C.J. Stroud should love ESPN's bold free agency prediction

Houston Texans fans are on Cloud 9 and why shouldn't they be? They found their franchise quarterback in C.J. Stroud and now, with the seventh-most cap space in the league, the Texans need to continue building a winner around their franchise signal-caller.

Matt Bowen of ESPN wrote about the best fits for the top free agents this offseason and linking Saquon Barkley to the Texans probably has Stroud all kinds of excited.

"With Devin Singletary hitting the free agent market, the Texans could swing big here to add Barkley as a dual-threat player in Bobby Slowik's offense. Think of Barkley as an underneath outlet for C.J. Stroud, in addition to the rushing volume he would take on. Barkley has averaged 98.8 scrimmage yards over his career with the Giants, and he would bring even more juice to one of the league's most dynamic offenses."

- Matt Bowen

Devin Singletary was great for Houston last year, rushing for just shy of 900 yards with four touchdowns. As Bowen mentions, Singletary is a free agent so why shouldn't the Texans go big with replacing him?

Barkley had 962 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns, 280 receiving yards, and four receiving touchdowns, giving him over 1,200 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns. He'd be an absolute beast in this Texans offense with Stroud as his quarterback.

Barkley is projected to receive a three-year deal worth $29.9 million with an annual salary of $9.9 million. Again, the Texans can afford to land some big names in free agency with the cap space they have and Barkley could do a lot of damage in this young Houston offense.