Undoubtedly, the Houston Texans‘ campaign this season in the NFL exceeded all expectations, to the point that they ended their participation with an elimination at the hands of the reigning two-time champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. CJ Stroud was one of the standout players on DeMeco Ryans’ team, and with no chance of continuing to compete, he made it clear who he prefers to win the next Super Bowl.
In recent statements published by NFL insider Jordan Schultz through his X (formerly Twitter) account @Schultz_Report, the former Ohio State Buckeyes player not only expressed his preference for the Washington Commanders to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but also declared that Jayden Daniels is, without a doubt, the Rookie of the Year.
“In my opinion he’s had the best rookie year of all-time. … I don’t root for many other teams, but I’m rooting for my boy. I’m rooting for the Commanders,” CJ Stroud stated to the press.
Dan Quinn’s Commanders have already eliminated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round and recently took down the number one seed in the NFC, the Detroit Lions. In the conference final, they will face the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
CJ Stroud’s take on Daniels’ influence
In line with his belief that Jayden Daniels definitely deserves the Rookie of the Year award, CJ Stroud also shared with the press what, in his view, the Commanders’ QB represents for young kids every time he steps onto the field.
“That boy goin’ crazy,” Stroud said. “I’m so happy for that dude. It’s not only just from him, but the motivation he’s giving back home where we come from. Dude, you have no idea. First two to do it (as NFL quarterbacks) that I can think of. It’s big time, giving kids back home hope. That they can do it, too.
“Everybody knows from home we ain’t perfect. We probably aren’t even the best athletes where we come from. If you stay at it … you can really do this at the highest level.”
Dan Quinn also expressed his admiration for the QB
If there’s anyone who knows Daniels firsthand, it’s undoubtedly his coach, Dan Quinn. The Commanders’ head coach highlights the player’s innate talent whenever he gets the chance, and he knows the franchise has a diamond in the rough within its roster.
“Jayden has such poise in these winning time moments and that is contagious as well,” Quinn said. “We were talking earlier with one of the coaches, he has such poise and one of my friends that I coached with in the nineties at Hofstra was (former NCAA basketball national champion head coach) Jay Wright. It made me think of the championship game between Villanova and UNC. And if you watch, there’s a clip of Jay right before the three-point shot goes off, he says ‘bang,’ turns and walks to shake one of the guy’s hands.
“And Jayden has poise in these moments where he doesn’t go wild after or lose his cool. He just has real poise in (those) spots and it’s the same whether it went well or didn’t and that’s really hard to do. And so having poise in those moments, that’s a really big thing. Because the other players see it and feel it and they have it in those moments as well. We practice it a lot, but it looks like we practice these moments a lot. And Jayden in those spaces, he is just very much, bang, onto the next one. And going and that’s a really cool quality to have,” Quinn finally concluded.