Considering what CJ Stroud has been doing, I’m interested in seeing how teams handle drafting a QB high from here on out. Over the last 20 years or so, I think we’ve seen less and less patience when it comes to rookie QBs. There used to be a time where a guy could get drafted and would essentially be a clipboard holder his first 2-3 years if the guy ahead of him was producing at at least a Cincy Andy Dalton level. We’ve seen a lot more get thrown out to the fire early and they get a lot less leeway now than they did when I first started watching football 20 something years ago.
Still tho, a lot of fans still like to justify why their teams young QB is underperforming and usually point to factors that are out of their control (roster, coaching staff, front office, lack of experience)
And this guy CJ Stroud comes into the league with a franchise in perhaps its darkest days with a rookie head coach to boot, no notable weapons at the start of the season and he’s got them in the playoff hunt and hasn’t only been playing well for a rookie but he has been one of the best performing QBs in the league this season.
I’m already seeing a lot of rumblings on social media in regards to other young QBs that have yet to play like CJ has and some guys that had supporters before this season have lost a lot of them. It’s just hard to keep justifying poor play with external excuses when this guy isn’t in an ideal situation at all and making it happen.
It is silly to think an anomaly should drastically change the idea that it takes more than a season to see what you have at qb. Stroud is in an incredibly rare group of rookie qbs who did well out of the gate. Any gm thinking that should be the standard, probably shouldn't be a gm.
It is also a misconception that the Texans were some dark pit of despair that Stroud walked into. Absolutely nothing suggested Stroud was going into a horrible situation if you actually followed the Texans and not the media.
Stroud was going into a team with some question marks that had been improving. Our line had been playing better heading into this season, we made smart moves on offense and defense, and we clearly tried to make an environment comfortable for a rookie qb. We didn't just draft a qb and pretend we had all the tools, we actively attempted to make a home for him.
People have short memories of how the NFL works. Your goat of today becomes the has-been of tomorrow rather quickly. Hell, Stroud could never come close to living up to this season and in two years, Levis and Young could be the next Manning-Brady, because it does take more than a season for a rookie qb.
I think a ton of potentially good qbs are never given the chance to grow due to the teams that draft them. Between switching OCs or HCs every year, teams not getting rookies help, and general dysfunction, there's no real chance for some rookies to be able to grow. They are thrown into the fire while management keeps pouring gasoline on the flames.
Their preseason over/under was 5.5 wins. I think everyone knows CJ isn’t the only improvement this team made but there was nothing before the season to suggest that they would be as good as they are now. That’s not all on CJ, but he’s getting the spotlight because he’s the QB and this really is a question of what perception will GMs take in the future after this season.
Also the line about people that probably shouldn’t be GMs. I can name you current GMs that absolutely should not be GMs lol. This idea that GMs wouldn’t be susceptible to seeing this and trying to replicate it is crazy. The thing most these GMs do best is chase trends. It’s not crazy to think this doesn’t influence their decision making to some degree at all.