set the stage here to set it up. He's the only quarterback
and the only quarterback in Tier 1. So to Chris Simms,
there is a clear. Yeah, a number one, quarterback in this
draft class.
Yeah. And that quarterback is CJ, Stroud, Ohio, State, CJ,
Stroud is beyond blown away. From what I've seen, the see,
I knew it was good
blown away when I turn on the film, you start to dive into it
blown away to where
the film to me and everything I've seen. And
I go,
this is as close to Joe Burrows. I've seen coming out
in the draft here.
I mean, when you just talk about great decision making
right quickness, I mean that was Joe burrow. Boom, read
the coverage. Boom, ball goes here. Oh hey. Oh first guys not open,
boom. As I'm looking to the second guy, I'm getting ready
to throw and it comes out
and Bam. It's flawless. I throw the ball
and then when you talk about hitting the bullseye on
a consistent basis, CJ Stroud's ability to make high level.
Rose
and just drop the ball and receivers Pockets hidden in there.
Hit them in the chest, wherever
it's off the charts good.
It's off the charts good
and then you talk about his size and his ability to play in
the pocket. And of course, you know, I put a little more
emphasis on that to, you know. Yeah, he's a pure pocket
passing quarterback, he is.
But that's not to say he can't move and be mobile to. You saw
the Georgia game, and there's more movement than he's given
credit for even throughout the year. Now, his movement night,
not
As be sexy and turn the corner and run for a 50 yard run down
the sideline. But oh my gosh, does he have so many good plays
Ahmad? And to me this is life in the NFL of,
you know, hey, you know, step, drop him back.
Okay, I'm about to take a hitch. Gonna throw the Deep
out. Route to the right side. Oh wait. Somebody's in my face.
I got a sidestep them. But hey wait that out. Route was coming
open. Let me give it a look to see if I still got it. So it's
still there. Zoom throws it in there strike. Oh it's not
there.
Okay, let me go to number two, right?
Its aggressive decision making would along with seeing
the field and very few dicey decisions. I mean, Ahmad when
you really break them down,
his incompletions are off the charts good.
His incompletions are like, well, that was a strike.
I mean, he just, he tried to fit into a tight window or he did
fit into the tight window and the guy dropped it because it
was so tight. He was like, couldn't see because there was
hands and everything in there.
So that's where you talk about decision, making
top-notch, Ouch,
right? You talk about the ability to
make, Power game-changing type throws
top-notch
and then go on to accuracy.
But the short game all that, it's all off the charts. But
what's really off the charts? For me and then just separates
them as the amount of 15 to 30 yard throws that are on
the money that change field position of the game. On
a consistent basis
is amazing. And like I said, I don't jobber.
I was the only guy I can remember where I just can't
keep going. Whoa, now the strike. Whoa, another strike
while another good decision strike well, another good
decision strike. And then again I think the movement
you saw the potential. I think it's they're totally
he can and he can work on that and we saw he made progress in
a month off between Michigan and that Georgia game to where
I think there's untapped potential to wear, this guy's
only going
like in a developing upward
trajectory right now. So I want to get into that too because
there are people that That have CJ, Stroud, two or maybe even
three. That do say they can see like if he's that guy, that we
saw at the Georgia game. Yeah. Then it's a whole new ballgame.
Then he probably is the number one guy. But the fact was, was,
it was really only one game
that he showed some of those traits. Surely accuracy. Not
they able to, you know, be the jobber oppression guy break
down a defense, but the play making the ability to
improvise maybe is that the only time that you really saw
that too. I think that's being overhyped that point a little
bit. You know. That was certainly the big stage Just
the Georgia defense and nobody does that to Georgia. What are
you doing? How is he doing
this, right? Yeah. So
but you know go back and watch the Penn State game. I mean, he
avoids traffic and trouble a lot to make big throws
even in the Michigan game,
you know, there's enough there you go through the games. You
can see plenty of much
like,
moments of the ability to move. He throws the ball. Great on
the run, right? And then the other Thing he's great at to is
like, oh there's pressure,
you know, he doesn't need a lot of space to throw the ball. He
can lean on his back leg with somebody bearing down you know
coming up right into his face. Right. He can lean on his back
foot and just throw a ball 20-yard. Curl route boom! On
the money right? Kind of fade away.
Oh there's a shallow cross
but I got a fade away because I'm getting pressure boom
throws it on the money. Right? So yeah I see
that was his greatest game of movement and maybe his greatest
game of running. That's the biggest He turned up field and
ran because more times than not. He's a let me avoid
the guy
so I can set up and throw a laser down the football field.
Yeah. And just to remind everybody, those are the guys
who are the top guys in football right now.
You know, that's that's remote homes and burrow and Alan,
you know, Aaron Rodgers five years ago.
That's that guy. Five years ago. Well, three years ago.
