Exclusive: Texans' Cal, Hannah McNair express support for C.J. Stroud. 'We're totally behind him.'

PHOENIX – There was a strong belief within the Houston Texans organization that last season was their year to go to the Super Bowl.

Their defense was ranked No. 1 in the NFL. Their offense had played well enough to win 10 consecutive games heading into the divisional round of the playoffs. And the Broncos, who had beaten the Bills on the opposite end of the AFC playoff bracket, were going to be without their starting quarterback for the AFC championship game.

That’s why when the Texans lost 28-16 to the New England Patriots, the loss felt like it stung a little deeper than previous playoff defeats.

Between Cal and Hannah McNair, who took the loss harder?

“I think Cal handled it a lot better than I did,” Hannah McNair said, speaking at the NFL’s annual league meetings Tuesday.

The Texans turned it over five times in that loss, which included four interceptions from third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud.

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As he enters his fourth season, the final year of his rookie deal, there are questions about whether he’ll be part of their long-term future.

General manager Nick Caserio has publicly said that Stroud is the Texans’ starting quarterback for 2026. But neither he, nor coach DeMeco Ryans has offered any insight into Stroud’s future past next season, a scenario that will likely have many wondering how Houston approaches the coming months.

When asked Tuesday at the NFL’s owners meetings whether they were committed to Stroud long-term and whether they preferred getting a long-term deal done sooner, Cal and Hannah McNair would not say specifically whether that was the case.

But they did express support for Stroud.

“We’re totally behind him,” Cal McNair told the Houston Chronicle. “He’s totally bought into being our quarterback and all that entails.

“We all want to get better every year. He’s doing that. We’re doing that. Everyone is doing that in the organization. Everybody is trying to get better every day.”

Unless the Texans extend Stroud this offseason, the quarterback’s future with the team will likely continue to be the biggest storyline of the next calendar year. The Texans have the choice to pick up the fifth-year option on his contract, which would extend him through the 2027 season and guarantee him $25.9 million for that season.

And while that process is normally a formality for most players – especially starting quarterbacks – the Texans haven’t actually said whether they will actually pick up Stroud’s fifth-year option.

Earlier in the day, Ryans declined to comment on the matter, telling local media it was his policy not to discuss contract negotiations.

The deadline to pick up the fifth-year option and exercise that clause is May 1. As of March 31, it hadn’t been exercised.

“You want to continue to draft guys that come up and you’re talking about a contract extension versus (talking about) a draft bust,” said Hannah McNair. “Right now, when you look at our roster, we have so many guys that are so good.

“I’m thankful I’m not in Nick’s spot right now because that’s for him to work out. It is nice to have so many guys in the building that you want to keep.”

Cal McNair agreed.

“And there are a lot of tools at Nick’s disposal and he’ll use all of them to put the best team he can on the field all the time,” he said.

It seems unlikely, though, that Houston would decline to pick up Stroud’s fifth-year option. Doing so would essentially be sending a signal to Stroud that it is now or never, which also wouldn’t help in any potential long-term negotiations with the quarterback if he were to succeed.

On the contrary, what will likely happen is that the Texans will pick up his fifth-year option and continue negotiations with him on a long-term extension. Those discussions could last until next offseason.

In the meantime, the McNairs said their support for Stroud continues, and added that they don’t subscribe to the national narrative that Stroud has regressed significantly from his rookie season.

“I will let them do that and like I said, we’ll try to get better every year, top to bottom,” Cal McNair said.

Hannah McNair took it a little further.

“You can’t judge somebody based on one or two games because he did a lot of great things as well,” she said. “It’s hard that those games happened to be in the playoffs.

“But I think C.J. is the type of guy that takes that to heart and what you’ve seen this offseason is that he’s working hard. Because he doesn’t want to be in that position again. I’m sure he doesn’t.”

This article originally published at Exclusive: Texans’ Cal, Hannah McNair express support for C.J. Stroud. ‘We’re totally behind him.’.

Exclusive: Texans’ Cal, Hannah McNair express support for C.J. Stroud. ‘We’re totally behind him.’

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