{"id":290542,"date":"2026-07-02T16:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=290542"},"modified":"2026-07-02T16:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:27:20","slug":"texans-rumors-cj-stroud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/02\/texans-rumors-cj-stroud\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Rumors: Stalled $36M Contract Talks Could Cause Immediate Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest Houston Texans rumors surrounding QB CJ Stroud could spark panic during the 2026 season and likely lead to a trade. While Stroud isn’t concerned<\/a> about getting a deal done, the team has exercised the 24-year-old’s contract, which goes through the 2027 season. However, the “pause”<\/a> may cause concern if he doesn’t improve his play this upcoming 2026 season. Stroud had a decent 2025 campaign, but he missed three matchups due to a concussion and had the No. 1 defense in the league.<\/p>\n

Is he reliable long-term? This is the biggest question the Texans must be asking themselves entering the 2026 season. Similar to the situation between the Baltimore Ravens and veteran Lamar Jackson<\/a>, are the Texans doing the right thing by waiting? It depends on what happens during this regular season, but the former first-round pick feels like he’s earned a new deal:<\/p>\n

\u201cI let my agent handle that. If it\u2019s time to do it, then it is,\u201d the 24-year-old said (via ESPN\u2019s DJ Bien-Aime<\/a>) when speaking about the possibility of an extension. \u201cMy job is football. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on, just getting better. I think I\u2019ve held my bargain up. Whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texans
Main Photo: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Texans Rumors: Stalled $36M Contract Talks Could Cause Immediate Danger<\/h2>\n

Did He Earn a New Deal?<\/h3>\n

Well, let’s break this down a bit: the Texans haven’t negotiated serious talks regarding their starting QB. Entering the league in 2023, the QB put on one of the most marvelous rookie campaigns. After recording over 4,000 passing yards, he was ranked 20th on the NFL Top 100 Players and named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. While it was sunshine and rainbows for an offense that appeared in the postseason in his first year, he was unable to move past the Divisional Round.<\/p>\n

Nobody should blame the young QB for his performance, given that he was still going through growing pains. In his playoff debut, he became the youngest in Texans history to win a postseason matchup. Unfortunately, like many young QB’s, he had a sophomore slump. However, the Texans still carried the QB to the divisional round once again, but failed to reach the championship game.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that particular campaign. While Houston’s defense again was dominant during the 2025 regular season, Stroud struggled heavily in the latest divisional round against the New England Patriots. Still, the Patriots had a ferocious defense themselves, but this was the QB’s moment to get over that hump. With this, no one should believe that the pocket-passer has necessarily earned himself a blockbuster deal.<\/p>\n

The Texans QB Future<\/h3>\n

The team re-signed backup Davis Mills to a one-year deal, but even his future may be in doubt, too. He’s been rumored<\/a> to be moved during the 2026 season, but that really depends on how Stroud performs. If the team feels like they want to explore other options, they could do that after this upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of alternative QB options, and after extending defensive stalwart Will Anderson Jr<\/a>., this defense is too talented for it to go to waste. Could the Texans move on from Stroud? Don’t be too shocked if it happens if he doesn’t improve.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

A Trade Possible<\/h3>\n

Does this mean trading Stroud during the 2026 season is possible? No one should expect it to happen, but the team has options to trade for a QB. Many teams across the league, including the San Francisco 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, have assets waiting to unload. A name to watch is Mac Jones<\/a>, but Aidan O’Connell<\/a> and Mason Rudolph have a decent chance to get work elsewhere, too. For now, everyone will have to remain patient to see if the current Texans starter can live up to his value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the latest Houston Texans rumors, the immediate pause on the QB contract talks this offseason could spark danger during the 2026 season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":290550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,14,6431],"tags":[9791,9350,7902,7360,32193,7261,3573,246],"class_list":["post-290542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-texans","category-nfl-teams","tag-aidan-oconnell","tag-cj-stroud","tag-davis-mills","tag-houston-texans-news","tag-lastest-nfl-news","tag-mac-jones","tag-mason-rudolph","tag-nfl-news"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290542"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290559,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290542\/revisions\/290559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}