CJ Stroud has never hidden how complicated his family story is, or how central his mother has been in it. With his father serving a 38-year prison sentence, the Houston Texans quarterback has said his mom effectively “played both roles,” guiding him from a cramped apartment to NFL stardom. That mix of pain and gratitude now shapes the way he talks about football, family and the system that took his dad away.
Stroud’s rise is usually framed in passing-yard totals and rookie records, but the emotional core sits at home with his mother, Kimberly. Her sacrifices, and his father’s incarceration, are not side notes to his career; they are the backdrop to every snap he takes and every time he publicly thanks the woman who held the family together.
The weight of a 38-year sentence and a mother holding the line
Before he was a franchise quarterback, Stroud was a teenager watching his family splinter under the weight of a prison term that would outlast his childhood. His father, Coleridge Bernard Stroud III, received a 38-years-to-life sentence after pleading guilty to serious charges, a punishment that meant the man who shared his name would be locked away through the most formative years of his son’s life. Another account notes that Coleridge Bernard Stroud III is serving a 38-year sentence, underscoring just how long the family has been living with that reality.
That left Kimberly to raise four children largely on her own. Reporting on the family describes how His parents, Kimberly and Coleridge, married in 1997 and had a tight-knit group that included Isaiah and two other siblings before the conviction shattered their stability. When Coleridge went away, the family’s finances and sense of normalcy went with him, and Kimberly became the one constant presence, the person her son now credits with filling every gap his father’s absence created.
“She played both roles”: Kimberly’s grind and CJ’s public gratitude
Stroud has been clear that his mother did not just keep the lights on; she became his emotional anchor and his model for resilience. He has said she effectively took on both parental jobs, a sentiment that tracks with descriptions of how Kimberly Stroud and Stroud share a particularly tight bond after weathering the fallout from his dad’s incarceration. Both have spoken about the hardships they endured, from financial strain to the emotional toll of explaining to a young quarterback why his father was not in the stands.
That gratitude has spilled into some of the most visible moments of his young career. Earlier in his Texans tenure, Stroud paid an emotional tribute to his mom, framing his success as a reflection of her work and not just his own talent. Coverage of that moment notes how Article described him spotlighting Kimberly as the person who kept the family moving forward while his father served a long sentence. For Stroud, honoring her is not a one-off gesture; it is baked into how he talks about his journey, from press conferences to community events.
From family pain to public platform: prison reform and a new foundation
Stroud’s story could have stopped at personal resilience, but he has chosen to push it into public advocacy. He has spoken openly about how His father was sent to prison for 38 years and how that experience fuels his interest in criminal justice reform as an NFL quarterback. In one detailed account of the case, Coleridge is described as having struggled with addiction in his youth, then turning his life toward ministry before ultimately pleading guilty at trial, a sequence that ended with a sentence expected to keep him in prison until he is 74 years old, according to After. Those details help explain why the quarterback talks about the system with such urgency.
That urgency has shown up on game days too. In one matchup, cameras caught a close-up of custom footwear as Stroud of the Texans warmed up before facing Denv, his cleats carrying a message about prison reform and his father’s incarceration. He later explained why he chose to use that platform, tying the design to his dad’s time at Folsom State Prison and his belief that parts of the system are broken, as recounted in coverage of his cleats. In another interview, he went even further, saying “The Whole Criminal Justice System Is Corrupt,” a blunt assessment highlighted in a profile of the NFL quarterback that also noted how often he says he is praying for his dad.
More from Decluttering Mom: