Texans HC DeMeco Ryans opens up about evaluating CJ Stroud vs. Bryce Young ahead of Panthers game

On Sunday, the Houston Texans will play against the Carolina Panthers. In that game, the top two picks from the 2023 NFL Draft, CJ Stroud and Bryce Young, will face off with one another. Ahead of that game, Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans opened up about evaluating the two signal callers.

Ryans explained that he felt that both Stroud and Young were the two best quarterbacks in the NFL Draft and that their experience played a huge role in their initial evaluations.

“It was a good process in the draft evaluating both guys, Bryce and C.J.,” DeMeco Ryans said. “Both guys what you’ve seen both of them had a lot of experience It was clear to me that both of those guys were the top two quarterbacks coming into this draft.”

To this point in their rookie seasons, CJ Stroud has clearly had a better season than Bryce Young, but that’s not necessarily a knock on Young. He’s going through growing pains while the team around him is in a complete rebuild. Houston is a rebuild too, but the roster is further along than it is in Carolina.

Still, DeMeco Ryans has to be incredibly excited with CJ Stroud to this point in the season. In six games, he’s thrown for 1,660 yards, nine touchdowns, and only one interception. The Texans are 3-3 in those games and second in the AFC South.

Part of Stroud’s success has been because he’s trying to build chemistry in every way that he can, including by having special handshakes with teammates. As he explained, he has more than 30 different specialized handshakes with his teammates that he has memorized to celebrate together.

“It was kind of one of those QB receiver love,” Nico Collins said. “You gotta have a handshake. CJ is dropping dimes to me. We had to come up with something.”

DeMeco Ryans shares what stands out about CJ Stroud

Over the summer, DeMeco Ryans knew that CJ Stroud was a special talent. So, before a single preseason game had been played, he was already openly praising Stroud.

“The thing that has impressed me the most is his dedication to being as best as he could possibly be,” Ryans said.

“He puts the work — and not only when he’s here, of course — everybody does that. That’s given. But what you see about CJ, the work that and the preparation that he does when he’s not here. He’s a true football junkie. He loves football, always watching football, always asking for extra cut-ups from our coaches. I’m just impressed with the mental part of him and just how much he loves the game of football.”