I think that Caserio/Ryans were in on CJ Stroud from the very beginning of the Draft process. I also believe that the of leaking the S2 test results, absolutely came out of the Texans office (or maybe out of the McNair's house).
Why do I think these facts are true, you ask? If you pay close attention and follow the bread crumbs, there is a definite line of reasoning, that strongly suggests that CJ Stroud was the Texan's "GUY" all along.
After Demeco got hired the first thing he did was hire Bobby Slowick. Bobby Slowick is a card carrying cititzen of the Kubiackishannahanistanian Nation of offensive systems. But on the same day that they annouced Slowicks hiring (Feb 12th), they annouced the hiring of the Texans new QB coach Jerrod Johnson. So why did they hire Johnson along with Slowick? Jerrod Johnson did not have any experience in the Shannahan offensive system, he had been an assitant coach with the Colts and the Vikings, niether of which which run the Shannahan offensive system. So why did they hire Jerrod rather than someone that already knew the system? Why did they hire a QB coach that had no experience with the offensive system that Slowick was going to run? This seems like a major disconnect.
So why Jerrod Johnson? Even though Jerrod had no experience in the Shannahan system, he was a well thought of, up and coming coach. However, you could apply that same label "well thought of, up and coming coach" to a lot of other guy's in the NFL, so again why Jerrod Johnson?
The answer is very simple. Of all, of all the potential QB coaches that the Texans could have hired, Jerrod Johnson had something that absolutely no one else had. A history of personally coaching and improving CJ Stroud's QB skills and technique.
Jerrod's history with CJ goes back to CJ's High School days, back when CJ was thought of as a good, but not elite QB talent. There is an annual High Schhool showcase QB competition called the "Elite 11". In 2019 CJ as a High School Senior, was not selected to attend the Elite 11 competition but instead was pick as an alternate. CJ at this time did not have any scholarship offer's from any big time schools. As it turned out one of the selected canidates suffered a late injury, and CJ was picked up as a participant. However they did not have a coach to handle CJ's squad. So the Elite 11 people, called a little known ex-Aggie QB by the name of Jerrod Johnson and asked him if he would coach the the stray dog they had added to the participants. They thought that even though Jerrod was not a high profile QB coach, he was only coaching an alternate so what damage could be done. Well as it turns out under Jerrod's coaching tutelage, CJ Stroud the alternate, ended up as the Elite 11 MVP. Based on the Elite 11 Showcase results, CJ Stroud recieved a scholarship offer from Ohio State and the rest is history. Thus, Jerrod Johnson was a major influence on CJ Stoud's football career.
Now the whole point of this diatribe, is the fact that the Texans hired Jerrod Johnson as the new Texans QB Coach, all the way back on Feb 12th rather than any of the numerous Shannahan System guy's that they could have hired. Is strong circumstantial evidence that CJ Stroud was the Texans QB draft target all the way back on Feb 12th.
Yes this is only circumstantial evidence, as to what actually happened we will never know for sure untill everyone retires. But the fact that they hired Jerrod Johnson as QB Coach out of no where, and then drafted CJ Stroud when no one had a clue they were considering CJ with the 2nd pick, seems awfully coincidental, considerering the history those two had.
en.wikipedia.org
