C.J. Stroud 2025 Fantasy Outlook

Fantasy Football players who owned C.J. Stroud last year probably weren’t pleased. Outside of the first five weeks or so, Stroud struggled to hit over 20 points a game. In fact, he averaged 13 points per week, much less than his 18 points per week during his rookie season. The big reason why he couldn’t match his output was accuracy: Stroud only completed 60% of his passes in 2024. For reference, that’s behind guys like Aiden O’Connell and Deshaun Watson.

Looking at his disappointing stats from 2024 only sees one half of the story, though. It’s impossible to bring up C.J. Stroud’s performance without noting how many obstacles he had to overcome last year. First of all, his receivers were in and out of injured reserve. Diggs, Nico Collins, and Tank Dell were each injured at some point last year. The former second overall pick also had to work with very poor pass protection.

The only quarterback to get sacked more than Stroud in the 2024-2025 season was Caleb Williams. The sacks became a big narrative about halfway through the season, so it got to the point where opposing defenses just knew to pressure Stroud and force a poor throw or tackle him behind the line.

C.J. Stroud 2025 Fantasy Outlook

Houston Texans fans will be happy to know C.J. Stroud can return to his old winning form, so long as two things happen. Those things are as follows:

1. The Texans need to keep their receivers healthy.
2. The Texans need to bolster their offensive line to improve their pass protection.

So far, it looks like the Texans have focused on that first priority. Losing Stefon Diggs was a big hit to their team, but they compensated by adding Christian Kirk and drafting Jayden Higgins from Iowa State. Now, if Collins goes down to injury again, the Texans won’t be totally crippled in the wide recieving department.

As for that second priority, the jury is still out. Later in the second round, the Texans took Aireontae Ersery, an offensive tackle from Minnesota. He will have big shoes to fill, though, since Laremy Tunsil left Houston for the Washington Commanders. It will probably take the entire preseason and a couple of regular-season games to accurately tell if the Texans have improved their pass protection.

Therefore, in terms of his projection for 2025, C.J. Stroud has the capability of being a QB 1, but most players should be able to pick him up as a QB 2. It’s highly unlikely that Stroud is going to be drafted before players like Mahomes, Burrow, Jackson, Allen, etc. Stroud is a player who should be drafted around the tenth or eleventh rounds.

Players can bench Stroud for the beginning of the season, and if he pops off early, simply plug him into the starting lineup. It’s a bit scary leaving him undrafted, because he can always ball out at the beginning of the season, and then whoever gets waiver priority will likely pick him up.