Houston Texans Rookie QB C.J. Stroud Brought a Unique Tradition From College
Houston Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud had a unique tradition at Ohio State that he brought with him to South Texas. Stroud would shake hands with every teammate.
Now, since joining the Texans after being the second overall pick in April's NFL Draft, Stroud now has "23-30" handshakes that have helped him build chemistry with new teammates.
But there's one special "handshake" that goes public every time Stroud connects for a touchdown with fellow rookie Tank Dell. It's based on a viral TikTok dance called the squabble. Other NFL players have adopted is, but it's Stroud and Dell who put it on public display together.
C.J. Stroud (7), Nico Collins (3), and Tank Dell (3)
USA Today Sports
Dell has 19 receptions for 324 yards and two touchdowns on the season, and the two practiced the celebration during a team-building trip to Los Angeles.
"When they came out to LA. I brought a couple of my cousins over to our house, and we were all dancing, having a good time," Stroud told ESPN. "Tank was like, 'What's that dance? Bruh, that's hard.'" That was gonna be our handshake. So maybe we just kind of dapped it up and then started doing it."
The pair were able to break it out in Week 2 against the Colts and Week 3 against the Jaguars.
"Man, it's crazy because me and C.J. would just be doing anything and just like lock eyes with each other, do the handshake, and just start hitting it out of nowhere," Dell told ESPN. "And this was before the touchdowns came. But we for sure had conversations like when we score our first touchdown, we're going to be turnt. We ain't harp on it because we already knew, you throw a touchdown, we gone meet up and do what we do."
Texans wideout Nico Collins is a fan not just of the handshake, but of Stroud too. Collins has 29 catches for 547 yards and three touchdowns this season.
"It was kind of one of those QB receiver love," Collins told ESPN. "You gotta have a handshake. CJ is dropping dimes to me. We had to come up with something."
