason. Caley was victorious over six other candidates and let’s not forget Houston didn’t interview eventual Super Bowl champ Klint Kubiak.
His tact is different. Sources say Caley is not as hard on Stroud as Slowik.
Whether that’s good or bad is up for debate. Examples for both theories are all over the league. In Chicago, from Day 1, Ben Johnson made it clear he would not cater everything to the quarterback like the previous staff did through a turbulent rookie season. Caleb Williams needed to get in line or get out, and the QB bought in. One coach on the Texans’ 2025 staff wishes Caley took a similar approach to Stroud. Instead, he was more apt to cater to what his quarterback preferred, such as zapping plays from under center at the expense of unpredictability. If Stroud executed a play wrong but still completed a pass, the mistake wasn’t always corrected.
Making any offense QB-friendly can lend itself to a sugar high. In the long run, this source believes, you’re not doing the QB any favors. This is a cruel league. Forcing your starter to do the hard stuff prepares him for January when the weather worsens, the stakes heighten and all defensive minds dust off their best calls. Indeed, chickens came home to roost for the Texans offense against Pittsburgh and New England in the playoffs. Stroud completed only 51 percent of his passes for 462 yards with two scores and seven turnovers (five interceptions, two lost fumbles). His four first-half picks vs. the Patriots doomed. Season over.
Into the offseason, Caserio dismissed chatter of trading Stroud as “moronic” and picked up his fifth-year option.
Houston’s bet is that the lights come on.
Warner, a stickler, was a staunch believer. And Warner doesn’t give a damn about those sparkling rookie statistics. His eyes. His feet. How “effortless” he threw the ball. Everything about Stroud suggested he was progressing at warp speed. The question that stays on Warner’s mind when he studies all QBs is Do you see it? Those incapable of processing will eventually be swallowed whole. It’s impossible to make a living freestylin’ out of structure.
So, that’s what concerns him. All of a sudden, the picture in front of Stroud became more of a 90s magic-eye poster.
“I know they’ve changed coordinators,” Warner says. “But there’s been things in front of him that should be easy based on what I saw as a rookie.”
He believes in a three-year sample size. By then, your true game is revealed.
Warner uses himself as an example. When he won MVP in 1999, everything was much easier. Defenders didn’t understand him or the Greatest Show on Turf. The degree of difficulty ratcheted up in Year 2 and Year 3. Defenses forced Warner to cycle deeper into his reads. He continued to make a ton of plays — and even won a second MVP — but the St. Louis Rams’ quarterback also threw 40 interceptions his next 27 games.
“You can have a really good year, especially in the early stages, that isn’t fully indicative of who you are as a player,” Warner says. “You come in the league, nobody expects it, it’s brand new and all of a sudden, boom, it gets harder. We get to see who you really are.
“I thought CJ was great as a rookie and was excited to see where he was going to go. And then it’s been step back, step back. Where it makes me start to wonder if we just got a ballooned look, if it was something that was elevated in his first year but wasn’t indicative of necessarily the level that he’s at.”
All of it’s a mystery to Warner because a.) he also doesn’t believe quarterbacks outright forget how to read the field and b.) while it’s true a new scheme can blur the picture, Caley’s offense seems perfectly fine to him. He sees routes fitting together. Everything correlates. Stroud’s worst sin, to him, was what the current Texans assistant noted: the blitz. Happy feet ruined too many plays. Overall, he’s seen good. He’s seen bad. Warner won’t make a bold proclamation on Stroud either way. The fact that he wasn’t asked to decipher coverages at a complex level in college doesn’t give him comfort. It’s impossible to learn how to read NFL defenses at an NFL speed, Warner adds, because these are “the best athletes in the world.”
It’s why he also has no clue what’s next for Jayden Daniels in Washington.
Year 1, Daniels saw it all. He’d work from the frontside to the backside of a play lickity-split.
Now he wonders if the young quarterback was simply working through a pure progression.
