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00:00He's B. Scott. I'm Paul Gallant. B. Scott and Gallant with you. 95.7 The Fan Weekends.
00:05C.J. Stroud's under the most pressure of any player this season, B. Scott.
00:10That per you in our show notes. Take it away.
00:13Yeah, he is under the most pressure. I don't think that there is anybody...
00:16Another way to look at it is to say that there is nobody with as wide of a range of
00:21outcome as C.J. Stroud
00:23when you look at the implications of his season. What does his season actually mean?
00:28If he has a great season, even a good-to-great season, let's call it pro-bowl level or just
00:33above-average play,
00:34then we're talking about a guy that's going to become the highest-paid player in the league,
00:38or at least for a time. There are other guys, quarterbacks that is, who will be up for contracts, contract
00:43extensions.
00:44We talked about all of them, really.
00:45Yeah, right.
00:46The third-year guys who are going to be in the same situation next offseason that C.J. Stroud was
00:51in this past offseason.
00:52And those guys, I think, are going to get paid.
00:55So when is the timing of C.J. Stroud's deal?
00:57Is he ever the highest-paid guy?
00:59Is he that for a day or two or however it is?
01:02We'll see how that plays out.
01:04But if he plays well, he will get paid just as the rest of those guys will get paid.
01:09If he doesn't play well, I think he still ends up somewhere or still ends up being in the league,
01:15probably even a starter.
01:16But he's now back-end starter, bridge, quarterback, high-end backup type if he doesn't have a good season.
01:25I think that's really what we're talking about.
01:26If he does not have a good season, I got a hard time believing that the Texans are going to
01:31extend him.
01:32And then we're talking about playing out the string of do they want to franchise tag him in the future?
01:37How does it play out after the fifth-year option?
01:41Whereas maybe he views himself, and obviously David Muligeta is his agent,
01:46do they view themselves as a type that would want to force their way out?
01:49And let's just start somewhere fresh.
01:51Maybe they take the perspective of, you know what, the Texans have not done enough.
01:55Their offensive line has been bad for three years.
01:57I haven't had a real running back other than the one year with Joe Mixon when nobody else was healthy.
02:03So, you know, this has been bad.
02:05My only real wide receiver was Nico Collins.
02:08Like, they can make that case.
02:09Do they do that and force their way out?
02:12Or do they kind of play out the string and end up dealing with the whole franchise tag thing, right,
02:17if he doesn't play well?
02:18That's one end of the spectrum.
02:20Whereas the other end of the spectrum is $65, $70 million per year,
02:26whatever the number is for the quarterbacks next year.
02:28So I think he's under the most pressure because the possibility for him is that wide of a gap.
02:35And that's before I even get to what it means for the actual team,
02:40which I think most people that are listening to this show care more about,
02:42as opposed to just C.J. Stroud.
02:44What does it mean for the Texans?
02:46Dude, this was literally the player, or I think at least the performance,
02:51that kept you out of the Super Bowl last year, potentially.
02:54You could make that case.
02:55And I don't think it's fair to blame all of the ills of the Texans on C.J. Stroud squarely,
02:59but for where they were and the opportunity cost of the playoff performances that he had,
03:04I think it is fair to say that that cost you a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
03:08For sure.
03:09So I think logic dictates that going into this year with a similarly situated team,
03:14his play can be and will be what determines, not just his play, but chiefly his play.
03:20It's the offense overall, but he's the leader of it.
03:22His play is going to dictate what direction the Texans go in.
03:26Are they up there with the Bills and the Broncos, or are they somewhere less than that?
03:32So I think a lot of it comes back to C.J. Stroud.
03:34So you laid out a couple of scenarios.
03:38Now imagine me.
03:40Was it Mike Epps, the meme that he's got the gun out and he's like crying while he's thinking about
03:46what he's about to do next?
03:47That's not Mike Epps.
03:48That's Wesley Snipes, man.
03:51My bad.
03:51Hey, Dave, he's talking about New Jack City.
03:54Damn it.
03:54I've never seen New Jack City.
03:55Hey, Mike Epps was probably still on the streets or maybe like in jail or something when that happened.
04:00Yeah, I think he said something about that.
04:02He was not famous yet.
04:03Nah, shoot.
04:04That's funny, man.
04:05Shoot.
04:05That was a good one.
04:06Shoot.
04:07Shoot.
04:09Well, sorry, everybody.
04:11I do not think all black people look alike.
04:13Hey, all the black people who know the meme that he's talking about and then have seen New Jack City.
04:17I don't know why I thought it was.
04:18I don't know why I thought it wasn't Wesley Snipes.
04:20Anyway, whatever.
04:21Whatever.
04:21Whatever.
04:22Listen, listen.
04:23Bad moment for me.
04:24So we're going to put the gun down.
