00:0012. Don't let that slide.
00:02Of the next three years.
00:04Quarterbacks for the next three years.
00:06He took C.J. Stroud 12th.
00:08Yeah, and there's a lot of information in that.
00:11EPA per dropback.
00:12There is, but I mean, I think the numbers themselves really speak to
00:16the thing that he's pointing to here.
00:19He talked about how Nick Haley in this system
00:22asked him to be consistently correct, and he was a good amount of time
00:26except for the moments where it kind of bugged out,
00:28which we did see happen a few times.
00:30First and foremost, how do you react to that assessment of C.J. Stroud's 2025?
00:36Because he brought up metrics that said that they are comparable
00:39to rookie year C.J. Stroud in the way that we've talked about.
00:42He did, and that makes you kind of feel all warm and fuzzy inside, right?
00:45The metrics will tell you, the stats, the data will tell you
00:50that he's not that far off from what he was.
00:53But two things stood out to me.
00:54Number one, despite the complimentary things he said about C.J. Stroud,
00:59they still have 11 quarterbacks over the next three years that they would take.
01:03That says something.
01:05And then the wigging out.
01:06You know, the wigging out in certain games.
01:09That, of course, as we know, is going to be one of the big questions that we face.
01:14And then the third thing, I said two.
01:16The third thing is it did.
01:17You got a bonus thing.
01:18A bonus thing.
01:21This is where I landed.
01:23Would you take Trevor Lawrence?
01:25Would you take Trevor Lawrence throughout his career?
01:28What is he going into, year six?
01:29Yeah.
01:30Hearing it out loud, just as the way that I said earlier, I was like,
01:33oh, man, Josh Allen is 30.
01:34Trevor Lawrence is 26.
01:36Yeah.
01:37And headed to be 27.
01:38I think he's going into year six.
01:39Would you take Trevor Lawrence here?
01:42I don't, your gut reaction would be like, yes, because, you know,
01:47any semblance of, you know, mid to upper tier quarterback and you win a Super Bowl.
01:53But keep in mind, the two things they had in common are peaks and valleys.
01:57Yeah.
01:57Peaks and valleys.
01:58And I don't know if I would.
01:59And what's funny is you talk about the valleys,
02:01and the question for C.J. Stroud that I think needs to be answered is,
02:04can you, one, you know, eliminate the valleys,
02:06but at the very least, can we make sure the valleys don't pop up
02:09in the most inopportune times?
02:10Right.
02:12That's the thing where.
02:13Trevor Lawrence has had that as well.
02:14Yeah.
02:14Like the inopportune times.
02:15Yeah.
02:15I take you back to, you remember that time that he just absolutely,
02:18like the time that he gave up the ghost in the playoffs?
02:21Like that's something that is there, that is built in.
02:24And I feel like the thing with Trevor Lawrence that gets you to a place
02:29where you feel better, and the reason why I would not take him in this instance,
02:34is this is, we're talking about a comparison where you go C.J. Stroud
02:37with the negative publicity of the playoffs.
02:40And we got Trevor Lawrence with the positive publicity of a system that was built
02:45to help him maximize all the things that he does.
02:47And they are meeting here.
02:48And so this, we talk about peaks and valleys,
02:50this feels more peak of Trevor Lawrence and more valley of C.J. Stroud.
02:53It does.
02:54You see what I'm saying?
02:55It does, but they are still abundant in their brief careers.
03:00Obviously, Trevor's a little longer.
03:02So it actually also got me kind of thinking about our toss conversation yesterday
03:06with Clint and Sho, because how much of this does actually reflect,
03:12because he's talked about, well, he does make good decisions in this offense.
03:14He does do this in this offense.
03:16A running game in this offense could help him a lot.
03:20It might be the offense.
03:21You know, the show was great yesterday when we were talking with the fellas
03:26about how are you resetting, you know, we don't want Joe Burrow.
03:30You know, he looked like Joe Burrow as a rookie.
