Former QB campaigns for Texans' C.J. Stroud to win MVP

Quarterback C.J. Stroud is cruising toward earning Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and emerged as a popular Most Valuable Player candidate with his Houston Texans at 6-4 ahead of this coming Sunday's home game against the 7-3 Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Retired NFL signal-caller, football analyst and host at Houston’s KMBE Sportstalk 790 Sean Salisbury explained during a recent appearance on the "Short and to the Point" podcast why he'd consider giving Stroud his MVP vote following Week 18. 

"When you maximize the building you’re a better player," Salisbury said about Stroud, as shared by Robert O'Neill of The Comeback. "He’s doing that and then some. Nobody expected this. You hoped you were going to get a good player, but he’s in the MVP talk. If they make the playoffs and this continues, I don’t see how he couldn’t be in the final three for MVP. If they get to 10 wins he probably should be the MVP of the league."

Houston would qualify for the postseason if the tournament began before Thanksgiving Day. 

According to ESPN stats, Stroud enters Week 12 ranked 12th in the NFL among qualified players with a 60.7 adjusted QBR, eighth with a 99.3 passer rating, first with 296.2 passing yards per game and third with an average of 8.3 yards per pass attempt. He tossed 17 touchdown passes and only five interceptions over Houston's first 10 games. 

As of Wednesday morning, oddschecker listed Stroud as a +1800 underdog to win MVP. To compare, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles was the betting favorite at +260 at that time. 

Salisbury compared Stroud to Hall of Famers such as Dan Marino, Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning while praising the 22-year-old. 

"I was fortunate to play against the Marinos and guys from that era, and watching these guys all the way through, Aikman and Manning, nobody this quickly has thrown the ball this aggressively with this kind of accuracy down the field and underneath," Salisbury added about Stroud.

On Wednesday morning, oddschecker listed the Texans as 1.5-point home underdogs against the Jaguars. Guiding Houston to another upset win could make Stroud more than just a name mentioned in MVP conversations by the start of December.