“So those are guys,” Warner adds, “that give me pause to go, ‘OK, were we just fooled a little bit in their first year because everything happened to fall into place? And that’s not who they are? Or the second year, were there other things that factored in: a new OC, injuries that created some of these negatives and now they’re going to settle back in and become that guy we saw their first year?’ When I watch a guy play game after game after game and he’s looking in a certain direction and he can’t see what’s in that direction, that gives me room for concern. He’s even looking in the right direction! When you start in the right direction and your eyes are lined up there and you can’t see something that to me should be pretty easy to see, that gives me a lot of concern that they don’t know what they’re looking at and they’re just trying to find an open guy, which is always very concerning at the NFL level.”
That being said, Warner is still holding out hope.
He’s not forgetting the 2023 edition of this quarterback.
Moon is more optimistic. This wait-and-see approach — to him — is wise in the wake of the Tua Tagovailoa disaster. Miami ate $99.2 million this spring to send him packing. Moon, plugged in, hears that Stroud has “rededicated” himself to the profession. And he’s all, all, all in on Caserio’s offseason maneuvers. A mashing back like David Montgomery alleviates stress. The O-Line will only improve. If the Texans start strong, Moon predicts the front office ponies up. Nobody threw a prettier spiral than Moon through the 1990s. As he revealed on one Happy Hour appearance, nail clippers were to thank. Moon, the Run-and-Shoot cannon, is a huge fan of Stroud’s fluid throwing motion. The ball also snaps off his wrist.
“He can get back to who he was his first year,” Moon says. “He’s got to have his weapons healthy. He’s got to have all the bullets in his gun to be able to use. And then it’s rededicating himself and just getting himself in better overall physical shape. It’ll help him to have more confidence in who he is to go out there and do what he needs to get done.”
There’s no telling how a quarterback will respond to receiving a life-changing contract. The problems in Miami were ingrained but Tagovailoa shouting “Show me the money!” into a mic at training camp set an awful tone. To Moon, it’s a matter of pride. He was the highest-paid player in the NFL multiple times through his career and sincerely relished the expectations to deliver as the best of the best. That’s why he wore No. 1. At his Oilers peak, the words Bring It On might as well have been stitched across his chest.
He sees Stroud getting mocked all offseason.
Public reaction to the QB cutting his braids was borderline insane.
From what he knows? Stroud is ultra-motivated.
“He has a lot of pride and he wants to be one of the best,” Moon says. “You could tell he was visibly hurt after the playoff loss. He was in tears and really felt like he let down his team and his organization and the city and he took a lot of personal blame for it. So I think he’s doing everything to get himself back to where he was.”
Multiple sources told us through the offseason that the Texans planned to challenge Stroud. They needed to see more before investing premium dollar. There is no middle tier after Baker Mayfield’s extension in Tampa Bay. Soon, Sam Darnold will also get the bag. Either the Texans pay Stroud money on par with the richest quarterbacks in the sport, or not.
The offense and defense, one coach notes, had two different cultures last season. He diagnoses the lack of a true alpha on offense as a problem on par with anything else — injuries, personnel, decoding coverages. Crisis is inevitable… who speaks up? Running back Joe Mixon would take charge in ‘24, but he missed the entire ’25 season with a foot injury. Young players looked up to tackle Laremy Tunsil but he wasn’t exactly the best example to follow.
Both Stroud and Collins are described as introverted.
Maybe the ex-Lion Montgomery fills this void. He’s $2 steak tough.
There’s certainly no concern over the lack of voices on defense. They’re overflowing with alphas who take names, kick ass. More than anything, this is why Stroud’s seat is molten-lava hot. This Houston Texans defense is fully equipped to win a Super Bowl. Or two.
So, about those Mahomes Rules…
Reloaded
The sport’s designated grim reaper doesn’t scare anyone down here. Oh, Patrick Mahomes is a peerless competitor. Greater the stakes, the calmer his nerves. Simply look at the science. His WHOOP band showed his heart rate slow to its flow state at the crescendo of his “13 Seconds” epic vs. Buffalo Bills in the 2021 postseason.
But he does bleed. These Houston Texans supplied the league a handbook.
After conversations with one coach on staff, here’s how they do it.
