Dan Orlovsky feels sympathetic towards CJ Stroud as the quarterback's strong performances have not been able to help the Houston Texans amid their 0-4 start to the 2026 NFL season.

Stroud is going through the fourth season of his career with the Texans. The start to his 2026 campaign has followed a similar trajectory to his rookie form, which saw him win awards at the time. Which is why it is stunning that Houston has yet a earn a win in its first set of games.

Orlovsky made an appearance on ESPN's NFL Live show on Monday. There, he expressed that Stroud deserves better from the team as he is delivering the performances to give them the best chance of winning games.

“CJ Stroud has no business being 0-4. It's a very interesting situation because no contract and you sit there and say traditionally there's no way that you would pay a quarterback, who is 0-4 as the starter, the contract that he's asking for. But if you just took the play of the quarterback, you would sit there and yes the $50 million to $55 million that you're asking for, yes, it's warranted, and so that's why Houston's just in a fascinating situation when it comes to that,” Orlovsky said.

“Because the keeper game, the seams game down in the red zone, the broken plays that he's made with his legs to throw the football, the play action stuff, it's as good as it's been since his rookie year. Just has not gone their way so far. The defense, they had 30 scored on them once all season last year. They've had it twice in the first four games.”

Article Continues Below

So far this season, Stroud has played quality games from an individual standpoint. He has thrown for 1,141 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions, a big step up from past years.

The Texans continue the search for their first win this season. They are on the road when they face the Tennessee Titans in Week 5 as kickoff commences on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. ET.