Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete at ESPYs

C.J. Stroud could be adding another piece of hardware to his mantel after his breakout rookie season with the Houston Texans.

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award after guiding his team to a division title for the first time since 2019.

Stroud, the fifth quarterback in league history to throw for over 4,000 yards in his rookie season, became one of the biggest breakout stars in the sports world. Soon, he might have the hardware to settle the debate.

This week, Stroud was nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete at the ESPY Awards. He’ll join San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama, USC’s women’s basketball player JuJu Watkins and gymnast Haleigh Bryant in a race to finish for the award.

Each nominee has a strong case following their dominant seasons. Best Breakthrough Athlete is awarded to the person who made the most substantial breakthrough as a rookie or achieved a rapid improvement in performance.

Stroud, who helped Houston triple its win total from 2022 while becoming the youngest quarterback in league history to win a playoff game, might be the favorite. Houston won a combined 11 games from 2020-2022 and fired its head coach each offseason.

Stroud also became the third player in league history to lead the NFL in both touchdown-to-interception ratio (23:5) and passing yards per game (274) in the same season, joining Hall of Famer Joe Montana and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady.

The award was won last year by former LSU star and current Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese. Other notable winners include Tiger Woods (1997),  Kurt Warner (2000), Brady (2002), LeBron James (2004), Adrian Peterson (2007), Jeremy Lin (2013), Dak Prescott (2017) and Saquon Barkley (2019).

The 2024 ESPY Awards will be aired on July 11 at 7 p.m. on ABC.