C.J. Stroud was puzzled.
The former Ohio State quarterback was backstage after going out to meet NFL commissioner Roger Goodell once the Houston Texans drafted the quarterback No. 2 overall in the 2023 NFL draft.
Even though Stroud already had his instantly sewn deep steel blue Texans No. 1 jersey with his name, Union Station’s screens in Kansas City still showed that the Texans were on the clock.
“I had just been picked,” Stroud told Houston reporters via Zoom. “I was already juiced up, and I turned around and I was like, ‘Hold up, the Texans are still up.’ So, I said, ‘Whoa, no way.’”
The “whoa, no way” was that the Texans were trading with the Arizona Cardinals for the No. 3 overall pick.
“I had a feeling like right when I got drafted, ‘They’re going to have to go get [Alabama defensive end] Will (Anderson) or something like that,'” Stroud said.
That is precisely what the Texans carried out as they picked Anderson with the third overall pick.
“I was in the greenroom waiting and waiting and I finally get the call,” Anderson said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m fixing to be teammates with C.J.’ I was like, ‘That’s my guy.’”
Stroud was happy for Anderson given the two had developed a friendship going back to their joint visit as part of the draft process.
Said Stroud: “Man, we were just with each other two weeks ago in Texas, and we were just building a bond and a connection. I’m very excited for him to be my teammate. The trade was kind of surprising, but it was kind of dope.”
Anderson confirmed that he and Stroud had been developing a connection.
“Like he said, we had been building this bond,” said Anderson. “I just feel like God be doing things for a reason. We’ve just been building this bond, building this thing over time, had to connect, and had to learn about each other. Now, we’re fixing to be teammates. So, it’s fixing to be that much easier knowing how a person works and how his mindset is.”