04:26And now we're just going to ask, of all those scenarios you outlined, which one is most likely to happen
04:31as I cringe horribly?
04:32No, I love that you mistook him for Mike Epps, though.
04:35I thought it was Mike Epps from the program.
04:39Side note, Mike Epps, for my money, the most underrated comedian of all time.
04:45If you ever watch a Mike Epps special, it's not like he's setting up jokes.
04:50I meant to say Omar Epps, too.
04:51Good God.
04:51Oh, my God.
04:53That actually, but you know what's funny?
04:54That would have been closer.
04:55Because I thought he was in that movie.
04:57Hey, David, would that have been closer to being allowed Omar Epps for Wesley Snipes?
05:02I always say so.
05:02For a white guy.
05:03For a white guy.
05:03Oh, yeah, yeah.
05:04For sure.
05:04For sure.
05:05For sure.
05:05I think that would have been more acceptable.
05:06Yeah, for sure.
05:07But the fact that you mixed up Omar Epps with Mike Epps for Wesley Snipes.
05:12Yeah, because when I was thinking about it, like when you said Wesley, I was like, Wesley,
05:16I don't know.
05:17If you would have said Omar, I'd have been like, okay.
05:20But, yeah.
05:21That's pretty good.
05:22That's hilarious.
05:23But it did give me an opportunity to point out that Mike Epps is the most underrated comedian
05:27of at least our generation.
05:29Everything he says is funny.
05:31There is no setting up the joke.
05:32Just every sentence is a joke.
05:34So, anyway.
05:35Black Doug in The Hangover.
05:37Yes.
05:39One of those three scenarios.
05:42Which of those do you think is most likely to be the one that we see with Stroud this
05:47coming season?
05:47I think it's set up for it to be the former or the first one, the positive one for the
05:52Texans.
05:53And that's that he goes out there and balls out and becomes the quarterback or is the
05:57quarterback that they're willing to pay, that they're comfortable paying, that we're
06:00not having these back and forth conversations about, well, really?
06:03Is he a $60 million quarterback or is he really around the $30, $40 million range?
06:08And could we find somewhere in between?
06:10It is set up, I think, between what they've done with the offensive line, bringing in David
06:17Montgomery, a real running back, a real three-down running back, and allowing Woody Marks to more
06:22so be in a featured role.
06:23I think that's also key because I think he can shine in that way, bringing in real tight
06:27ends.
06:28The Kayshawn booty trade, to me, was a ballsy move by the Texans because I think it showed
06:36that they are serious and I think that they're trying to surround their quarterback and their
06:40offense with as many weapons as they possibly can.
06:43And I think they understood that Nico Collins and the rest of what they had was not going
06:47to be good enough.
06:48You could not trot that out there and then claim to be serious about making a Super Bowl
06:52run.
06:53I just firmly believe that and I'm glad that they acknowledged that by trading for Kayshawn
06:57booty.
06:57So I'm saying all that to say that I feel like they've done enough things to set it up to
07:01where we are not having to make excuses or explain away why it is that C.J. Stroud might
07:09not be in line for the contract that he exactly wants or what the delta is between what C.J.
07:15Stroud, how he views himself and how the Texans might view him.
07:18The Mooligeta force out, I do think, is on the board if things don't go perfectly this
07:24coming season.
07:25I think there's a wide variety of outcomes that happen.
07:28Say the season ends exactly the same way that it's ended before, maybe Mooligeta thinks
07:32to himself, you know what, fresh start would be best for C.J.
07:35And there will be teams out there that think that they can get more out of C.J.
07:38Stroud than Nick Caley has to this point.
07:41So I'm curious to see where this all goes.
07:45I think as far as pressure, I think it's very fair as far as players go.
07:50He's got to say no one's under more pressure than Stroud as a player.
07:54But I would say on the Texans, and I've said this before, no one's under more pressure on
07:58the Texans than Nick Caley.
07:59I mean, you know, to what you said, hey, you got Kayshawn Boudet.
08:03You can't really make that many excuses for the weapons that Caley has available to him.
08:07But I would say the same thing for the people that are doing that with Stroud.
08:09I think there's enough here.
08:11I think Schultz is a solid tight end.
08:14Marlon Klein, there's clearly some upside.
08:15At receiver, I like Jalen Knoll.
08:17I understand no Jaden Higgins does stink, but I feel like there's upside with him as well.
08:22And then you got this offensive line that you're going to be shuffling, I would imagine,
08:24all season long because that's just what the Texans do.
08:27Caley has a lot of pressure on his plate to make all of this work.
08:30And while, yes, sometimes a guy like Bobby Slow can get an offensive coordinator gig on
08:34a team that's clearly tanking.
08:35But I mean, if Caley doesn't make this work, I do wonder, hey, what's his next gig?
08:39Is he just going back underneath the McDaniels umbrella in New England?
