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CJ Stroud year 3
- Thread starter thunderkyss
- Start date
Hardcore Texan
Magnet Man
I saw that on social media today, I like the analysis, and expect good things this year
ATXtexanfan
Hall of Fame
No idea on CJ year 3. Too many unknowns. Trust the work is being put in
Hopefully CJ is the football savant he claims to be. Brady/Stafford certainly are football savants, so we know Caley's offense should work.
TexanBorn51
All Pro
CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans!!!
Lookin and soundin good!
Lookin and soundin good!
banned1976
sleeper mode
IMO, this is an important year for Stroud and the line. If the offensive line is as bad, if not worse, this year, there's a chance he starts going backwards. If he suffers another 50+ sacks this season, it could derail his entire career.
cland
Rookie
I think there are probably 2 versions of a 'bad oline': one where the talent is poor and one where the scheme is poor. In 2023, I think the talent was poor (due to injuries) and CJ still flourished behind it. In 2024, the scheme was bad and CJ struggled. It's one thing for an OLmen to not be able to hold up due to a lack of skill, but at least he's able to get himself in the way. In 2024, the line was letting free runners get into the backfield (stunts and games, and completely missing on the edge assignments) and there was simply nothing that CJ could do. (Not saying that CJ was perfect, I think he held the ball for too long and didn't get off of his deep-ball reads fast enough given the lack of protection.)
I think if the team can at least get back to the 2023 level, where the line at least had proper assignments, the 2025 offense will be better than 2024. Hopefully in 2026, Ersery and Fisher will have gotten the proper experience, and the team plugs another good player into the interior (via FA or the draft) the Texans can have an actual good/above average offensive line.
I dont know what happened last yr. The OL talent was mostly the same as it was in 2023 and so was the scheme.
cland
Rookie
I would argue that the line talent was "better" due to health, but Slowik installed his actual scheme in 2024, where as in 2023 we ran a more vanilla system that CJ was more comfortable with. And by "better" I mean from a preseason expectation rather than the actual talent/performance that was put on the field. Heck, if you rewind this board I don't think you'll find anyone that predicted that the line would be the disaster that it was in 2024.
I keep coming back to the fact that we relied on Strausser--who had never run a 'Shanahan zone scheme'--to install the ZBS offensive scheme.
IMO I think CJ may have gotten a bit to confident and went into last season thinking "I got this".believing his own press.
Of course, it wasn't all on CJ but it's possible that was his part in it.
Year one: Don't see how you could ask for anything more. Wasn't perfect, but about as perfect as you can realistically exoect from a rookie.
Year two: huge disappointment, but hopefully CJ learned a lot in it.
Year three: I'm hoping its year one CJ with year two of wisdom and growth added
I don't start to "judge" CJ til this season. You've seen the top and experienced a low... how do you respond now?
Now... we just need the season to start...
Of course, it wasn't all on CJ but it's possible that was his part in it.
Year one: Don't see how you could ask for anything more. Wasn't perfect, but about as perfect as you can realistically exoect from a rookie.
Year two: huge disappointment, but hopefully CJ learned a lot in it.
Year three: I'm hoping its year one CJ with year two of wisdom and growth added
I don't start to "judge" CJ til this season. You've seen the top and experienced a low... how do you respond now?
Now... we just need the season to start...
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
I'll wait and see on CJ, I'm not making any predictions about him. However, that fucked up line he'll be playing behind will be just as bad if not worse than last year. Which will undoubtably effect CJ's play.
Note on the offensive line: If it was poor coaching, hopefully that'll get fixed. If it was player talent, we're in worse shape than last year.
Note on the offensive line: If it was poor coaching, hopefully that'll get fixed. If it was player talent, we're in worse shape than last year.
TexanBorn51
All Pro
TexanBorn51
All Pro
Yea ikr also think CJ took it hard when his buddy WR friend was doing so good and then went horribly down with severe injuries. You could see it in his face when he was there next to him laying in the end zone. Game stopped stretchers came out a very solemn quiet moment in the stadium. It was almost like losing a loved one.
Tank Dell
Tank Dell
When did CJ claim that? Got a link?
When he was talking about his poor test score at the combine
Well, he's proved that test to be full of shiite, right?
Or he was an outlier.
Like I said we'll see if he's the football savant he claims to be, because he's going to be given the keys to the car.
One thing I think we can all agree on is next year is a big year for CJ.
TexanBorn51
All Pro
Allow me to add other than CJ (he gonna b okay) and yet be watchin all the OL players in front, WR to the sides, and RB behind him.
As hard as a franchise QB is to find 1 outlier is one too many. Maybe Stroud is the average & Brock Purdy is the outlier like Kurt Warner. Warner is one of only 4 QBs that have taken 2 different teams to the SB.
How did all these professionals that make their living evaluating talent miss Warner & let him go undrafted. Hell we all know Brady's story. Who knows how many Warners or Bradys are out there that never got their chance.
IMO there is not a test on earth that can find these guys. We live in a five star world where everybody (whether they are qualified or not) wants to rate everything. Somethings can't be quantified with some fancy test and I believe playing QB in the roughest sport on the planet is one of them.