03:33How are you resetting the expectation and really the desire of what you want from C.J. Stroud?
03:39Yeah, and I think the question is the sustainability of the Joe Burrow of it all,
03:42especially in current trends of the NFL.
03:44That's when you get heady, but there is, I think, inherently,
03:47and what I just said, the question that you can bring up
03:49that you can chew on for as long as you are capable of chewing,
03:54is can you be too heady for the moment?
03:56Can you overthink it?
03:58And the answer we know in all our lives is that it's possible to overthink.
04:01Is that overthinking it in that moment, right?
04:04The idea of do we want to have a offense that just, you know,
04:08is like, hey, Joe Burrow it up, right?
04:10Just go and kind of do all of the explosive things of that,
04:12but then also does that become an issue when it comes to the viability of consistency
04:16and the longevity of the quarterback that you want to have there?
04:20Well, and this is where it gets really interesting.
04:23You know, we've spent a lot of times, you know, bashing on C.J. Stroud,
04:26and he even talked about it there, you know, wigging out and all that stuff.
04:30And, you know, the body language and the facial expressions,
04:34and he's earned every bit of the criticism that he's got with the turnovers,
04:37you know, the 10 turnovers in two games and all that, are we going to –
04:41it's more of a question.
04:42Are we going to be here in six months, eight months saying, you know what?
04:47He might have been right.
04:48You know, he might have been right about this is not the best fit for him.
04:51They should have gone with another, you know, sort of game plan for the offense
04:56or style of offense or whatever.
04:58Yeah, no, it's possible.
05:00But at the very least, if this is the offense that you have, right,
05:03there's almost a level of resignation.
05:05Like, this is the offense that you have, then the run game is necessary
05:08to make that go, right?
05:10And so the run game, as was being described by Ben Solak in the clip that you heard,
05:15the run game, in the way that they've put this up, if it does come through,
05:19I think you see a C.J. Stroud that is better than Trevor Lawrence.
05:21Because the question you ultimately asked is, would you take C.J. Stroud
05:24if he is Trevor Lawrence?
05:26And I think the uncomfortable thing is – because ultimately I think the question then is,
05:32is Trevor Lawrence above the line of the dude that you feel comfortable giving that contract?
05:37And I'd be kind of uncomfortable giving the contract to Trevor Lawrence.
05:40I just simply don't think that C.J. Stroud is Trevor Lawrence.
05:43But what happens – and I'm curious what you're thinking, Figgy,
05:46because the reason – it's so important that they said Trevor Lawrence.
05:50He was in a situation that didn't suit him.
05:53He was in a situation where the peaks and valleys were abundant.
05:57And you're talking about this is the peak, or however you put it, Reggie,
06:02of Trevor Lawrence.
06:03He's ascending.
06:04And meanwhile, C.J. Stroud descended this past season.
06:09At least in the way that we're viewing him because of the way of the end.
06:12But what if they finally unlocked it because the offense is now fitting Trevor Lawrence?
06:17And that got me thinking about, like, what if C.J. Stroud is right?
06:21You know?
06:22Yeah.
06:22And I think it's hard, too, because that first year we saw what C.J. – we saw –
06:27I don't want to call it peak C.J., but we saw the best C.J. right there.
06:32And so it's hard for me to say I want him – you know, I take him being Trevor Lawrence
06:37because I feel like he could be better because we saw it in his rookie year.
06:41Right.
06:41So I would probably roll the dice on thinking C.J. could become rookie C.J. again.
06:46Yeah, and I think what you're getting to when you ask, like, is he right about the system
06:52is, yeah, he's not Patrick Mahomes, right?
06:56And I say that, and I don't think anybody views that as Shea, but I say that to mean
07:00he's not the quarterback that you go, it doesn't matter what we do.
07:03He's going to be incredible.
07:05And I don't think that's a slight on him.
