While the Houston Texans lost in the Divisional Round to the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s safe to say everyone recognizes quarterback C.J. Stroud is among the best young signal-callers in the game today.
That list of people who recognize it is, apparently, 10-time Grammy-nominated rapper Travis Scott. Stroud was named-dropped in the track “Houstonatlantaville,” featuring Scott alongside EST Gee and Lil Baby.
C.J. Stroud Mentioned in Travis Scott’s New Song
In the track, which has a run time of 3:26, the line referencing Stroud is made in the third verse that features Scott and EST Gee specifically.
#Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud gets a shoutout from Travis Scott in new song “Houstatlantaville” with EST Gee and Lil Baby.
“In the 7 quarterbackin’ like I’m C.J.” pic.twitter.com/VzlLjvodol
— Sam Warren (@samwarren_3) February 1, 2025
The lyric reads, “In the 7, quarterbacking like I’m CJ.”
Stroud’s 2024 Performance
Coming off one of the best rookie seasons from a quarterback we’ve ever seen, Stroud followed that up with a performance that may have led the Texans to the playoffs, but he had a bit of a sophomore slump.
Stroud ranked 27th in PFN’s QB+ metric at 67.8. As the analysis notes, Stroud’s offensive line needs to be upgraded — the team allowed 48 sacks and 245 pressures, including 11 sacks in two games in the postseason. For context, the Tennessee Titans, the team with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and in the same division as the Texans, allowed 37 sacks and 208 pressures.
Stroud finished the 2024 regular season with a 63.2% completion percentage, 3,727 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and averaged seven yards per attempt. He was better in all of those categories as a rookie, completing 63.9% of his passes for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, five interceptions, and 8.2 yards per attempt.
What makes that even more glaring is that he played 17 games in 2024 compared to 15 in 2023.
Stroud didn’t have much success on passes of 20-plus yards, either.
Of his passing attempts, 11.7% of them went 20-plus yards, and he completed 20 of 62 passes (32.3%) for 696 yards, four touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Texans’ 2025 NFL Draft Targets
The Texans head into the 2025 NFL Draft with needs at the interior of the offensive line and potentially at wide receiver with Stefon Diggs getting older and the unknown status of Tank Dell, who suffered a brutal knee injury late in the season.
Picking No. 25 overall, the Texans could be in an excellent spot to pick someone like North Dakota State’s offensive lineman Grey Zabel. Zabel played left tackle for the Bison in 2024, but given his likely measurables, he’ll kick inside. He also has experience playing inside from his earlier college days.
Zabel was also a standout at the 2025 Senior Bowl, earning the Overall Practice Player of the Week honors, per Jim Nagy, the director of the event. This is notable as the results come via a poll from NFL executives across all 32 teams.
We’ll see what the Texans do to upgrade the team around Stroud so he can live up to the standards that result in things like being name-dropped by Scott in a song.