STRENGTHS
CJ Stroud has the athletic talent and High Football IQ, to become a franchise quarterback for the team that selects him. He can make all the throws for the next level with excellent velocity to be effective in the red zone. CJ has excellent size and although he likes to play from the pocket he does an excellent job manipulating the pocket and resetting, to make the needed accurate throw that will move the chains. When he needs to leave the pocket, he can make the difficult throw, with accuracy also. When C.J. throws from the pocket, his ball reminds me a lot of how Joe Flaco throws, a strong arm, a smooth motion, and good velocity, but at the same time, an easy ball to catch. C. J. plays with good maturity, decision-making, and with excellent leadership skills.
CONCERNS
For me, there are no really big concerns, but the “experts” will start with trying to downgrade him because, he did not play in the SEC, or he comes from a program that has not been successfully producing quarterbacks lately. He plays with excellent talent around him and is not under adverse situations enough and he doesn’t bring his team from behind in the big games. When you hear this nitpicking by the “expert” media and so-called “inside” sources remember this…When you see the obvious…you draft the obvious and then, you coach the obvious. It is not smart to nit-pick yourself out of selecting the obvious.
BOTTOM LINE: 1.47
CJ has all of the athletic talent needed to play at a high level for the team that selects him. That doesn’t mean he is perfect and you can throw him on the field and he will not make mistakes or struggle to win games. It does mean he will have to be coached very much like Jalen Hurts needed to be coached when he came out. CJ is a better overall thrower than Jalen was coming out and unlike Jalen, C.J. prefers to work from the pocket. That means he will have to learn to go through his progressions quicker and make decisions quicker, like any pocket passer coming out. With the right coaching, C.J. will develop into a franchise quarterback, but others might think differently. We shall see.
