HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) - C.J. Stroud was already on cloud nine after the Texans selected him second overall in Thursday’s NFL Draft when all of the sudden he looked up and saw his new team was on the clock again, and he thought there was only one direction to go in with Will Anderson on the board.
“I had a feeling right when I got drafted, they’re gonna have to go get Will,” Stroud said in a virtual press conference with Anderson sitting by his side.
With 90 seconds left on the clock, the Texans sent the 12th and 33rd picks of this year’s draft plus their first and third round picks of 2024’s draft to Arizona for the chance to pick Anderson, thought of by many as the best defensive player in this year’s class. It was a steep price to pay, but one Texans general manager Nick Caserio thought was worth it.
“The trade in and of itself is just about doing what we felt was best for the team and the organization,” Caserio said. “Trades are always a product or a function of the player. Just from our perspective, it's not about what the points tell you on the chart. If you have conviction about a player and you want a player and you think the trade is the right thing for you to do, then you go ahead and do it, which is what we did.”
Stroud could hardly contain his excitement.
“When I found out it was Will getting picked, I was super stoked, super happy for him.”
Anderson and Stroud started to develop a friendship in Texas two weeks ago when they were shooting videos for Overtime, and now that relationship will get to develop even further.
“I’m very excited for this to be my teammate,” Stroud said. “The trade was kinda surprising, but it was dope.”