{"id":861556,"date":"2026-04-08T21:05:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861556\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:05:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:05:36","slug":"texans-exercise-fifth-year-options-on-cj-stroud-will-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861556\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Exercise Fifth-Year Options on CJ Stroud, Will Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texans are continuing to have an active offseason: KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson has just reported<\/a> that Houston is exercising the fifth-year option on QB CJ Stroud and DE Will Anderson:<\/p>\n

Under these options, CJ Stroud will be due $25.904 million and Will Anderson will be due $21.512 million in 2027. As of the 2026 league year, these contracts would make Stroud the 17th highest-paid QB<\/a> (right above Malik Willis, right below Baker Mayfield) and Will Anderson the 17th highest-paid edge rusher<\/a> (right above John Franklin-Myers, right below George Karlaftis).<\/p>\n

These come as expected moves since both Stroud and Anderson will demand extremely large, lucrative contracts that will require plenty of time to successfully negotiate between parties. Both players won offensive<\/a> rookie and defensive<\/a> rookie-of-the-year honors, respectively, in 2023, and Will Anderson just nabbed a First Team All-Pro<\/a> selection in 2025. This fifth-year option, only offered to first-round selections, gives the Texans front office and the players time to work out a second contract while also guaranteeing both players a solid salary in the event a contract is not finalized by the 2027 league year.<\/p>\n

While this provides some needed security to all parties involved, it certainly doesn\u2019t pour cold water on the prospect of either player receiving a record-breaking contract soon. Aaron Wilson seems to expect an extension for Anderson in the coming months, and it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if he becomes the NFL highest-paid edge rusher after it\u2019s all said and done. CJ Stroud, on the other hand, has seen his stock fall as of late and may welcome this fifth-year option as a way of punting on extension details until later on. There\u2019s no doubt that he\u2019ll be betting on himself in 2026, and if he\u2019s able to get back to his rookie form, then he\u2019ll be next in line for a monster extension.<\/p>\n

What do you think of these moves, though? Was Houston right to get these options taken care of, or should they have pushed the issue with CJ Stroud or Will Anderson this offseason? Will general manager Nick Caserio end up getting caught between two gigantic contracts in 2026\/2027, or will his front office succeed in paying the stars while keeping cap space open in the future? Heck, how big do you think these contracts will be once they\u2019re finalized? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texans are continuing to have an active offseason: KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson has just reported that Houston is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[7,221,253,3116,23939,2368,6,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-861556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-texans","11":"tag-houston-texans-news","12":"tag-houston-texans-free-agency","13":"tag-houstontexans","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116371123300999149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}