Sorry, you're right. But you know what I meant to say. You
know what I meant that mean by that
and that's where he is, super super impressed. So he knows
the knee. Whatever was out there that they wanted to see
more from that Georgia game. But you said there was some
instances of that. But even he wanted a few more, he did talk
during the NFL scouting combine. I thought this
quote was instructive because I'll be honest, I told the NFL
coaches. Like I'll tell you all, I didn't do it a lot in
college and I feel I should have. It's something I do
regret. I feel like I could have done a lot more, but
I think that when you turn on the film and you really watch what
I do
and you really look at the film Game to game, I have used my
athleticism, not only just in the Georgia game where I did it
a lot. I've done it in every other game. I've had tough
Third down runs. I've had tough fourth-down runs but there are
times, I didn't run the ball when maybe I should have. So,
basically,
your point there. It's like maybe he didn't do it as much
as he could have. It's there, but it's there is that it's on
the tape, it is there. And then I think where he's probably
talking about is like, yeah, is, there's,
he's probably looking to go. Yeah, there's there's times where
I could have been me press the line of scrimmage more, right?
And like, really threaten the ability to run or
stop, you know, hey, wait, nobody's open, but now, let me
like kind of slow down and look for people. People to throw to
still when you're like no no just take off and run right?
You know. Sure. Yeah. There's some instances where you'd like
to see that but that's totally coachable and easy to learn. So
that's like
if that's the problem then. So what?
That's like if you gave me all the problems to list in
the world that were a problem, I'd go that be the one I want.
Right there, the guy who can run who doesn't look to run
because he's looking to beat you with his arm and his mind,
and make
the great decision and throw every time.
So that's where I like it. And yes,
there. More backyard football in there than people are giving
it credit for, like I said, you know, but it's the machine that
I'm wowed by the machine of great decision after great
decision,
great throw after great throw almond.
I mean it's throwing go routes in the guys covered, but he
throws it out there in a spot where
now the receiver can put his head down and
you know, he can go play the ball in the air to wear. It
just Falls right in his hands. It's it's all for verticals and
a guy running down the seam and
Buddy carrying him and like there's nowhere to throw
the ball and he just fits it in there. Yeah, it's just, it's
one good one after another let alone he is unfazed by pressure
around him. All right. Let's and you know, I'm big into
that, let's get
into that because there may be some conflicting numbers out
there. You don't always agree with the numbers yet times
their context-driven. Yeah, they could more contracts
but PFF tracks, all that stuff with a clean pocket and then
versus pressure. And so this is last season. If you're watching
on YouTube or on peacock, right now last season is they
reported he had a clean
Pocket about 75% of the time, his completion percentage then
was 71 percent
and he had 35 touchdowns and four interceptions. When he was
pressured, they say, 23% of the time. He only had a completion
percentage of 41 percent, only through about five yards per
attempt, which was half what he did with a
clean pocket and is touchdowns / interception where 622,
so they saw a bit of a concern when there is pressure around
CJ, you did not see the, I don't see that, you know? And
again I'm the numbers. I'm not going to dispute them. I think,
what's this?
Dispute is the context of the numbers at times
like
okay, yet, maybe the team fools the offense, they get a free
guy Blitzen. He got nowhere to hot, to throw it or whatever,
they throw at him, and he's Gotta Throw It Away, or get it
out. And there's nowhere to go with the football.
Mr. Some of that sure,
but what I look at this pressure
with people bearing down on in the pocket and all of that,
you know, I don't know. I never saw. I've never saw him blink.
And as some of those two, yeah, maybe the completion percentage
wasn't good or tie. Window throws or whatever else, but
I want to go man. Every time I saw him under pressure
like the traditional way
of like, okay wait, he's standing there
and people are bearing down. The pocket is collapsing.
Oh, maybe he sees a free guy coming.
I mean, he's unaffected by the ball goes exactly where it's
supposed to go. Right now are there are some times where I'm
sure he was maybe fooled or the offense was fooled or, you
know, the Michigan game is a bootleg and he comes out and
then somebody puts his off the edge
and he's either gonna get sacked or
Kind of has to throw at the feet of somebody,
okay. Yeah there's some of that, all right but there's
an that and everybody's game so you know again I didn't look at
it to be
any issue and that department at all, you know, and then
the other thing too is like,
you know,
more times than not it's rare. When the guy has this kind of
arm where there is anticipation, he can just flick
it and just like, oh wait, I got to shorten up my stride
with my motion and just it almost looks like he's just
barely
using his arm. Can just flick it, throw it up and down, drop
it right in the bucket, whatever. They're, you know,
that's where he's really good. Doesn't need to step in throws
and understands how to
kind of torque his upper body
and make throws that way. So
yeah, I was blown away by the guy, we saw there. I really was
he really is he he's been the real deal for a while. Now he
was a five-star recruit at a California Heisman finalist
each of the last two years and, you know, he's playing around
studs at Ohio State. He's 63,
he's 214 pounds. Turns 22 in October. So it's Still very young
and he was very accurate. The numbers show that.
