Over the last few weeks of escalating NFL Draft mania, we’ve asked the question:

Could the Houston Texans draft Will Levis?

We spent a lot of words explaining another question:

Why the Houston Texans need to draft Bryce Young

Since we’ve examined the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcat prospects, let’s move on. Now it’s time to look to the north and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Could The Houston Texans Draft C.J. Stroud?

NFLNetwork recently had an conference call interview with analyst Daniel Jeremiah regarding next week’s draft. Among a lot of other things, Jeremiah had some interesting comments on the current Houston Texans draft position in the first round.

You can read the full transcript here.

NFLNetwork

If the Texans were to pass on a quarterback at the No. 2 pick and take, say, Will Anderson, do you think that would be a mistake? Do you think there would still be opportunities to get a quality quarterback? Of course, they have that 12th pick. I just wanted your thoughts on that.

Daniel Jeremiah

Yeah, I mean, Will Anderson is my second player. Bryce Young is my first player. We assume Bryce Young goes No. 1. Maybe taking best player available. From that standpoint, I couldn’t argue.

I would just say that there has to be a plan in place to add a quarterback in this draft. They’ve got an opportunity where they’re at 12. Maybe that’s what they have in mind. I just have a hard time seeing them entering next season with the Mills-Keenum-Perry combo being it.

They have a chance to add to that room right now, and that’s why I would be shocked in they left the first round with those two picks and one of them was not a quarterback.

I hope that kind of answers your question. I love Will Anderson as a player, but there’s no guarantees you are going to be picking up here again, and you have an opportunity to take a quarterback.

I really like C.J. Stroud. He is my 7th overall player. To me, if it’s me in that situation, I would take C.J. Stroud. I think he is better than anybody you have on your roster right now. It’s an upgrade. You can look to next year all you want. There are absolutely no guarantees you’re going to get one of those guys next year.

NFLNetwork

If I could quickly ask, is there a reason C.J. Stroud has seemed to have gone out of favor in some people’s eyes recently?

Daniel Jeremiah

Well, I don’t know that he really has. I think sometimes everything gets taken with and ran with on the media side of things, and it could just simply be the Texans are the team we’ve long anticipated would take him, and that might be that the Texans just don’t feel like he is a great fit for them.

So who is to say that that doesn’t mean they trade that pick and somebody comes up and takes him, that is somebody comes up to 3 and takes him or the Colts take him at 4? I don’t know that it’s this narrative that he is dropping like a rock as much as it is that it seems to be out there that they’re not in lockstep, unanimous in support of C.J. Stroud inside that one building in Houston. That’s basically I think what everybody is getting.

The thing with C.J. Stroud and the Texans, I didn’t buy it early on with them not taking him. I thought, okay, I think Bryce will go 1. I think Stroud will end up going 2. It just makes a lot of sense. I think those were clearly the top two quarterbacks in my opinion. The Texans had the need.

Then all of a sudden the whispers started. My buddy Lance Zierlein is there in Houston, he is plugged in, and he was one of the first, if not the first, to say, hold up, they might go defense here. They might not go quarterback.

Then, those were kind of the whispers, and now I think that whisper has kind of turned into a roar. There’s a lot of people around the league that believe that that’s the case that they aren’t going to take a quarterback.

Despite Ohio State’s history with creating NFL quarterbacks (re: not good), there are certainly those who believe Stroud will build on what Justin Fields has started in Chicago and go onto a pro bowl career. Granted Fields’ stats aren't great, but neither is the supporting cast he has to work with in Chi-Town... Drop Fields on a better team and his stats might look a lot like any of the other younger, successful QBs in recent NFL memory.

As for Stroud, Jeremiah falls into the believer camp, based on his answers above.

However, there are a lot who don’t. Presumably the folks inside NRG stadium?

Ohio State QBs in the NFL

Sporting News

2021 Justin Fields 1 6-21 4112 yards, 24 TDs, 21 INTs

Houston Texans have options with the #2 Overall Pick

In the end, Nick Caserio and the Houston Texans are stuck waiting for Frank Reich and the Carolina Panthers to make their selection before deciding if Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis, Will Anderson Jr. or someone else entirely hears their name called with the #2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Either way, we’ll know in less than one week...