Houston Texans' quarterback C.J. Stroud has had the benefit of having multiple prominent voices throughout the professional sports world advocate for his place amongst the NFL's best at the position. From teammates, to media members and even team ownership, Stroud has had no shortage of outside support from those who think his best football is still in front of him.
Add running back Woody Marks to that list, as the second-year rusher made his stance clear alongside KPRC 2's Randy McIlvoy and Aaron Wilson while on their program discussing Stroud's approach to the offseason. “He’s been there since March 2nd, since we started the offseason workouts." mentioned Marks. He continued with,
"Got a new look, he kinda told me at the end of the season he was going to cut his hair. He’s been working. Just seeing a QB, the leader of the team be there, not somewhere else, putting in work at where he belongs at in Houston. He’s been doing a tremendous job, he’s gotten bigger, stronger, his times when running outside are getting faster. He should be using his legs a lot this year.”
Mark's words should fire up Texans fans, as his observations reflect the kind of hard work and determination that many hoped of Stroud after how terribly 2025 ended for the young signal caller.
Texans might be getting best version of Stroud ever
It's not like Stroud has been a complete pumpkin for the entirety of his short three-year career. Since his debut in 2023, he's racked up 10,876 passing yards and 62 passing touchdowns, which lands him no lower than top-15 in both categories (10th in yards, T-14th in touchdowns). He's also ninth in yards per game averaged in that same span at 236.4.
Keep in mind, he performed all of this in spite of instablity along the offensive line, volatility at offensive coordinator and uneven contributions from multiple rushing attacks. Even still, fans and local media have bemoaned Stroud's struggles with being able to mitigate the damages from the surrounding circumstances. As more has been asked of Stroud due to his playing infrastruture, his pocket awareness, turnovers and on-field leadership have all seemingly disintegrated in real time.
It's led to his lowest public approval rating to date, and an urgency to transform himself at a time where he'll be playing for a new contract while also trying to lead his franchise to their first Super Bowl in team history. With that in mind, Marks' comments help further confirm the belief and trust that Stroud has earned from the Texans, Along with that, Marks' point about Stround being a better runner in 2026 is actually a significant thing to say, as that has been a point of preferred improvement from outsiders for years.
Stroud's running could help unlock another dimension to the offense
Several of the today's most successful quarterbacks in the NFL are considered mobile options. Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Bryce Young and even Trevor Lawrence have all benefited from being able to turn on the jets and pick up both yards and goal line conversions when their teams have needed them to. Stroud has had moments like that, but he's more of a throwback style pocket passer who'd rather do his damage near the line of scrimmage.
While it shouldn't be looked at as absolutely mandatory for him to turn into such a player, it would be a tremendous addition to the team's offense in the modern NFL. It just makes things a lot easier from an offensive standpoint when the quarterback can call his own number and churn out yards on the ground in a pinch or extend plays in hopes of a chunk completion downfield.
I personally believe that Stroud has shown himself to be a top-10 quarterback when everything's working in his favor. However, now it's time for him to demonstrate that same capability when defensive coordinators are expecting him to be great. He's capable, he just has to prove it. If his offseason training program is any indicator, the team could be in store for the best ball of his career.
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