Pat Fantasy Dog Pound could not believe C.J. Stroud fell to pick 148 in one of his rooms and said any slide past the late-120s should be an auto-click. Pat pointed to Houston’s off-season moves—retaining all five starting linemen, trading for Stefon Diggs, and drafting Kyle Williams on Day 2—as proof the Texans intend to lean into Stroud’s down-field aggression after he led the NFL in yards per attempt (8.2) as a rookie. Because Underdog’s new 20-round format lets Stroud drafters comfortably stop at two quarterbacks, Pat views him as both a ceiling play and a roster-construction hack: land Mixon in Round 5, Stroud in Round 11-12 and you have a cheap, fully correlated Texans core while freeing late picks for upside wideouts. He expects preseason highlight clips of the Diggs-Collins-Dell trio to shove Stroud’s ADP back inside the top 100 and urged managers to “take the gift” whenever rooms let him linger.

Liam Murphy grabbed C.J. Stroud in the middle rounds and said it "could be the year Stroud goes for 5,000 yards." He cited Houston returning all three top wideouts—Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Stefon Diggs—while adding first-round tackle Taliese Fuaga as evidence the front office expects a vertical shoot-out offense. Although the Texans’ offensive line remains "not great," Murphy argued Stroud’s elite pocket processing (league-best 1.88 seconds to throw on quick-game concepts) minimizes pressure sacks. If Bobby Slowik maintains last year’s 60 % neutral-situation pass rate, Murphy projects 620–640 attempts, which puts the sophomore within shouting distance of the rare 5K club. Stacking Stroud with Nico Collins keeps cost manageable while preserving exposure to a potential fantasy QB1 season at a Round-8 price tag.

Liam Murphy is still pounding the table for C.J. Stroud at the Round-5/6 turn despite the crowd cooling after last year’s pricey flop. Murphy noted Houston added FOUR more wide receivers this offseason—highlighting Stefon Diggs to join Nico Collins and Tank Dell—giving Stroud the deepest pass-catcher room in the league. Even if the offensive line remains a question mark, Stroud threw for 4,108 yards as a rookie with a bottom-five protection unit, so Murphy expects another leap in raw volume. He invoked classic "flop-lag" logic: pocket passers often explode the year AFTER everyone bails (see 2018 Matt Ryan and 2020 Josh Allen). With Vegas setting the Texans’ win total at 10.5 and projecting a top-five pass rate, Murphy thinks 5,000 yards and 35 touchdowns are in the reasonable 90th-percentile outcome—good enough to pay off elite QB prices and carry Best Ball teams through Weeks 15-17 when Houston faces dome games in Indy and Tennessee.

Evan Silva said fantasy gamers should buy back into C.J. Stroud after an ugly sophomore slump (18.3 PPG as a rookie down to 12.9). Silva’s optimism hinges on a complete offensive overhaul: Slowik is out and Patriots protege Nick Caley is in at OC, three—possibly four—new starters have been added to the offensive line, and Houston drafted/ signed three fresh wideouts (Jaden Higgins outside, Christian Kirk in the slot, blazer Jalen Noel). Silva expects Caley to modernize route concepts that stalled last year and anticipates far cleaner pockets with Laremy Tunsil’s money freed up for multiple mid-tier blockers. The Texans also stock-piled extra 2026 Day-2 picks by trading down with the Giants, giving them flexibility to keep building around Stroud. Silva graded the class a B-plus and called Stroud a “clear bounce-back QB2 with QB1 upside” in early best-ball ranks.

Mike Renner framed Houston’s draft as an "arms race" response to the high-octane AFC, emphasizing that adding Iowa State duo Jayden Higgins (6'4", contested-catch specialist) and Jalen Noel (quick-twitch slot) alongside Nico Collins gives C.J. Stroud three complementary targets. Renner reminded viewers that Tank Dell’s gruesome late-season injury makes his 2025 availability shaky, so Houston could not rely on him as a volume option. Higgins and Noel combined for nearly 1,200 yards last season and repeatedly won early in routes, something Renner says will hide the Texans’ still-shaky offensive line by providing Stroud fast, defined throws. He predicted that within “the next few years” this group could be "one of the best receiving corps in the NFL," pushing Stroud into perennial top-eight fantasy QB territory. Dynasty managers were urged to buy Stroud and stash Higgins/Noel now before preseason hype catches up.