C.J. Stroud has been named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, the first Houston Texans player to win the award in franchise history. Stroud was responsible for leading the Texans to an 11-6 record and an AFC South division title in his rookie season. The team matched the number of victories it had in the three prior seasons combined before it drafted Stroud (2020-22).
Stroud, combined with rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans, became just the third rookie quarterback-head coach duo to win a playoff game since 1950, joining Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh (2008) and Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan (2009). Stroud finished his rookie season completing 63.9% of his passes for 4,108 yards with 23 touchdowns to five interceptions for a 100.8 passer rating, leading the NFL in pass yards per game (273.8) and having the lowest interception rate (1.0%).
The highest-drafted rookie quarterback to win a playoff game (No. 2 overall), Stroud's 4,108 passing yards were the third-most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history. He's just the third quarterback in the past 50 seasons to lead the NFL in pass yards per game and touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.6, minimum 10 starts). Stroud also had the highest touchdown-to-interception ratio against winning teams in NFL history (including playoffs), having 21 touchdowns to two interceptions (10.5).
Stroud finished the season with 4,557 passing yards, the second-most ever by a rookie (including the postseason). He also began his career with a record 192 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, the most ever by a player to begin a career. He's just the third player to lead the league in passing yards per game and touchdown-to-interception ratio, joining Joe Montana (1989) and Tom Brady (2007).
Stroud won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month and AFC Player of the Month in November, becoming just the second rookie quarterback in league history to win AFC Offensive Player of the Month and just the fifth player to earn NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month in the same month as Offensive Player of the Month.
The Texans won their first division title since 2019 in large part due to the play of Stroud, who arguably had the best rookie season for a quarterback in NFL history.
