- 13 hours ago
B Scott reacts to Stroud addressing his contract situation and the reaction that followed.
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00:00Radio is fun because we got to all hear him say the same exact thing in the same exact context.
00:07And somehow it became a controversy on what exactly he was saying and what he meant.
00:12So that part at least is fun to me.
00:15So just my position on it, I do think that he's talking about the contract.
00:19I don't think it's unfair to assume that him being asked about a question
00:24or being asked a specific question about a contract,
00:26that everything that he says after that is within the context of the question being asked about his contract.
00:32So I'll just start there.
00:33So from there, I actually agree.
00:35I go a little bit different from y'all.
00:37I actually agree with C.J. Stroud that he has held up his end of the bargain.
00:42Whatever exactly that means, I think you can make the case either way in terms of getting better as a
00:48football player.
00:49Obviously things have changed and his seasons have not looked the same as his rookie year,
00:53but they changed the entire system and asked him to do totally different things from the time he started to
00:59where he is now.
01:00And I thought he handled that really well.
01:02And, of course, he was a part of their winning streak at the end of last season.
01:06And we understand how things ended in the playoffs.
01:09But I think his end of the bargain in terms of winning, right,
01:14before C.J. Stroud, they had won, what, four games a year before, something like that?
01:19Yeah.
01:19They've won 10, 10, and 12 since then.
01:22They have never not had double-digit win seasons.
01:24They have never not gone to the playoffs.
01:26They have never not won a game once they got to the playoffs.
01:29What else would there be on his end of the bargain, right?
01:32Here's the rub, though.
01:34I don't think holding up your end of the bargain necessarily means that you get the contract that you want.
01:40Because it's not just about you holding up your end of the bargain.
01:44It's about what the team's intentions are for their future and how they want to build the team.
01:49And what has also happened over that time since C.J. has quarterbacked the team,
01:54the defense has developed into one of the great defenses of its era, potentially, right,
02:00if it's able to kind of keep this thing up for a stretch, right?
02:03And so they've signed guys to contracts, right?
02:06They keep doing the one-and-one deal with Daniel Hunter.
02:09They just signed Will Anderson, Jr. to an extension.
02:12They did the same thing with Derek Stingley.
02:13Nico.
02:14Well, and just the defense.
02:15But just the defense alone, right?
02:18And so they're going all in on the defense because they've hit on that.
02:21This is a team, and they've got a defensive head coach, right?
02:24So this is a team that now knows it can lean in toward having sort of a defensive identity.
02:30A lot of our money is in the defense.
02:32And then on the offensive side, they're trying to run this offense where it's like
02:37they're not asking as much of the quarterback, more of a cerebral thing,
02:42and take care of the ball, but we're not going to take a whole lot of risk.
02:45We want to run the football, make good decisions with the football.
02:48And how expensive of a quarterback do we need to accomplish that,
02:52which is a question to pay Stroud, like just a philosophical question for them to ask, right?
02:59And then when you ask C.J. Stroud on top of it, okay, he held his end of the bargain,
03:04but does his end of the bargain mean that we want to pay $60 million in the future?
03:08Holding up your end of the bargain in the past doesn't necessarily say anything about
03:12how we want to build the team in the future, which sounds a little bit unfair to C.J. Stroud,
03:17right?
03:17If you say he held his end of the bargain, he should get paid, and I think he will get
03:21paid,
03:22but it might be that the Texans, and we'll see how it works out.
03:26We have no idea.
03:27They might just sign him to a contract and all of this conversation is moot.
03:30But the Texans still have to sort of ask those questions.
03:33Everybody can't get paid.
03:35We're going all in on the defense.
03:36We've got a receiver that we just guaranteed his contract over the next couple of years, right?
03:41We've got offensive linemen now that we want to pay, that we're investing in.
03:45Everybody can't get paid.
03:47Do we feel like, especially based off of the season that we had last year,
03:50do we feel like we can get by with a $25 million a year quarterback,
03:55a $30 million a year quarterback versus a $60 million, $65 million a year quarterback?
03:59Well, you know what you're talking about here is in their heart of hearts,
04:04and I'm not trying to put words in your mouth because you just got me thinking this way,
04:08in their heart of hearts, they want a $25 million to $30 million quarterback,
04:12and he wants a $60 million quarterback offense.
04:15You know, he wants to be the guy that carries the entire offense
04:19and makes the plays, and they're like, no, we don't need that.
