C.J. Stroud

Over the last two years, CJ Stroud has been unable to match the splendor of his 2023 rookie season. Shoddy offensive line play was undoubtedly part of the problem in 2024. The Texans' O-line outperformed expectations in 2025, but Stroud was a league-average starter at best. As a rookie, Stroud threw for 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns, with only five interceptions. He averaged 273.2 passing yards per game and 8.2 yards per pass attempt. In 31 starts over the last two seasons, Stroud has averaged 218.3 passing yards per game and 7.1 yards per attempt. His yearly finishes in fantasy points per game among QBs with at least nine starts: QB7, QB26, QB20. The Texans have worked on upgrading Stroud's offensive line, but Houston's pass-catching corps took a hit in mid-August with the loss of promising second-year WR Jayden Higgins to a torn ACL. The Texans tried to fill the void by acquiring WR Kayshon Boutte from the Patriots. With Houston having one of the NFL's top defenses, Stroud probably won't be presented with a lot of pass-happy game scripts. Consider Stroud a low-end QB2 or high-end QB3 for fantasy.

C.J. Stroud is expected to play a few series in Thursday's preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Fantasy Impact

Initial reports suggested that the Texans were going to rest their starters against the Raiders, but now they have made the decision to let some starters play a few series, including Stroud and the team's starters on the offensive line. He will be extremely limited in this game, so there's unlikely to be enough data to draw any fantasy conclusions from this preseason matchup.