With the second overall pick, the Houston Texans unexpectedly chose Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Since the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season, Stroud has been the consensus No. 2 pick among almost all experts. However, rumours throughout the week altered the betting odds.
Sportsbooks were alerted to a Reddit rumour that Will Levis claimed the Carolina Panthers had contacted and assured him he will be selected first at one point on Tuesday. Levis’ odds changed drastically as a result of the rumour, and on Tuesday morning, he was the favourite to finish second overall.
Will Anderson, an edge rusher for Alabama, was the overwhelming favourite to go second as early as Thursday, but the Texans went with the quarterback.
Approximately five minutes after selecting Stroud, the Texans traded up to the third pick in order to keep their clock on, and they selected the edge rusher to replace him in the defence.
The fact that Stroud scored the lowest of all the quarterbacks in this draft—18%—on the S2 Cognitive Test, which just replaced the Wonderlic, led some to believe that his stock had fallen.
Stroud placed third last season after finishing fourth in the 2021 Heisman Trophy vote. He completed 575 of the 830 passes he attempted during the course of his two full seasons as the quarterback for the Buckeyes, completing 69.3 percent of them. He threw for 8,123 yards and 80 touchdowns while throwing only 12 interceptions.
NFL Draft
During his collegiate career, Stroud participated in two bowl games: the 2022 Peach Bowl, one of the collegiate Football Playoff semifinals, and the 2022 Rose Bowl, which he won 48-45 over Utah in. He twice made the All-Big Ten first team and was chosen to the second team this past season.
