Outside of C.J. Stroud the Houston Texans don't seem to have many popular players

The Houston Texans are on the rise. They have one of the better young teams, with one of the more respected head coaches and a quarterback poised to take over the league. Yet, as of right now, the team isn't creating new fans outside of Houston.

In a recent list of jersey and merchandise sellers according to the NFLPA.com website, the only Top 50 merch mover in the NFL who plays for the Texans is Stroud. Even then, he's not in a great place on the list, coming in at just 25th among the Top 50 merch movers. He's behind more controversial guys like Aaron Rodgers and more inconsistent players like Jordan Love.

He's even behind the brother of ex-Houston Texans legend JJ Watt; T.J. Watt. The younger Watt plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is considered by most to be the best defensive player in the league. Yet, the Steelers aren't a popular team outside of Pittsburgh currently, and defensive players aren't as popular as offensive players by and large, so seeing Stroud come in behind Watt and other defensive players on the list (like Micah Parsons) should show us how far the Texans have to go to reach never-before-seen-heights.

While the team has had guys who broached the line of nationally beloved players, like Andre Johnson and our own Watt, it's fair to say that the team has a long way to go before it hits the likes of the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs or the Steelers. Franchises with fanbases spread far and wide from their original host city.

However, Stroud and the current team may be able to help rectify that. This is a young, exciting squad, who have done a lot to avoid being on the wrong side of news headlines in recent years. So it's entirely possible if the Texans have a massive year, they could start building out their fanbase and having more players on lists like this.

After all, the 49ers have six players on this list; No. 5 Christian McCaffery, No. 8 Brock Purdy, No. 16 George Kittle, No. 23 Nick Bosa, No. 26 Deebo Samuel, and No. 40 Fred Warner. So clearly the Texans have room to get more than just Stroud on this list.

What we do want to point out is one thing, however. While we wish for the Texans to become more popular, with more nationally recognized stars and more revenue than coming to the team and players, it's not the end all of be all of recognition. After all, the 50th most "popular" player (for lack of a better term), is Mac Jones.

A failed first-round pick who is now a backup for the Jacksonville Jaguars.