But here I'm gonna throw this. Ya gotta throw it out. He's
playing at Ohio State. Yeah, clearly the best team in
the Big Ten. Yeah. Justin Fields had
accuracy numbers that were pretty good. Sure at Ohio. Sure
this is different.
This is different than that.
It's a different style of play. They played
they played a style of football course where you didn't have to
worry. They weren't worried about Justin Fields, type
quarterback of design runs with Stroud, right? It was more,
truly a drop back pass offense.
And they were going to win the game through his right arm.
So yeah. Hey listen, they're they're plays. Our people are
wide open. Sure. Yeah. But there's a million plays of,
you know, I get to see c.j. Stroud, go through the field
and make unbelievably quick decisions and diagnose
the defense and bam.
We're just some Fields, might have been a little bit more of
like, hey, play action. We just ran you the play before. And
now we're just going to have two people go out in a route,
right? And you're going to read the short post of the deep post
and that's it, right?
Right, right? This is more of a,
you know, a
traditional drop-back passing offense, right? And that sense
where yeah, more of the again, the the
borough, Patrick Mahomes Tom, Brady type of thing. So yeah,
I mean you see some plays wide open but man,
the thing that I just was blown away with more than anything
is the amount of on the money throws, the people that were
covered where I go, holy s***.
I mean he's covered
and he just slams it in there. Perfectly
with all different types of varieties of throws. And
I think that's just really what for me between that the size,
I think some untapped potential,
the decision-making,
all of that, for me, he was
slam dunk number one.
And, you know, even when I got done,
like I started, I watch Bryce young number one.
I went to see Jay Stroud. Number two, when I started,
and even in my first initial notes, I
I got done and I wrote, I have a hard time thinking anybody's
gonna beat this guy because I was blown away. And then
the more I watched because I kept going, well, let me find
a game, that's not good. Let me watch that Michigan game.
I think the Michigan game, is the fourth Game, and Watch,
I came away from the Michigan game going. Holy s***, they
should have won by 20. They failed him.
They dropped passes. They drop touchdown passes. They dropped
a fourth and two, you know, he played actually really good.
Could he have run and maybe taken over in a few other
spots? All K maybe to a degree?
He's a young kids.
Learn how to play the game.
I see everything, man.
I see big time player.
So how does he compare? Maybe
yeah. There's some of your recent number ones or recent
guys, you've been high. All right. Zach Wilson's. The
Trevor Lawrence, the Cuyler Murray's, you know, different
quarterbacks but that potential to be a superstar in
the league.
I think like
why I use burrow is because of the decision making in
the pinpoint throwing.
We're
okay. Burrows decision-making was like the greatest I've ever
seen to the point where you always went like How did he
even see that? It doesn't even look like he looked at it yet
and he's still in the position like in
the act of throwing right?
CJ Stroud, maybe not that quick
but not far behind but where he's better than burrow is his
arm is better than Burrows was coming out. I mean, we've
talked about this Borough admitted me last summer. Yeah,
he made adjustments to his throwing
mechanics because he realized he need to throw with more
power and throws of the wind. So this guy, you know,
maybe a hair less decision maker and decipher but still off
The charts, good from what I've seen since I've been on this
side of the business, and then
his throwing, especially yet with ability to power throw and
put the ball in the Tight Windows just Time. After Time,
After Time,
I'd actually give them the advantage over drove Borough in
that department. So, you think it's a slam dunk Carolina takes
him number. I would be shocked. I mean, the reports out there
that now they're looking at three, maybe they evaluate to,
well, they're closed. The great
thing about them trading up. The number one is they just get
to evaluate this the way they One that's that's the premium.
They paid to get the number one. Now we can take our time
and pick the guy we want and I'm sure they,
you know, they might have a lien right now is to where they
think this might go, but they're in the early process
here but I'm just going to say this
between
Frank Reich who he is, and who he was, as a quarterback
playing under Jim Kelly, right? From everything, we've seen
from him as
a head coach. He likes bigger, pocket passing type quarterbacks
To me and again I don't think I'm
I'm not this is to me not like a controversial one.
I feel I'm I'm more on that.
This is more of a like I knew my Zack Wilson was going to be
controversial and I was in the minority, right? This is more
of one where I go.
The more people watching the NFL, the more they're going to
go. Oh my gosh. Why see exactly what Chris saw, right? This is
not one where I'm going out on a limb
and it's splitting hairs.
I like definite
for Chris Simms. Definite number one pick
and yeah, I guess I'm saying I'd be shocked if they didn't
do it. So I think you're right. I think
I think as more people watch the combine evaluated against
EJ, Stroud has moved up and I think a lot of places you see
him as the number one pick right now.
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