NFL quarterbacks are rock stars, but Houston Texans star CJ Stroud didn’t have that kind of aura, at least if you asked the fans who ruthlessly roasted his appearance heading into the team’s training camp.
A day before the start of the Texans’ training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center in Houston, Texas, the team’s social media department shared a video of Stroud arriving at the site.
The former Ohio State Buckeyes star signal-caller may have looked unrecognizable to some fans, largely because of a significant change in his hairstyle. Gone are Stroud’s dreads, which he cut following the Texans’ playoff loss to the eventual AFC champions New England Patriots.
CJ7 reporting in 🫡 pic.twitter.com/q66dUdrOId
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) July 28, 2026
Meanwhile, fans didn’t miss the opportunity to roast Stroud’s look and his seemingly swaggerless gait.
Bro looks like he walking in senior year in 2007
— Drew 😈 (@Redrxk) July 28, 2026
He looks like a slightly overweight high school kid with below average athletic ability going to play pick-up hoops at the school gym with his buddies.
— DFreddwa (@DFreddwa) July 28, 2026
Bro looks like those kids who carried a speaker in their backpack
— Rich 🐍 (@MavsAndCowboys) July 29, 2026
Buddy walking like a toddler after swimming all day
— Lambeau Villain (@PackersRunNFC) July 28, 2026
Negative aura
— CantaLoupe (@CantALoupe_FF) July 28, 2026
There is one sure way for Stroud to get his aura points back, and it is by being great on the field, which he was not in 2025.
Last season, Houston won 12 games and made the NFL playoffs, but Stroud continued to regress after a stellar rookie campaign in 2023, when he passed for 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions. In the two seasons since, Stroud averaged only 3,384.0 passing yards, 19.5 touchdowns, and 10.0 interceptions.
Still without a contract extension offer from the Texans, Stroud will be on a mission to prove himself to Houston in the coming season
