Texans optimistic about growth between C.J. Stroud, Nick Caley
HOUSTON -- The growth between quarterback C.J. Stroud and Houston Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley throughout the offseason was evident for those around the organization.
That's not inferring there was friction between the two during their first season together, but natural growing pains aren't uncommon in the NFL -- especially with Caley being a first-time playcaller. Caley was working with a revamped offensive personnel, and he received line of scrimmage responsibilities for the first time in his career.
So the growth went beyond their relationship, but Houston also made some more additions to the offensive line and added to the run game in hopes of giving Caley more to work with.
As for Caley's relationship with his 24-year-old quarterback this offseason, there have been rave reviews about the direction its going, starting with coach DeMeco Ryans.
"With C.J. and Nick, I've seen both guys communicating much better," Ryans said. "It's Year 2 of a system. When it's Year 2, you understand we're not going through the install for the first time. So, there is some recall from what we've done in the past that allows us to speed up what we're doing in Year 2."
The offense finished 13th in points (23.8) and 18th in yards (327), and Stroud finished last year with 3,041 passing yards and 19 touchdowns in 14 games -- after he suffered a concussion in Week 9 against the Denver Broncos in the opening quarter that knocked him out of the game and caused him to miss the next three games and play only half of their Week 18 finale against theJacksonville Jaguars.
Stroud being able to communicate with his offensive coordinator is vital in building a player-coach relationship, and that is something that was lacking at times during his first first two seasons in the NFL with former OC Bobby Slowik.
"C.J. has ideas and thoughts on different plays and formations, different things that he likes," Ryans said. "We try to do our best to implement those things, as well. It's just the coach-player relationship is definitely headed in the right direction. They're growing much closer."
Caley feels like one of his strong suits has been his collaborative approach with players, especially Stroud.
"I've always had a good relationship with C.J," Caley said. "I think it's like anything, Year 2, you're always trying to dive deeper, to continue to expand those finer points of the relationship. But it's great. We get to talk ball. We're highly collaborative. He has great perspective on it. He sees the game really, really well."
During OTAs and minicamp, the offense's pre-snap operation was more in sync. The fourth-year quarterback had the offense organized consistently, and there weren't many hiccups with the pre-snap motions.
"I watched a lot of [film] to try to fix some things," Stroud said. "I tried to introduce some things [to Caley] that I'm used to that I've done in my past that I like to do so we can do that a little more. I think we're both growing, we're creating a better relationship and growing as an offense and just trying to make it the offense for the 2026-2027 Texans and doing things that everybody is good at and doing things that we've done in the past. So, we're growing in that area."
Their connection is part of why Ryans called this offseason the best Houston has looked throughout the spring since he arrived in 2023. It isn't necessarily the talent on the field, but communication and attention to details has him optimistic.
"The most improvement I've seen from our team is the pre-snap communication," Ryans said. "Offensively, defensively, communication has been lights out. We're way ahead of, again, where we've been in the past because of that communication -- us just playing smart, being a smarter football team and understanding situations better. I feel like we're in a really good place right now."br/]