07:07I don't think that's me talking crazy about him because how many dudes are –
07:10like, we're talking about generational players in that circumstance,
07:13which I don't think he has to be.
07:15I think that would be an unfair bar to have for C.J. Stroud to be no matter what the
07:18circumstance is.
07:20But even within the circumstance that they have put up for him –
07:22and this is – like, again, this is a very cynical way of looking at it.
07:25Within the circumstance, he can be successful, and I feel like he just needs to be.
07:28I think it's fair to wonder – I don't know if any of us can come to any conclusions –
07:32but I think it's fair to wonder, you know, are the Jaguars and Liam Cohen
07:37finally unlocking Trevor Lawrence?
07:40Sure.
07:40We'll find out, you know, this coming season if he repeats it or improves.
07:44Are they finally unlocking Trevor Lawrence after the offense and other things just didn't suit him
07:49versus are the Texans locking up, you know, sort of, so to speak, C.J. Stroud?
07:56That's where I went.
07:57And the question I have with also the system itself is, is it the wrong system
08:02or has the system even been implemented well enough?
08:05Well, both, maybe.
08:05Because you get to the heart of this a little bit when we're talking about it earlier, right,
08:10based off Ed Orgeron going back to LSU, we were like,
08:12who would you want to come back home to the city of Houston and Houston sports?
08:15And a great name that Seth brings up is Josh McDaniel, right?
08:18If you're doing Patriots-esque things, go get the dude who has done the Patriots things the best offensively.
08:24Right, right.
08:24And I think it's no comparison if you look at the way that Josh McDaniels has been a practitioner of
08:29the offense
08:30versus the way that Nick Caley in the early iterations of it has been a practitioner of the offense.
08:34So the question, I think, also that is underlying your question is,
08:40does Nick Caley find another level within what is the offense that's here
08:45that also helps bring out even more of the capabilities of what C.J. Stroud can do?
08:50No, that's fair.
08:51But again, does that fit, elevate him over the next three years outside of number 12
08:58in terms of young quarterbacks for the next three years that you're interested in?
09:03I don't know.
09:04It makes you think.
09:06It's easy to bash C.J. Stroud, and he gives us a lot of material.
09:10But we were seeing it in Jacksonville.
09:13When a quarterback like that with that talent, high draft pick, of course,
09:18when it gets unlocked, it's pretty cool to watch.
09:21From the 713, can't believe you're having this conversation about Lawrence versus C.J.
09:25Lawrence still hasn't won a playoff game in the new system.
09:27We're not even talking about that.
09:28But it's less about those guys being the exact same dude
09:31and more about kind of the tiers, the buckets that you end up putting them in.
09:36I think it's an interesting way of thinking about it, if that ends up being the case.
09:39But I just cannot believe that that's the case.
09:42Because, again, this feels like the bottom side of what C.J. Stroud is.
09:46And this feels like more of the upper side of Trevor Lawrence.
09:49The other part of that is the bottom side in terms of who's leading to that.
09:57Is it the offense or is it C.J. Stroud?
09:59Yes.
09:59Well, I mean, it's somewhat the offense.
10:02And I think the way that it's being utilized,
10:04and obviously can it be more refined in the way that it comes,
10:07both with more experience under Nick Haley's belt,
10:10but also more of the things that you would imagine are necessary,
10:14whether it's the tight ends, the clear and consistent run game,
10:18physicality on the offensive line,
10:20and capability of holding up the offensive line pass blocking.
10:22All of these things, I think, factor in.
10:24And they should be a better jumping off point
10:26so that we don't have to have anything of the sorts
10:29talking about C.J. Stroud being in the level.
10:31But would you take it?
10:33I'd probably say no.
10:34I would not take that.
10:36However, I think that you don't have to take that
10:38because it should not be the case that C.J. Stroud is at the level of Trevor Lawrence.
10:41Well, fair, given Trevor Lawrence's career.
10:44But then, you know, last season is one of those where you go,
10:47okay, maybe there's something there.
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