No player may have done more damage to their reputation in the 2025-26 postseason than Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, as he became the first player in NFL history to throw five or more interceptions and fumble five or more times in a single postseason.
Stroud's four-interception game in a loss to the New England Patriots not only wasted the performance of a historically good defense, but it had some fans pining for the days when Bobby Slowik was in charge as the team's offensive coordinator.
The rest of the NFL is teetering towards the pro-Slowik camp, as they are not a fan of what Stroud has become. The Philadelphia Eagles, in need of some passing game juice to rejuvenate Jalen Hurts, requested to interview Slowik for their offensive coordinator vacancy. The news went public just a few hours after Stroud stunk it up in Foxborough.
Is there a chance that Slowik becomes a hot commodity across the NFL? The worse Stroud looks, the better Slowik appears for coaxing that tremendous 2023 season out of him. Will it be enough to get him a job this cycle?
Eagles interested in Ex-Texans OC Bobby Slowik after C.J. Stroud playoff meltdown
Slowik was the talk of the town after his first season in Houston, which led to Stroud running away with Rookie of the Year and positioning himself to rewrite all of the Texans' passing records. Instead of building upon that, Slowik and Stroud regressed in Year 2, and internal strife led to his firing.
How much credit Slowik should get for working well with Stroud is related to how much of the struggles this year were outside of No. 7's control. Not only did Nick Caley prove to be a downgrade, as shown by his early-season struggles, but Stroud was not working with a full deck.
Even though Stroud is playing behind one of the league's worst offensive lines with his top two passing game targets injured, Houston was so out of sorts that it made the former No. 2 pick look like a system quarterback who can only thrive in Slowik's Kyle Shanahan-adjacent offense.
While the truth is obviously somewhere in the middle, the fact that Slowik remains a semi-hot commodity among other teams in the NFL could be a sign that the NFL is starting to lose hope in Stroud ever recapturing the form fans saw from him in the 2026 season.