The Houston Texans made sure to surround C.J. Stroud with a bounty of quality receivers in his second NFL season.
A year ago, Stroud had Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Robert Woods and Noah Brown as his top wide receivers. General manager Nick Caserio brought all five back in 2024 after extending Collins and re-signing Brown. Then, the Texans traded for star wideout Stefon Diggs to give Stroud another top-flight pass-catcher.
Between those five wideouts, the Texans have two receivers who at least tallied 1,000 receiving yards in 2023 (Collins and Diggs), while Dell was on his way before a season-ending leg injury. Brown has had at least 500 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons, while Woods had more than 900 receiving yards from 2018 to 2020 for the Rams.
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It's hard to say who among those six will emerge as Stroud's No. 1 target, but that doesn't matter for the reigning NFL Rookie of the Year. Stroud believes all five can be No. 1 receivers in the NFL — and they're al on his team.
C.J. Stroud sends compelling message about Texans WR group
Stroud didn't mince words when asked about which receiver would be his No. 1 target in 2024. After a reporter asked Stroud a question about Collins' ability to emerge as a true No. 1 wideout, Stroud simply stated that all five of the Texans' top pass-catchers are at that level.
"I think we have five No. 1s," Stroud said Tuesday Texans minicamp. "So that's kind of cool to have. I’ve had that before in college, and now I have it again. It's going to be fun, man."
Stroud enjoyed a never-ending conveyor belt of star receivers during his time at Ohio State. He threw passes to four future first-round receivers in Garrett Wilson (Jets), Chris Olave (Saints), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks) and Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals). Buckeyes senior Emeka Egbuka is also projected to go in the first round in 2025 NFL Draft.
Stroud's words are less about delineating between his top targets and more about understanding the Texans roster as a whole. It's unlikely Stroud will focus his targets on any one receiver, too, given what he did as a rookie. While Collins led the Texans in targets with 109, Stroud threw at least 75 passes to three others — tight end Dalton Schultz (88), Dell (75) and Woods (75). Brown earned 55 targets as well. Those numbers would also have looked different had Dell not been lost after his 11th game.
What will likely happen in Houston this year is an even more spaced-out target share for Stroud's top-five receivers. Schultz and new running back Joe Mixon could see quality targets as well.
Collins and Diggs should see the most targets from Stroud given their skillset and position on the field. Diggs especially should be more of an underneath receiver while Collins and Dell play outside.
Either way, Stroud sounds incredibly excited about how his offense will look now that Diggs joined effectively the same group as Stroud had as a rookie with the same offensive coordinator in Bobby Slowik. The Texans remain a team on the rise heading into 2024.
