The Houston Texans are winless through their first four games of the season, but ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky doesn’t think their quarterback deserves much of the blame.
In fact, Orlovsky believes C.J. Stroud’s performance is good enough to warrant him the huge contract typically reserved for the NFL’s top quarterbacks.
“C.J. Stroud doesn’t have to be 0-4,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s “NFL Live” on Monday.
Houston dropped to 0-4 after Sunday’s 34-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but Stroud once again had a strong individual performance. The 24-year-old completed 21 of 31 passes for 347 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Despite Houston’s struggles, Stroud is still off to an impressive start to the season.
In four games, Stroud passed for 1,141 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 95.9.
That performance allowed Orlovsky to surpass Houston’s record when evaluating quarterbacks.
“It’s a very interesting situation because there’s no contract and you’re sitting there saying there’s no way you can pay a quarterback traditionally, and he’s an 0-4 starter and that’s the contract he’s asking for,” Orlovsky said. “But if you just look at the quarterback play, you’re sitting there going, yeah, the $50 million to $55 million you’re asking for, yeah, that’s guaranteed.”
This creates an interesting dilemma for Houston.
Quarterbacks are often judged more by wins and losses than any other position in football, especially when conversations begin surrounding massive contract extensions.
However, Stroud’s situation provides an example of why wins and losses don’t always tell the whole story.
Houston has scored 30 or more points twice this season but lost both games.
The Texans lost to the Buffalo Bills 36-31 and then lost to Dallas 34-30 on Sunday. Houston’s defense held them to 24 points in the second half against the Cowboys, including a 74-yard game-winning field goal in the final minutes.
Stroud gave Houston a chance.
Dallas has given the final answer.
Orlovsky believes the quarterback’s performance through four games is similar to a version of Stroud, who immediately established himself as one of the NFL’s most promising young quarterbacks during his rookie season.
“The goalie game, the seam game in the red zone, his disruptive game throwing the football with his legs, the play-action stuff, that’s as good as it’s been since his rookie year,” Orlovsky said.
This is significant considering what Stroud accomplished in his rookie season.
The former No. 2 overall pick threw for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2023. He helped Houston go from one of the NFL’s worst teams to the AFC South champion and was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The next two seasons were less impressive.
Stroud threw for 3,727 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2024 and finished the 2025 regular season with 3,041 yards passing, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Now, four games into 2026, some of the efficiency from his rookie season appears to be returning.
Despite attempting 151 passes, Stroud had no interceptions. His 7.6 yards per attempt was also his best mark since averaging 8.2 yards per game as a rookie.
The problem is that Houston’s record doesn’t reflect that.
Orlovsky pointed to the Texans’ defense as one of the biggest differences.
Only once in the entire 2025 regular season did Houston allow an opponent to score at least 30 points. This has happened twice in four games this year.
That doesn’t mean Stroud is perfect, or that the Texans offense doesn’t have room for improvement. Houston scored just six points in a Week 2 loss to Cincinnati and only 17 points against Indianapolis the following week.
But judging Stroud solely based on Houston’s 0-4 record would ignore his individual performance.
That distinction may become increasingly important as questions surrounding his long-term future continue.
The Texans will ultimately have to determine Stroud’s worth and whether they believe he can continue to be the quarterback and lead the team deep into the playoffs.
If Orlovsky’s assessment is correct, Houston’s biggest concern isn’t the quarterback.
This is to ensure that his performance is not wasted by the rest of the team.