STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE
CJ Stroud, DeMeco Ryans reveal how Stefon Diggs impacts Texans offense
Apr 16, 2024, 9:55 am
The Texans now have the seventh-best odds to win this year’s Super Bowl. Composite Getty Image.
C.J. Stroud was still asleep in Los Angeles when the news broke that the Houston Texans were trading for star receiver Stefon Diggs.
When the quarterback picked up his phone and saw several messages from friends asking how he was feeling, he thought they were just checking up on him.
He was still half asleep when he responded to about five such texts with some version of: ‘I’m good fam, how are you?’"
A few minutes later he got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face and checked social media.
“Then I seen the news … and I’m like: ‘oh shoot, that’s what they’re talking about,’” Stroud said with a laugh Monday.
Then, Stroud’s day, of course, went from good to great.
“I was very excited,” he said beaming.
Diggs was traded from Buffalo to Houston April 3, giving last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year another playmaker to throw to and vaulting the Texans into the Super Bowl conversation.
“He’s been a great player in this league for a long time, well respected,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He’s been a great teammate, he’s been a leader, a captain. And, when you look at him and watch the tape … no one doubts the playmaker that he is. He changes games for the teams that he’s been a part of and we’re anticipating the same thing for us.”
He wasn't made available to reporters on the first day of Houston's voluntary offseason work.
Diggs is a four-time Pro Bowler, who was an All-Pro in 2020. He has had at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past six seasons and finished with 1,183 yards receiving last season.
Some have criticized Diggs because he started hot last season, with five 100-yard games in the first six weeks before his production tapered off and he didn’t have another 100-yard game the rest of the way.
Ryans said they aren’t at all concerned about that.
“We look at a player in totality,” Ryans said. “We don’t look at this amount of weeks or that … we look at the entire season, we look at the guy’s entire career, what he’s done. He’s been productive.”
The Texans made a complete turnaround last season thanks in large part to the additions of Stroud and Ryans as well as AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson. Houston, which had won just 11 games combined in the three previous seasons, won the AFC South and a wild-card playoff game against Cleveland before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.
Now they add Diggs to an offense that will also feature a new running back after Joe Mixon was acquired in a deal with Cincinnati. The fresh faces join a group that was led last season by Nico Collins, who had a career-high 1,297 yards receiving, and Tank Dell, who had 709 yards receiving and seven TD grabs before his electric rookie season ended with a broken leg in his 11th game.
Ryans said Dell has recovered from his injury and he’s looking for big things from the third-round pick in his second season.
“That was a devastating loss for us last year, losing him,” Ryans said. “He’s such a dynamic player for us, such an inspiration for myself, for a lot of our team. So, I’m excited to just to see Tank back working with our guys and excited to see him make that same jump that I talked about in Year 1 to Year 2.”
Stroud, the second overall pick in last year’s draft, first met Diggs at the Pro Bowl and has already got to work at building a relationship with his new receiver. Diggs, Dell and Houston receiver John Metchie have already spent time together working out and catching passes from Stroud since the trade.
Stroud ranked eighth in the NFL last season with 4,108 yards passing and he had 23 TD passes with just five interceptions. He’s eager to see how the offense will look with the addition of a player of Diggs' caliber.
“He adds a ton of value to that room,” Stroud said. “He has a lot of wisdom that he carries that I think he’ll spread to other guys. He’s been reaching out to really everybody, and I think that whole room in general is going to be great. I think we’re all going to eat off each other.”
The Texans, who were expected to be among the NFL’s worst teams entering last season, now have the seventh-best odds to win this year’s Super Bowl, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
While that has created a buzz outside of NRG Stadium, Ryans and his team haven't paid it any mind.
“The expectations from outside don’t permeate inside our building,” Ryans said. “What wins games for us is when everybody is really striving, putting the work in to be better. And that’s what it’s all about. We don’t care about expectations. Talk doesn’t win games. We have to go out and play good football when that time comes.”
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
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