The Houston Texans defeated the Chicago Bears on Sunday night, but C.J. Stroud wanted to leave Caleb Williams with some words of encouragement.
When Stroud and Williams shook hands moments after Houston’s 19-13 win, the Texans quarterback spoke with the highly outed rookie. Williams could be seen mostly nodding along to what Stroud was saying, which was a mystery at the time.
[Related: Caleb Williams shows C.J. Stroud is exception, not rule]
As it turns out, Stroud was mic’d up for the moment. In a social media post Tuesday, NFL Films shared what Stroud told the No. 1 pick from the 2024 NFL Draft, with the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year giving Williams some advice.
“Good job out there, bro,” Stroud told Williams. “Hey, stop taking those hits.”
“Yeah, I know, right?” Williams replied.
As Williams was about to walk away, Stroud appeared to pull him back to hammer down his point about playing safe before complimenting him.
“Hey, learn — look, come here,” Stroud told Williams. “Learn from those mistakes. And everything that you got, bro, is in you already, bro. You’re going to be a hell of a player in this league.”
Williams simply told Stroud, “I appreciate it,” before the two parted.
On Sunday, Williams had a pretty tough night against the hard-hitting Houston defense. He was sacked seven times and pressured 36 times while the Texans recorded 11 quarterback hits. He also carried the ball five times for a team-high 44 yards, but he slid at the end of a few of those runs to avoid more collisions.
Through two starts, Williams has completed just 56.1% of his passes and has yet to throw a touchdown. He went 23-of-37 passing for 174 yards against the Texans, an improvement from the 93-yard day he had against the Tennessee Titans in a Week 1 win. However, Williams threw the first two interceptions of his career in Sunday’s loss.
Of course, Williams’ career has only begun and he can get better. He could even look at Stroud as someone who improved throughout his rookie year. Stroud lost the first two starts of his NFL career, both by double digits. He was also sacked 11 times in those two losses.
Caleb Williams’ struggles for the Chicago Bears is ALREADY concerning?
Stroud wound up turning things around with the Texans. He threw for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions with a 100.8 passer rating to cap off one of the best rookie quarterback seasons ever. Houston rode Stroud’s success to a 10-7 record in the regular season and a postseason win, before falling in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Williams and the Bears are hoping to have a similar year, but they have some work to do in order to get there.
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