C.J. Stroud has ’25-30′ handshakes to build chemistry with teammates

Last updated: 2023/10/18 at 11:48 PM

BigP Published October 18, 2023

DJ Bien-Aime, ESPNOct 18, 2023, 06:41 PM ET
Close

HOUSTON — Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud had a handshake with everyone on the team when he was at Ohio State.

When Stroud got the NFL, he wanted to keep that trend going. He now has “25-30” handshakes with his Texans teammates to build chemistry.

The No. 2 pick is fourth in passing yards (1,660), and is ninth in touchdowns (nine), but when he’s connected with fellow rookie receiver Tank Dell for scores, their most notable handshake is on centerstage.

Dell and Stroud’s handshake revolves around a viral TikTok California dance called the “Squabble.” Many NFL players do the squabble dance when they score a touchdown or make a significant defensive play.

The duo developed it during a team bonding trip in L.A. over the offseason.

“When they came out to LA. I brought a couple of my cousins over to our house, and we were all dancing, having a good time,” Stroud told ESPN. “Tank was like, ‘What’s that dance? Bruh, that’s hard.'” That was gonna be our handshake. So maybe we just kind of dapped it up and then started doing it.”

Now, the rookie duo hit the dance whenever they scored a touchdown, like when Dell did in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3.

“Man, it’s crazy because me and C.J. would just be doing anything and just like lock eyes with each other, do the handshake, and just start hitting it out of nowhere,” Dell told ESPN. “And this was before the touchdowns came. But we for sure had conversations like when we score our first touchdown, we’re going to be turnt. We ain’t harp on it because we already knew, you throw a touchdown, we gone meet up and do what we do.”

One of Stroud’s first handshakes was with third-year wide receiver Nico Collins, who’s eighth in receiving yards (547).

“It was kind of one of those QB receiver love,” Collins told ESPN. “You gotta have a handshake. CJ is dropping dimes to me. We had to come up with something.”