No. 1, it’s crucial to remember that Mahomes kills you by stepping through your inside rushers and taking inside gaps. You’ve got to close off those interior escape lanes. Give him a sliver of a vertical A or B gap, and… you’re toast. The smart plan is to flush him horizontal. Traditionally, this is a poison pill. Traditionally, it’s always been best to quarantine such magical improvisers inside the pocket. Think Aaron Rodgers. At his peak, the Packers’ four-time MVP feasted on the move. And, true, Mahomes also owned the broken play for a while. Travis Kelce may be the best ever at uncovering and finding dead zones. Their rapport was damn near telepathic. But now, Kelce is a skeletal 37-year-old shell of himself and people around the NFL are whispering about Mahomes’ declining mobility. Multiple execs have brought it up to me unsolicited. He’s also returning from a torn ACL.
Mahomes thrives on defenders flying wide out of the play, shimmying up into those vacated lanes to deliver rockets. Or run. These Texans proved — and Philly followed — that if you stay in your lanes, refuse to rush behind Mahomes and force him to “go back and out,” as this coach put it, you’ve got a chance. Especially with 11 maniacs who can close.
Forge a disciplined wall. Flush him outside.
Then, hunt. Chase. Close.
The decline in talent at wide receiver doesn’t help Mahomes. Houston was fully confident in its corners locking down KC’s receivers throughout a 20-10 win last season. They played three coverages in all and blitzed three times on 64 snaps as Mahomes staggered through the worst night of his NFL life: 14 of 33 for 160 yards, zero touchdowns, three interceptions and two sacks. Both his yards per attempt (0.8) and passer rating (19.8) were less than half of his previous career lows. Reid essentially admitted these Chiefs must evolve in paying running back Kenneth Walker Jr. $43 million over three years.
Marry disciplined fundamentals with cannibalistic personnel and you’ve got the recipe for a special defense.
Speaking to this Texans coach about his formula dusted off one memory.
We’ve seen this all before.
Andy Reid had the conviction to select Mahomes 10th overall in 2017 because he saw shades of his quarterback 20 years prior: Brett Favre.
Seven years and three MVPs into his Packers career, this Hall of Famer faced a Waterloo of his own.
Favre — like Mahomes — was an unorthodox star with no precedent before him. He didn’t know what a nickel defense was through the early 90s and his fundamentals were so wonky into the late 90s that both Reid and Mike Holmgren told backup Matt Hasselbeck not to emulate anything he does. In Super Bowl XXXII, the Denver Broncos harassed Favre throughout a 31-24 thriller. In “Gunslinger,” author Jeff Pearlman pinpoints John Teerlinck as the mastermind behind an aggressive gameplan that rendered Favre mortal. “If Favre was the NFL’s Moby Dick,” Pearlman wrote, “Teerlinck was Captain Ahab.” The D-Line coach studied 523 Favre passes ahead of the title game in San Diego and crafted a full menu of rules. A few included tackling him low (because he relied on the stiff-arm), consciously finishing sacks/hits (because he didn’t have as quick of a release as people think), timing up the snap count (“Dick!” meant the snap was one, “Balls!” meant two, “Muff!” meant three), steering Favre into “Zone No. 3” if the pocket was divided into quadrants (that’s where he tended to force passes) and utterly ignoring the Packers running game.
Then, the NFL did its thing: the rest of the league copied this plan. Favre regressed.
It took a half-decade, and the emergence of running back Ahman Green, for Favre to evolve. Even then, he never made it back to the Super Bowl.
A select few quarterbacks force you to think about defense in a completely different way. Defensive masterminds no doubt spent the last two offseasons studying what Ryans, Burke and the Texans built. For the first time in his career, Mahomes had a losing record in 2025, failed to make the Pro Bowl and had career lows in TDs (22), passer rating (89.6), completion percentage (62.7) and game-winning drives (one).
The Texans, meanwhile, are getting the band back together.
Sustaining an elite defense, year to year, is often a game of Jenga. Not too long ago, the 2017 “Sacksonville” Jaguars dreamt big. This trash-talking bunch was one inexplicable Foxborough whistle on Myles Jack’s fumble recovery away from reaching the Super Bowl. Then, the tower collapsed. I spent as much time around those Jags in my Bleacher Report days as these Texans at Go Long and — in hindsight? — there is no comparing the psychological makeup of these two units. One took its swaggering cue from a cornerback (Jalen Ramsey) who once showed up to training camp in an armored Brinks truck. One follows a “Terminator,” Will Anderson Jr., who needs to be pulled off the practice field. Literally. The day after inking his whopping three-year, $150 million contract — “fucking easiest decision we could make,” one coach says — Anderson was in the building to train. This coach sees a man “on a mission.” In OTAs and minicamp, Anderson was so nonstop that, yes, coaches ordered him to take plays off.
