Former NFL QB Raises Possibility of Texans Trading C.J. Stroud

Former Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick might just have very powerfully articulated what the fans and even general manager Nick Caserio might be thinking behind the scenes.

Opening up the bank vault to pay quarterback C.J. Stroud in light of his more recent major issues doesn't fit as far as Fitzpatrick is concerned. For him, it may even be a front office act of sheer foolishness for Caserio if he were watching the Super Bowl on Sunday.

“I just think if you’re Nick Caserio right now with Houston, it’s like, ‘All right, so I can have Davis Mills at $7 million and a bunch more draft capital, or I could have no additional draft capital and C.J. Stroud at $60-plus million. I at least think there has to be a conversation about it,” Fitzpatrick said during his 'Fitz and Whit' show.

“I think he [Caserio] has to be thinking about that, watching Seattle do what they did, and for their defense to really take them as far as they did and dominate in that Super Bowl.”

Trouble is, this isn't fantasy football we're playing here; the Texans have invested so much time and effort into their still only 24-year-old signal caller.

Could the Texans Trade C.J. Stroud?

Of course, to the vast extent that the Texans absolutely cannot afford to get this wrong, but the pivot to simply pay someone out of blind hope and loyalty can be potentially fatal.

Even so, if Caserio does go down the reasonable route of prioritizing extending the stay of superstar edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. in H-Town, wouldn't cutting bait with Stroud make a ton of sense?

Fitzpatrick certainly feels that has to be a viable option, which crosses the mind of Caserio moving forward, especially if the draft capital returns and salary cap savings were to work out.

“You’re Houston, you’re sitting at home, you just watched that Super Bowl. You have a dominant defense as well. Whether you’re equally dominant or more dominant than Seattle’s defense, you guys are in the same category, right? They have been all season long, and they need some upgrades. They need some upgrades on the offensive line. They’ve got free agents,” Fitzpatrick said.

“I sit there and watch Houston play this year, and I’m thinking, ‘Okay, what’s going to be better next year?’ Or, maybe this happens in two years. Is it going to be better? Because you can’t tell me that there aren’t teams that are out there that would trade two first-round picks and some more things for C.J. Stroud.”

Jan 18, 2026; Foxborough, MA, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) after the game against the New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional Round game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

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When push comes to shove, Caserio and Co. cannot let themselves be passive or fearful about making the big decisions; or else they will live to regret it.

Ultimately, in the NFL, there's always going to be a market for a young, athletically gifted quarterback like Stroud, even if the fit isn't quite there where he first planted his feet. That's not to say that the Texans have reached that place in time just yet, but they have to look at how the cost-controlled presence of backup quarterback Davis Mills under center delivered three very stabilizing wins last season.

Fitzpatrick was certainly not bashful in the least about putting it out there that Mills can tick major fiscal and longer-term boxes for this ambitious organization—one that knows deep down that their stellar defense is unquestionably the engine to any of their success.

When it comes to trading Stroud away, the market would have to almost exclusively emerge in the NFC, but history tells us that anything is possible in the NFL. Stranger things have happened before, so suffice to say that while Fitzpatrick is trying to sell his podcast content, he might still have struck upon a good idea in theory.

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