HOUSTON — Bryce Young and CJ Stroud were linked long before they were drafted first and second overall in the 2023 NFL Draft.

They played youth football against each other in California, when Stroud played cornerback, too.

They played AAU basketball against each other.

They have a bond that transcends a joint practice on a sweltering August morning.

"That's my brother," Young said afterward.

"That's my brother," Stroud said from a different interview tent, moments later.

Of course, Young's brother has had an easier time in the NFL than he has, though Stroud's second year wasn't as smooth as his first.

Basically, Stroud was drafted into a more favorable environment, to a team that's won the AFC South each of his two seasons, and 10 wins a year. Young, of course, had three changes in play callers and an interim coach in his first 11 weeks in the league, and then got benched two games into last season before coming back strong.

So all the people who have known him for longer than his NFL career can attest to the character — and the talent — that has allowed Young to get back to this spot.

"He's very even keeled, very to himself. I think I've seen a dog come out of him that he has that a lot of people haven't seen," Stroud said. "But I know he dealt with some frustrations. I think it's good that we go through these ups and downs to refocus you back on what's important. I think he had that, and I had that last year as well. I think he bounced back like he should, and we all know he can. He's a heck of a player, one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen in my life. He needs some help around him too.

"I'm just really proud of that guy. Just the same way he said about me, through every ups and downs, every valley and peak, he stayed the same guy, stayed loyal and stayed a friend and a brother. So, I'm very appreciative of him."

"One of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen in my life" is not a thing many people were saying about Young at different points last year.

But Young has gotten a better supporting cast around him than he had early on, as they invested heavily in the offensive line going into last season (and the sacks went from 65 to 36 in a year), and their last two first-round picks were on wide receivers.

He's also gotten better himself, and is playing with more confidence than ever. After getting his job back accidentally (literally, since an Andy Dalton car wreck was the reason he went back in the lineup in Denver), he made it his own again and played the way a lot of people, including Stroud, imagined.

When Panthers head coach Dave Canales was asked about Young's play late in practice, when he drove the team for a touchdown with 1:20 left on the clock, he talked about all the little things.

Canales likes to keep things granular, that's where he's comfortable, and said Young was also comfortable with all those individual elements.

"Just our process, getting to the line, using his tools, using his answers, reading coverages, and just being accurate with the ball, extending plays when he had to," Canales said. "And the more opportunities he gives our guys to make plays, they've come through for him.

"He did a great job today."

As Stroud said, it was like the player they expected when Young was chosen first overall, even though their paths to this joint practice were wildly divergent.

"I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be," Young said. "I'm sure CJ would say the same thing about here. God doesn't make mistakes, everything happens for a reason, so I'm super grateful to be a Panther.

"From my standpoint, always just trying to improve as a team, as a unit, as a group, we're trying to keep going, trying to keep getting better. Coach just talks about winning the day, taking it one day at a time, he always says it's the best day we got because it's all we got. And you know that's the mindset today, it'll be the mindset tomorrow. So I'm grateful where I'm at, grateful to be where my feet are and continue to build with this group that I love."

Of course, having an old friend nearby adds to that.

Their bond remains strong, as is the case with someone you've known for a decade, even if you're just 24 years old. And while Young's NFL journey has included more bumps than Stroud's, he also remembers the time when people doubted Stroud at Ohio State while he was winning a Heisman at Alabama.

"I think one of the biggest things that I respect about him is just his consistency as a person," Young said. "He's someone that I've been around him in a lot of different, outside perspectives. I've seen him as an overlooked middle school or high schooler that I've been around that was just as good but didn't get the fame, or didn't have the offers, didn't have the hype. I've seen him at Ohio State play one game, and people acting like he's not good and people saying he's this and that. To go on and have the career he's had and be the be the man at Ohio State. I've seen him have ups and downs. I've seen him have so much success at this level.

"I mean throughout all that he's been the exact same person. He's been family-oriented, a great person on and off the field, someone that obviously I know a lot of people on this team, and everyone tells me how great a leader he is, how much he means for this team, offense, the entire team, my entire unit. So I think just his ability to be that same person, regardless of what his circumstances are, is one of the things that I admire the most."

When he says it like that, it's almost hard to tell which one of them he's talking about.

Not only do they share a friendship, but they share the same values and are around each other enough to be "normal," to use Stroud's word.

The Texans quarterback mentioned that his mom and Young's parents are close, and he talked to Bryce's family after practice in the easy way that time allows.

These two quarterbacks, picked first and second overall, have been through a lot, individually and together.

So when they saw each other Thursday morning, able to compare notes on their parallel journeys along different paths, there was nothing but gratitude.

"Obviously we've got more experience, both gotten more familiarity, more comfortability in where we're at," Young said. "And it's cool to be able to have conversations in the offseason.

"So it's cool to have someone that you're so close with and have been friends for a while to kind of be able to traverse things at a similar timetable, it is definitely a blessing."