04:22We need a $25 million, $30 million quarterback.
04:25So that's a big gap in terms of how they view themselves both as an offense
04:30and as a quarterback.
04:31Yeah, it's a big gap.
04:32Yeah, I mean, and again, aside from the next question,
04:38which I think is a fair one, is he even worth that amount anyway, right?
04:44And I'm not just doing that to pick on CJ, right,
04:48because there's some recency bias going on there with how the season ended
04:52in the playoffs, and I think that's what's kind of posed this question more than anything
04:56because overwhelmingly he has proven that he would be worth that.
04:59But I think it's fair to question kind of what I've said before.
05:04He's good, but is he great?
05:05He's good, but how good?
05:07How close to great is he?
05:08And that's when you start kind of nitpicking and negotiating.
05:11Another thing about the comments that I would say,
05:14that I think the hell my end of the bargain is just as much commentary
05:18on the agent as it is the Texans.
05:21Oh, yeah.
05:21Because he's saying, look, before that, he's saying, look,
05:25all I do is play football.
05:27I'm going to focus on football, okay?
05:28I'm a football player, and I'll let my agent handle that.
05:30And so he actually has done pretty much all he can do,
05:34and literally all he can do is play football.
05:35The contract part is going to be up to the agent and the team.
05:40And let's not forget that David Mulageta is just as good at what he does
05:44as anybody else that we're talking about in this conversation, if not better.
05:47Like he might be a better agent than the Texans are at negotiating contracts
05:51and that C.J. Stroud is at playing quarterback.
05:54Like he's that good at it.
05:55So I think he's saying, hey, I've done my part.
05:58Now it's up to my agent.
06:00Like I think the Texans should pay me.
06:02If they don't think so, it's up to my agent to convince them that they should.
06:05If that doesn't work out, it's up to my agent to figure out
06:08how I'm going to maximize the end of my bargain that I feel like I've maximized.
06:13And side note, I do agree with Lopez on him.
06:16Like I don't, Figgy, I know this bothered you,
06:18but I just, I don't feel like you can do, you should do cliches if you don't know.
06:23If you mess it up.
06:24If you don't know how it goes, just say what you're trying to say.
06:27You don't have to say, he held up my end of the bargain
06:29and you don't even know how that saying goes.
06:31That means you don't talk like that.
06:32That's right.
06:33And that's okay.
06:34Don't say that no more, man.
06:35High side 50-50.
06:36That's right.
06:37That's what Cam Newton liked to say.
06:40Yeah.
06:40I mean, he might not even realize that he butchered it, but yeah.
06:43And that's not as bad as Cam at the high side 50-50.
06:46That's just terrible.
06:47Yeah, it's terrible.
06:48Yeah, it is.
06:49That's not understanding it at all.
06:51I think CJ understands the holding the end of the bargain.
06:53He just said it wrong.
06:54That's right.
06:55I like your point with the defense and, you know,
06:58do the Texans feel like they need to devote so many resources,
07:01therefore, to the quarterback.
07:03And that's where I've kind of been in a similar boat.
07:05Bucky Brooks has the expression.
07:07You know, Bucky, of course, played in the NFL, was a scout,
07:09and now covers the league for NFL Network and NFL.com and wherever else.
07:15But Bucky has the expression about quarterbacks.
07:17Are they the trucks or are they the trailers?
07:18Are they the truck that's pulling the team to victory,
07:20or are they the trailer that's being led by the pieces around them to victory?
07:24And the trucks are the ones that get the big contracts
07:27because you don't need to put as many pieces around them.
07:30They can win with less.
07:31Theoretically, like the Patrick Mahomes,
07:33the trailers are the ones that, like, well, you only give them so much money
07:36because then you have to be able to pay all the pieces around them.
07:38And that's maybe it's unfair.
07:40Maybe you guys would disagree.
07:40But that's where I've always been with Stroud.
07:42If I just haven't seen enough yet that I would give him the big payday
07:45because I still need enough resources to continue to pay, of course, the defense,
07:49but then also make sure there's enough weapons on offense.
07:51We always talk about how the offense hasn't been good enough for Stroud.
07:54If I give my quarterback Selina a year,
07:56well, then it's going to make it even harder to build that good offense
07:58for Stroud as well.
08:00So I would put it in kind of that same conversation of what you laid out
08:04of what might be the Texans thinking,
08:05but that's been my thinking as well of I don't want to break the bank
08:08on this quarterback if he's still a quarterback that's going to need
08:11enough money left over to put enough pieces around him.