The idea of tempo’ing down to 75 or 50 percent does not compute. Williams only knows one speed.
Nor do coaches ever want to dull this motor. The 6-foot-4, 243-pounder is propped up as the example for all players to follow.
At the other edge is 31-year-old Danielle Hunter off a 15-sack season. Signing him to a one-year, $40 million was also money well spent. The Texans see his play improving vs. the run, too. Al-Shaair is the defense’s heartbeat. As chronicled, everyone stood by the polarizing linebacker as the NFL tarred and feathered him. He isn’t slowing down. Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. was voted the second-best cornerback in the NFL by execs/coaches/scouts across the league. No corner in the league has more picks (14) since ’23. Quarterbacks completed only 46.9 percent of their passes targeting him 64 times last season. Good luck throwing to the other side where Lassiter is a rising star. He’ll soon be a rich man. Safety Jalen Pitre is the secondary’s enforcer. Ask Rashee Rice.
And, somehow, Houston managed to upgrade this offseason. Into free agency, the Texans expected Reed Blankenship to be out of their price range in free agency. At three years, $24.7 million, the real-life “Rocky” was targeted as a missing piece. With his addition, the Texans view the spine of their defense as stronger than ever. Into the summer, the Texans also reeled in a familiar face at $5.5 million. Former No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney has been playing some of his best ball this side of 30 years old with 23.5 sacks and 40 QB hits the last three seasons. On his seventh team in 12 years, desire should not be a problem.
They’ve got the players — clearly — but these Houston Texans have cultivated something more valuable in today’s NFL. The hint of dread you hear in voices of defensive players and coaches discussing the crème de la crème is wholly nonexistent here. Quarterbacks are not put on pedestals because the Texans fear no one. Defenders are not exactly peeing down their leg ahead of games vs. Josh Allen. In a ’24 loss, the Bills’ superstar went 9 of 30. In a ’25 loss, he was sacked eight times, hit 12 times and threw two picks. We’ll see what Allen and new Bills coach Joe Brady cook up this time around. Something must change because, philosophically, it’s different in Houston. When the Texans watch film, they don’t obsess over play design. They crawl inside an opposing quarterback’s brain.
Even the greats like Mahomes and Allen have specific, Favre’ian tendencies.
“At some point you’re playing the man,” one coach on staff says. “It’s poker. You’re playing the man, not the hand.”
Regression is an impossibility. Akin to Anderson playing hooky, Al-Shaair reverting to two-hand touch or Hunter’s biceps deflating.
So, no. Stroud won’t need to put up 30+ points each week. Montgomery can eat up the clock in ways last year’s collection of backs could not. Tank Dell will eventually return from his torn ACL, MCL, LCL and dislocated kneecap — a catastrophic injury that had Stroud in tears. Up front, Braden Smith also starts this season on IR but he’ll be a major upgrade at right tackle whenever he returns from a partially torn plantar fascia. Guard Keylan Rutledge is affectionately labeled a “prick” by one coach. He ignited endless scuffles all camp. Veteran Wyatt Teller supplies depth.
Hold up in protection — get Stroud comfortable — and perhaps that quarterback who once torched the No. 1 defense in the NFL in a playoff win goes full Undertaker.
“It’s all mental with him,” says one Texans coach. “He is super talented. If he’s comfortable, dude, he’s fucking fine.”
Expect wrinkles to Caley’s offense. Perhaps more shots deep. It’s also noteworthy that Stroud has not lost the support of the locker room. On our visit, they were extremely complimentary. Off the record, those inside Texans HQ insist players love their quarterback. This isn’t Legion of Boom 2.0. Teammates haven’t revolted. Not yet anyway.
This defense’s way of life is established. Players follow Anderson’s lead. This offseason, for example, coaches needed to tell defensive tackle Tommy Togiai more than once to go home. He wouldn’t stop training. Everyone knows these are the players who get paid in Houston. Guys like Anderson, “Sting,” Togiai, everyone who trains relentlessly.
Meanwhile, Stroud waits. The Texans must see more.
