Houston Texans quarter bak C.J. Stroud has been filling up stat sheets and racking up accolades all throughout the team's first eight games of the 2026 campaign. So much so in fact to where—even with a team record of 3-5—many believe that Stroud could do all three of:
- Potentially be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL after a new contract (presumably in Houston)
- End the 2026 campaign with a top-three MVP finish (mainly me)
- Still help catapult the Texans from 3-5 to a fourth consecutive playoff berth
However, the bevy of team experts in the Fansided NFL division don't seem to agree that Stroud maintains that much value at this point. This comes after Fansided released its latest Quarterback Rankings List, in which all quarterbacks in the NFL are categorized into 10 tiers, which are: (ranked in order of best to worst)
- Best-overall QB
- Tier 1: Truly Elite
- Tier 2: High-end QB1
- Tier 3: Strong QB1
- Tier 4: Solid Starter
- Tier 5: Game Manager
- Tier 6: Replacement-level Starter
- High-ceiling Backup
- Tier 8: Depth Piece
- Tier 9: Marginal Roster QB
- Tier 10: Camp Arm
At the moment, Stroud himself landed at 13th-overall as just a "Strong QB1" in tier 3. For a litany of reasons, I—and copious amounts of statistical data—vehemently disagree that there are 12 better passers of the football right now than Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV.
Fansided's latest quarterback rankings list undervalues the impact of C.J. Stroud on the Houston Texans
The full first three tiers of signal callers (including Stroud) are as follows:
Tier 1 (Truly Elite) | Tier 2 (High-End QB1) | Tier 3 (Strong QB1) |
|---|---|---|
Josh Allen (best) (11.72) | Caleb Williams (10.46) | C.J. Stroud (8.97) |
Joe Burrow (11.05) | Brock Purdy (10.18) | Jayden Daniels (8.56) |
Patrick Mahomes (10.79) | Matthew Stafford (10.15) | |
Lamar Jackson (10.56) | Trevor Lawrence (10.13) | |
Jared Goff (9.92) | ||
Jordan Love (9.85) | ||
Dak Prescott (9.62) | ||
Drake Maye (9.59) | ||
There's a treasure chest of statistical evidence that supports the reality that Stroud should be counted as no worse than seventh best at the position in the league. In comparison to every passer within the first three tiers of this list, Stroud has rankings of:
- Fifth-most passing yards: 2,251 (only behind Love, Burrow, Stafford and Drake Maye)
- Fifth-most completions: 181 (only behind Stafford, Burrow, Prescott, Love and Goff)
- 12th-best completion %: 64.2% (behind Burrow, Jackson, Purdy, Williams, Goff, Mahomes, Stafford, Allen, Maye, Lawrence and Prescott)
- Eighth-most passing touchdowns: 16 (only behind Burrow, Love, Lawrence, Maye, Purdy, Prescott and Stafford)
- Tied for second-fewest interceptions thrown: 2 (only behind Jackson, tied with Goff)
- Sixth-highest passer rating: 104.8 (only behind Jackson, Burrow, Lawrence, Purdy and Goff)
- 11th-ranked total offense/Ninth-ranked scoring offense: 356.5 YPG/26.1 PPG (Behind the Bills, Chiefs, Bears, Rams, Lions, 49ers, Bengals, Patriots and Cowboys)
Team offense notwithstanding, Stroud's various individual numerical placements have an average value of sixth place, which flies in the face of the votes that resulted in his falling to 13th-overall. That's roughly a 50% difference between what the data says and the experts suggest.
The contextual evidence make Stroud's ranking even more egregious, as he's had to perform at the highest level in spite of once again having no rushing attack to lean on, an inconsistent offensive line, a litany of injured wide receivers, an offensive coordinator in his second year and a defensive-minded head coach who's limited in the offensive nuance he can offer the fourth-year gun-slinger. Even still, Stroud has answered the bell on every occasion that his team has needed, and he's now on pace to shatter his career-high's across the board.
Games aren't won and lost via digital rankings charts. However, it certainly could be considered "bulletin board material" for a player like Stroud who's re-ignited his reputation league-wide due to playing the best football of his career through nine weeks.
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