How did all these professionals that make their living evaluating talent miss Warner & let him go undrafted. Hell we all know Brady's story. Who knows how many Warners or Bradys are out there that never got their chance.
IMO there is not a test on earth that can find these guys. We live in a five star world where everybody (whether they are qualified or not) wants to rate everything. Somethings can't be quantified with some fancy test and I believe playing QB in the roughest sport on the planet is one of them.
IF all he said was "I will get one" he did exactly as he said....... if he said he would get a good one, t currently looks like he lied, but we will see.Nick, you said you were going to get me an oline!
I think it was a case of Warner not giving up on himself and getting better. After Warner was signed as an UDFA by the Packers in 1994, he was among the last cuts after training camp. He spent the season as a graduate assistant coach for his alma mater, Northern Iowa. But, Warner still had the football itch and played 3 seasons of Arena football. After that, he signed with the Rams and was sent to Europe League. Continuing to play football for 4 years after college really honed Warner's game. He won the Rams 3rd string QB job in 1998, the backup QB in 1999. Warner started his first NFL game at age 28.
I don't think anyone "missed" on Warner. He just wasn't good enough coming out of a small college. But Warner never stopped believing in his dream, continued to improve, and his perseverance paid off as a HOF QB.
How bad is Scruggs? He & Green may be gym rats & practice superstars. But they weren't expecting them to be so bad on gameday. Probably thought they could "fix" the problem.
Warners's story should be a movie. He went undrafted back when their were 8 rounds (224 players). He was signed by the Packers who cut him before the season started. He then played in the Arena League for 4 years. He was signed by the Rams in 1998 as backup QB.
The next year he started & won the SB. He is the only QB in NFL history who won the SB in his first year as a starter. He is also the only player to be inducted into the NFL HOF & the Arena HOF (he probably does not brag about that too much though). He is also the only undrafted player to be named MVP of the SB.
There have been 4 QBs who have took 2 different teams to the SB.
Craig Morton - 1st Round
Tom Brady - 6th Round
Peyton Manning - 1st Round
Kurt Warner - undrafted
Some other successful undrafted players
Wes Welker
James Harrison
Antonio Gates
Tony Romo
The next year he started & won the SB. He is the only QB in NFL history who won the SB in his first year as a starter. He is also the only player to be inducted into the NFL HOF & the Arena HOF (he probably does not brag about that too much though). He is also the only undrafted player to be named MVP of the SB.
There have been 4 QBs who have took 2 different teams to the SB.
Craig Morton - 1st Round
Tom Brady - 6th Round
Peyton Manning - 1st Round
Kurt Warner - undrafted
Some other successful undrafted players
Wes Welker
James Harrison
Antonio Gates
Tony Romo
pokerfaceSATX
All in
Texansballer74
The Marine
That was the last time you heard about the crazy test right? So! That test was straight up crap.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Texansballer74
The Marine
Nor did they think Mason would be as bad as he was.
Thanks. I missed that one. I'll have to find it. It will give me something to do during the dead time before camp.
Mason wasn't that bad his first year here... the entire offense took a step back in 2024
I could see that in Kubiak's offense, but not many others
Walter Payton?
Yeah, the used the fact that CJ was an outlier to discredit tests that had been used for yrs and were generally pretty accurate. (Yes there were other outliers like Kelly/Marino.)
Foster reminded me of Sweetness quite a bit. Both were very fluid runners.
Porky
Hall of Fame
Im listening to this book called Doing the Impossible. Kurt’s story would fit perfectly as an example.
I like prime Foster a whole lot…but sweetness was better for longer. Id take a large handful of others ahead of Foster too. But nothing agaisnt Foster. He was a perfect fit in Gary’s offense and balled out for several years.
I like prime Foster a whole lot…but sweetness was better for longer. Id take a large handful of others ahead of Foster too. But nothing agaisnt Foster. He was a perfect fit in Gary’s offense and balled out for several years.
Agreed. But did they think the first bad game was a fluke? Surely his drop off showed in practice & I can't imagine them thinking they could "fix" his problems.
I don't know.
I watched it last night. I really enjoyed it. I'm sure there are a lot of stories like his in football. Not as dramatic as winning the SB but I expect many players have overcame a lot to make it in the NFL. That's why overall players wanting to be paid has never bothered me. I guess I would rather see the money go to players & coaches than billionaire owners who already have more money than they can spend.
I don't know mws, but I doubt he's a billionaire.
The McNair's think this way though.
Absolutely correct. They get sharks with freakin laser beams attached to their heads.
I loved Foster but besides Earl I guess my favorite running back was Barry Sanders
Barely a thousandaire.
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
At 23 CJ is one of the youngest QBs in the league. There are only two starting QBs at 22.
OptimisticTexan
2024 / Rebuilding Block 4 After Playoffs / Texans
I’m going to go out on an early and weak limb….by saying, CJ will have a very nice year three b/c somehow the OL will come together and produce while his complete slew of weapons will do their part in making defenses vulnerable.
I think he will have a better year just because he's going to have better receivers to throw too. If the ol is above avg then they will be contenders. Provided CJ also improves, which I think he will do because it appears that he put in the work this off-season.