Honestly, it behooves both parties to wait. Why would Stroud and agent David Mulugheta want to negotiate off of the worst game of his life? Everyone can still win here.
Urgency is high.
A moment of truth for this quarterback nears.
An edge
Confidence is a fickle thing at this position. Discover it, harness it, weaponize it and anything feels possible. The last quarterback to get paid, America’s Quarterback, doesn’t wow anybody with a singular physical gift. What separates Baker Mayfield is pure belief. It oozes from every throw, every curse word lobbed at opposing fans.
C.J. Stroud had it. Those inside NFL draft rooms were convinced this was a quarterback fully capable of throwing a team on his back for 10 to 15 years. One GM heard whispers of “entitlement” and “arrogance” around Stroud and became obsessed with him two minutes into conversation. To him, this was a man “you want to go battle with.”
That edge is still in there… somewhere.
When I ask one critical ex-coach for his odds that Stroud electrifies the Texans and resembles a rising star again, his answer surprises me: “40 percent.” It’s very possible. After seven months of scorn and ridicule, he wouldn’t be surprised if Stroud was motivated to stick it to doubters.
But he’ll need help on the sideline. More abrasive coaching may be good for Stroud. “Someone who will push him,” says one former coach in Houston. “I don’t think he’s ever had that in the NFL.” This is the same refrain we heard from coaches in Arizona on Kyler Murray. The Vikings’ new QB1 is at his best when a coach is barking vulgarities in his ear.
Either way, the playcalling itself can tap into this wild side. Dinking and dunking and staying on the fairway only takes a team so far.
Even a team with this defense.
Stroud’s reputation around the league hasn’t fallen off a cliff. One QBs coach in the NFC believes there are plenty of brilliant offensive minds that’d love to coach the Texans QB because they’ve seen the ability. It’s on film. Defensively, the first man prepping to face Stroud — Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard — summed up his game perfectly.
“I think when he’s on — at times I think he’s a little bit streaky — when he’s on, it’s pretty,” Leonhard said. “There’s a reason he was drafted two overall. Rookie of the year. If it’s clean and he’s playing on rhythm and on timing, he’s a damn good quarterback. … So he’s going to have some confidence coming into this game. He knows he’s a talented player and he’s got some really good weapons around him and the way that they use the run game, play action, the boots, getting him on the edge, it can be set up for it to snowball on you as a defense if you let it.”
If Stroud was pissed about going No. 2 instead of No. 1, he most certainly is eager to prove the last time America saw him was an aberration.
DeMeco Ryans never put the governor on Stroud. He wasn’t a micromanager demanding Caley run the ball in the middle of a game. But the buck ultimately stops with him. He sets the tone. As one former Texans assistant posits: “How do you want to play football?” During Leonhard’s presser on Thursday — discussing why complementary football is a real thing, not a cliché — the Bills DC also described Houston as a team that is not overly aggressive because they prefer a “slug fest” that keeps the score low.
That’s likely how most around the NFL view these Texans.
What an opportunity for Ryans to zag. There’s still time. There’s a path for all parties involved to work their way to Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day and create a scene of their own underneath torrential confetti.
Those on offense should close their eyes and picture a championship scene of their own.
There’s Montgomery cherishing the moment with his sister, Kiki, who’s paralyzed from the neck down and his nephew, Yhzrah, who has battled leukemia. There’s Collins thinking of the athlete from this city he idolized as a kid: the late Kobe Bryant. He pins a picture of the Black Mamba’s menacing stare in his locker. He celebrates with his family and reminisces back to surviving without hot water for weeks.
At some point, Stroud gets his chance to splatter his fingerprints all over the trophy and see his reflection in the silver.
Tears trickle down his face.
Only this time, they mean something different.
Another really interesting deep dive into a career trajectory and the reasons why it could either catch fire or fizzle out this season. If it's a mental factor with CJ, that stellar D giving him more chances might get him over the hump.
So happy Mike Vaccaro somewhere said he followed you and I checked Go Long out. I subscribed after my first read over one year ago and I’ll be a lifer for you Ty! What a great article and not one you’d ever read in a newspaper or ESPN ( they suck!) even the Athletic wouldn’t give you the F bombs and colorful words that sometimes get used in your writings. You’re a real good one. Great article.