08:15Yeah.
08:15And he might be.
08:17Like, I think it's still a question.
08:18You might not believe it.
08:19Maybe the next person does believe it.
08:21But I think it's still a fair and open question,
08:23which is why it makes sense to kick the can down the road a little bit
08:28and just pick up the fifth-year option, guarantee that much,
08:33and allow him to show you a little bit more, right?
08:36It's been a bit up and down in terms of that question.
08:39Steady in terms of how many games they win,
08:42and even it improved last year.
08:44But in terms of his play,
08:47it's reasonable to allow him to continue to kind of make that case.
08:52And it still may be that you don't want to build your team
08:56around a quarterback like that.
08:57Like, he might answer that question.
08:59The answer to the question might be yes.
09:01Like, he is a quarterback that can pull the team.
09:04But they might not want a quarterback like that.
09:06Right.
09:06And so he might have to be the quarterback of somewhere else,
09:08a team that does want to do that,
09:10and they view themselves as a team that could draft one
09:13or sign a retread that makes $30 million a year
09:17and do that with this defense.
09:18It's funny because both Nick Casario and C.J. Stroud
09:22use the term this year, you know,
09:25in conversations about the quarterback position.
09:29It's very clear to me that the message has been delivered.
09:33We want to see what you can do.
09:35We want to wait and see.
09:37Now, how it was received,
09:38I think maybe we got a hint yesterday when he said,
09:40you know, my end of the bargain thing.
09:42So, I'm not sure, I'm honestly not sure if things fall apart again offensively
09:49and the defense is outstanding, we have a repeat of last year,
09:52and like, dang, man, if we only had an offense,
09:54are they going to automatically fire Nick Caley
09:57because they need an offense that fits C.J. Stroud,
10:00or are they still going to be hell-bent on,
10:02no, we need a quarterback that fits this offense?
10:05That's the thing to put a pin in.
10:06I think it's more the second part, to be honest.
10:09That's the thing to put a pin in right there.
10:10Because it seems like they're not building this offense around C.J. Stroud.
10:14Right, right.
10:14It seems like they're building the Patriots type of offense.
10:17I hate to use the word Patriots offense,
10:19but it seems like they're building that and you need to fit this.
10:22Yeah.
10:22Yeah, I think it's exactly what y'all said.
10:24Like, I think y'all nailed it.
10:26No notes.
10:26Y'all nailed that part.
10:27I think that is it,
10:29and that is the dilemma when it comes to this whole contract thing.
10:31So they're going to sit here and say, it's not the offense.
10:35They like the offense.
10:36None of us like the offense.
10:38They like the offense.
10:39I don't know what to do about that.
10:41You've got this dude playing quarterback,
10:42but hell no, it's not the offense.
10:44They like the offense.
10:46They do.
10:46They do.
10:47They're trying to say this offense worked.
10:49They got rid of it.
10:49I mean, I know they didn't get rid of Gerard Johnson,
10:52but they brought in somebody else that was kind of a Patriots guy.
10:56Of course.
10:56And saying, hey, this offense worked.
10:58But if it fails again,
11:00you're not going to take a step back and say, hey,
11:02maybe we need an offense that fits the quarterback, not vice versa.
11:06Yeah.
11:06I will say it's going to be probably half of the league
11:09or three-fourths of the league.
11:10All over it.
11:10Hey, I'll take C.J. Stroud.
11:13But also, and I think that's true,
11:15but also if you think it's good but not great,
11:17you can justify that.
11:19Yeah, sure.
11:19You can justify that.
11:20If it fails again.
11:21And say, oh, hey, you know,
11:23well, we won the Super Bowls with this,
11:24even though that was with Tom Brady.
11:26Like, they can do that.
11:27Meanwhile, C.J. Stroud to watch Derrick Stingley get paid.
11:29He's watched Will Anderson Jr. get paid.
11:32He's watched Jalen Petrie get paid.
11:34He's watched, to a different scale,
11:36but he's watched Davis Mills.
11:37Everybody that can consider themselves
11:39appear to C.J. Stroud on this team
11:40has gotten a second bite at the apple.
11:43Meanwhile, they kick the can down the road with his contract.
11:45Yeah.
11:45Yeah, it's true.
11:46And this is just kind of the start of it here
11:48for the next, whatever it is, six months,
11:50six to eight months talking about this
11:52and thinking about this.
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