Stroud, the 20th Good Guy Award winner, is the first member of the Texans franchise to win the award.

Other finalists for the Good Guy Award were Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio, Buffalo Bills tackle Dion Dawkins, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

The Good Guy Award is given to an NFL player for his qualities and professional style in helping pro football writers do their jobs. The award has been presented annually by the PFWA since 2005.

Stroud, the second overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft by Houston, made an immediate impact on the field with his play, in the locker room with reporters covering the Texans daily and in the greater Houston community.

“Stroud is the Good Guy Award winner because of his professionalism and openness with both the national and local media. He is always available during the week and after games, win or lose. He understands the media has a job to do and answers each question thoroughly,” said PFWA Houston chapter co-vice president Jonathan Alexander, who covers the Texans for the Houston Chronicle. “He is also active in the Houston community without seeking attention, recently volunteering to remove trees and clean up debris from yards in underserved communities after a storm left many residents without power for several days.”

“First and foremost, I want to give all glory and praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s a blessing to be recognized as the PFWA Good Guy Award winner, and it stands out to me because it’s more of an award that embodies someone’s character rather than the stats they compile on the field, Stroud said. “I appreciate the job the media has and thank them for choosing me as someone who is deserving of this honor. A special shoutout to the other very deserving players who were nominated and those that won before me.”

The 2023 PFWA NFL Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year, Stroud started all 15 games he appeared in, and he finished the regular season completing 319 of 499 passes for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and only five interceptions while posting a passer rating of 100.8. The 4,108 yards were third most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, and his TD-interception ratio of 4.6 led the league – the youngest player to pace the league in that category. Stroud also started the season with 191 consecutive passes without an interception – an NFL mark to start a career.

Stroud was the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month twice in September and November, the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November, and he was selected as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week twice (Weeks 9 and 18).

ABOUT THE PFWA: In its 61st season in 2024, the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) is the official voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve the public. The PFWA is made up of accredited writers who cover the NFL and the 32 teams daily. Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News is the PFWA president for the 2023-24 seasons and the organization’s 31st president. Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post is the PFWA’s first vice-president, Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic is the second vice-president, Lindsay Jones of The Ringer is the advisor to the president and Mike Sando of The Athletic is the secretary-treasurer. At-large board members include Mike Jones of The Athletic, ESPN.com’s Jeff Legwold, Joe Reedy of the Associated Press and ProFootballTalk.com’s Charean Williams. Follow the PFWA at ProFootballWriters.org and on Twitter at @PFWAwriters.

GOOD GUY AWARD WINNERS (To a NFL player for his qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their job) Year indicates when award was presented for previous season: 2005 – Jerome Bettis (Pittsburgh Steelers); 2006 – Tiki Barber (New York Giants); 2007 – LaDainian Tomlinson (San Diego Chargers); 2008 – Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers); 2009 – Kurt Warner (Arizona Cardinals); 2010 – Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints); 2011 – Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers); 2012 – Tim Tebow (Denver Broncos); 2013 – Tony Gonzalez (Atlanta Falcons); 2014 – Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks); 2015 – Richard Sherman (Seattle Seahawks); 2016 – Thomas Davis (Carolina Panthers); 2017 – Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals); 2018 – Chris Long (Philadelphia Eagles); 2019 – Chris Long (Philadelphia Eagles); 2020 – Eli Manning (New York Giants); 2021 – Philip Rivers (Indianapolis Colts); 2022 – Cameron Heyward (Pittsburgh Steelers); 2023 – Jason Kelce (Philadelphia Eagles); 2024 – C.J. Stroud (Houston Texans)

The postseason newcomers were expected to enter and exit early in the AFC and NFC Wildcard games. It doesn’t look like they read the memo for their early demise.

Instead, Stroud and the Texans soundly defeated a Joe Flacco-led Cleveland Browns team, 45-14. Stroud ended his day having 16/21 passes for 274 yards, and three touchdowns without an interception and a 157.2 passer rating. His leadership and composure as a quarterback was a thing of beauty in his historic playoff debut.
Love and the Green Bay Packers barely made an appearance to the Big Dance.

However, when they finally arrived in Big D to face Dak Prescott and the NFC East Division champions, nobody expected a lopsided upset at Jerry’s World. But it happened anyway.

C.J. STROUD & JORDAN LOVE

Love, like Stroud, tossed a 16/21 passing game for 272 yards, three downs, and a quarterback rating of 157.2. The young field general had a better performance in his first playoff game than legendary Green Bay NFL MVPs Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

During the NFL Wildcard weekend, C.J. Stroud and Jordan Love achieved a passer rating of 157.2, which is the third-best rating in the NFL Playoff history.
It is worth noting that two young black quarterbacks have been able to achieve such a feat, with Peyton Manning and Josh Allen holding the top two positions in the record books.

Unfortunately, Jordan Love’s final incompletion led to a deflation of his perfect passer rating to 157.2.
The upcoming AFC and NFC Divisional Round games will be affected by football weather. Stroud will be playing in Baltimore where it will be partly cloudy and windy with a kickoff temperature of 25 degrees.

Meanwhile, Love and the Packers will be playing in a rainy weather forecast of 70% chance of rainfall and a temperature of 59 degrees at the start of the game.
Despite negative narratives about black quarterbacks, the presence of Stroud and Love, along with Mahomes and Jackson, dispels such connotations in today’s NFL.

Original Article On HBCU Legends