08:43Or is he going back underneath the McVay umbrella in L.A.?
08:46And does he ever get above like a positional coach again?
08:48Yeah, I think that the case for him is just that he is actually the least experienced in his role.
08:54When you think about everybody that's important in terms of leadership for the Texans,
08:58whether you want to go from the general manager down to the offensive coordinator
09:00and include the quarterback in that, Caley has done his job the least of it.
09:05Out of Nick Casario, out of D'Amico Ryans, out of Matt Burke, C.J. Stroud,
09:11Nick Caley has done the least of this.
09:13So I think from that standpoint, you could view him as being under the most pressure
09:16because his job is so important and he's got the least amount of experience in doing it.
09:20And the experience that he does have, part of it left a lot to be desired,
09:23even though I do think it improved toward the end of the year.
09:27Say for that playoff game, I don't think he was good at the Patriots game either,
09:30but he also didn't have a whole lot to work with.
09:32But here's the thing that I think people are missing a little bit with the C.J. Stroud conversation.
09:35And it annoys me a little bit because I understand why they view it this way
09:40and it's in defensive C.J. Stroud.
09:42They're a little bit defensive of the quarterback.
09:43I get it, but I don't think it's right to, whether you like it or not,
09:50I don't think it's right to line up the resume to line up what's been the environment around C.J.
09:58Stroud
09:59and make a case for him as, well, this is what he's had to deal with.
10:02These are the excuses of why he hasn't necessarily lived up to this or done this thing.
10:07And obviously you should pay the guy.
10:09I think it's far less about when you talk about these contract extensions,
10:13or at least it should be if you do it the right way.
10:15It should be far less about your resume and what you've done
10:20and more so about what your resume is and what that says about what you're going to do.
10:26It's much more of a projection than it is awarding a guy for having a really good first three seasons
10:32in the NFL.
10:32Because you can acknowledge that, right?
10:33According to C.J. Stroud's resume, there's nothing to argue with.
10:37Three straight seasons in the playoffs, has won a playoff game in every season,
10:41was the offensive rookie of the year, was a pro bowler his first year,
10:44a top six or seven or maybe eight MVP finisher his first year.
10:48Like there are things on the resume, if I just hand it to you on paper,
10:52where you look at it and say, well, yes, let's stamp this and give him the contract extension.
10:56But it isn't just about that.
10:58It is, hey, what I've seen, especially as of late,
11:02how do I project that over the course of three, four, five, six years,
11:07however long the deal is going to be, and do I think that's worth X amount of dollars?
11:11It's the reason why baseball contracts are so bad.
11:15Because they'll reward a guy for being whatever kind of player he's been for the last three or four years,
11:20not necessarily projecting what he's going to be over the course of 10, 12 years,
11:25however long the deal is.
11:26Because that's what you're trying to do in a deal like this.
11:29Project, is this guy going to be worth $70 million a year two years from now,
11:34next year, two years from now, three years from now?
11:36And that isn't necessarily told to you just based off of him being the rookie of the year three years
11:42ago.
11:43Right?
11:43You got to use a little bit more nuance than that.
11:45And that's why I think it's kind of at a stalemate.
11:48Because you get where both sides will be coming from.
11:50Exactly.
11:51Hey, I've done this.
11:52I deserve that.
11:53Oh, I get it, but you haven't been as good since the first year.
11:57And even the first year, we were grading on the curve because it was your first year.
12:01If we put that up against any other great quarterback, we might shrug our shoulders at it.
12:06That's the reality of it.
12:07So I think some people are missing the conversation or what the negotiation actually is.
12:13It's not an argument over how good has he been over three years.
12:16It's been solid.
12:17It's been really good.
12:18And if you just go based off of that, he does deserve a contract.
12:21But how do you project that over the life of a contract that's three, four years into the future?
12:26It's a good question.
12:28And it's a more difficult question to answer.
12:30If you think you can answer that question, 713-572-4610.
12:33That's how you call in.
12:34That's how you text in.
12:35We might have to have me at some point during the show do reparations for a cleanup.
12:40I'll meet.
12:41No, bro.
12:41That was hilarious.
12:42That will live on in infamy.
12:43I'm going to try to do it right now.
12:45So you know what I thought happened?
12:46I thought that that scene with Wesley Snipes pointing the gun, I thought that was Omar Epps in The Juice
12:52right before Tupac throws himself off the window in that movie.
12:55I don't know why I thought it was that.
12:57And I was thinking to myself, it's that movie.
12:59I did not know it was a New Jack City meme, that one.
13:01Yeah.
13:02I did not know it was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that
13:02one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New
13:02Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that
13:02one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New
13:02Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that
13:02one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New
13:02Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that
13:02one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New
13:02Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that
13:02one was a New Jack City meme, that one was a New Jack City meme, that one