HOUSTON – Standing next to C.J. Stroud, Texans new quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski huddled with him between throws.
As Stroud heads into his fourth NFL season and second season in offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s system, the collaboration between Schuplinski and the quarterback is one of the keys to the season.
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The Texans and quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson mutually parted ways this offseason, shifting Schuplinski from senior offensive assistant-pass game specialist to running the quarterback room.
What Schuplinski has already seen from Stroud is encouraging to him in terms of his conditioning, understanding of the offense and how he’s orchestrating the offense.
“He’s been really steady,” Schuplinski said as the Texans wrapped up their offseason with a three-day minicamp. “Doing a really good job of everything we asked him to do. Coming with a great attitude, he looks good, he looks lean. Really worked hard on his body. He’s been putting in the extra time, you can tell on his own. The operation looks really good.
“The huddle command, getting the play calls out, getting to make sure we’re operating the line of scrimmage correctly. Shifts, motions, all that kind of stuff. And then he’s been taking all the stuff pre-snap to the field and then doing a good job post-snap, too. Seeing coverages, getting the ball out on time and playing pretty well.”
The roots of Jerry Schuplinski run through familiar ground for a Texans employee with a background with the New England Patriots and John Carroll University.
Schuplinski, 49, was hired last year and works hand in hand with offensive coordinator Nick Caley, a former Patriots colleague who also attended John Carroll, a Division III football powerhouse.
He was once the assistant quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots working with legend Tom Brady, winning Super Bowls on the Bill Belichick staff.
Now, Schuplinski is coaching Stroud. Stroud, who’s coming off a rough postseason with five interceptions and five lost fumbles, has heavily praised Schuplinski.
“Jerry is amazing,” Stroud said.“He’s somebody who is very vocal, challenging. He’s very old school. He reminds me of a long-lost uncle, just how he approaches how he coaches. I think he’s done a great job of challenging us to push other guys and also push ourselves to be great.”
Stroud is 3-3 all-time in the playoffs and 28-18 in the regular season in three NFL seasons. He reduced his interceptions from 12 interceptions in 2024 to eight interceptions during the regular season this past year, finishing with 3,041 yards and 19 touchdowns. He was sacked a career-low 23 times during the regular season.
Stroud led the Texans to a 10-game winning streak, seven wins by him, three by backup Davis Mills. The Texans are seeing Stroud take ownership of the offense and expect a leap from him as he has gained a comfort level in the Caley playbook, which has a lot of the elements of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ offense. And Stroud has a significant voice in everything the Texans do as an offense.
“Everything we probably do is geared towards him, whether it be from a protection standpoint, the plays we’re going to run, downfield shots, quick throws,” Schuplinski said. “But we do a good job of installing our stuff and then we try to do a good job of listening to all those guys too because they’ve got the ball in their hands and they see some things or, more importantly, feel some things out there that we might not. So there’s some adjustments that get made and all that. And he’s got valuable input.”
The Texans don’t just anticipate a jump from Stroud this season. They believe it’s already obvious.
“I think we’ve already seen it,” Schuplinski said. “The big thing we talked about as an offense in general was operation and building our foundation. There was probably a lot of issues we had last year, just getting the ball on the scrimmage, hurrying up to get the play off. And so the big thing we’ve pushed on all of our offenses, getting the huddle right, getting the play call in, getting the play called, breaking the huddle fast.
“Using the shifts, being able to use the motion and still have plenty of time to operate and also use cadence with that. So, that’s the big emphasis we put on everybody. They’ve done a nice job of it. Now we’ll just try to carry it over to training camp.”
The Texans extended tight end Dalton Schultz on a one-year, $12.6 million deal. And they signed Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins to an upgraded contract that adds $17 million in raises over the next two years with a $27 million signing bonus
Stroud definitely appreciates the reinforcements, and the financial commitment to the offense.
“I think we’ve taken a huge step from where we were last year to where we are now,” Stroud said. “Even in practice, we’re competing. We’ve got guys that want to play ball, want to do the right things, who have been here. I think the culture is starting to pick up on offense and we’re starting to get it together.”
Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins is seeing encouraging signs from Stroud. He sees a big season unfolding.
For his career, the former second overall pick, consensus All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State has completed 63.8 percent of his throws for 10,876 yards, 62 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.
“Different guy, different dude, man on a mission,” Collins told KPRC 2 during his annual youth football camp. “Man, he’s ready to hunt.”
Running back Woody Marks sees a similar approach from Stroud.
“Yeah, he’s been there since March 2, since we started the offseason workout, he’s been grinding,” Marks said. “Just seeing the quarterback, the leader of the team out there working in the offseason, not working somewhere else, putting in work at where he belongs at and that’s in Houston.
“He’s been doing a tremendous job. He got bigger and stronger. His times when we were running outside, he’s getting faster. I’d say he should be using his legs a lot this year, too.”
The Texans like the background and knowledge of Schuplinski, who has previously worked for the Los Angeles Rams for Sean McVay along with Caley, and with the Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants.
“Jerry has done a great job, as well, with the communication with C.J., all those guys,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “I’m pleased where we are right now with our quarterback position.”
Texans general manager Nick Caserio is a record-setting JCU quarterback alum. Texans special teams coordinator Frank Ross and director of pro personnel and former Patriots scout D.J. Debick also attended John Carroll.
He coached for the Patriots for six seasons, first joining the Belichick staff in 2013.
Schuplinski is a former high school football coach, math teacher and athletic director at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights, Ohio in the Cleveland area.
At John Carroll, Schuplinski was a fullback and teammates with Caserio and McDaniels. He earned bachelor’s and masters degree in business administration from John Carroll where he began his coaching career as a running backs and special teams coach.
Before coaching Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett with the Patriots and Daniel Jones with the Giants, Schuplinski built his coaching acumen at his alma mater, which has also produced Hall of Fame coach Don Shula and Hall of Fame linebacker London Fletcher.
John Carroll is where it all started for Schuplinski.
“I was proud to go there, my parents were proud that I graduated from there,” Schuplinski said. “It’s a great school. I’m honored for my time there. We probably had a lot of like-minded guys that just really loved football and tried to get a good education in the same respect. And when you get a lot of those people together and you kind of have the same similarities in terms of your personality, your love of the game and all that stuff, it just kind of keeps growing.
“That whole pipeline started way before I got there. I just happen to be lucky enough to be a part of that. When you get hired or someone hires you for that role, it’s basically like you don’t want to be the one to screw it up. So, you’re pulling weight for not just yourself but for everyone else.”
The relationship between Caley and Schuplinski doesn’t go back quite as far as it does with Schuplinski and Caserio.
They’ve built a strong friendship that started off a bit bumpy.
“I’ve gotten to know Nick really well, I consider him a great friend of mine and someone that I’m very fortunate to work with,” Schuplinski said. “The first time meeting him, he’ll kill me when I tell you this. We ran into each other on the road recruiting when I was working at a small school. He was working at a bigger school. I felt like he kind of big-timed me right there. He’ll tell you he didn’t, but I think he did.
“When he started working in New England, he took over a lot of my responsibilities at the time. So, I was glad to dump that stuff on his desk and say, Go ahead, buddy. Just seeing how he’s grown, developed, he’s such a special guy. He’s got such a great knack of bringing everyone together with him and uniting people.He’s got great command. He’s great at building relationships. He’s great at communicating with guys, and he’s just really grown as a coach.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com