QB C.J. Stroud, The Ohio State University
Look, I am going to do a little bit of a follow-up on a player. One of the first that I ever evaluated. He was my QB1 of the 2023 NFL Draft. He will also be the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. QB C.J. Stroud, The Ohio State University.
I really do not see a point in not looking back on some of the prospects that I have graded. Cleaning up my mistakes from the past is something that I have always revered. I will learn as much from them as I do the ones that I got right. As for those, I am hanging at around 82% which are correct.
Stroud is one of them. He is putting a bad Houston Texans team on his shoulders and running with it. That is what franchise QBs do.
Stroud possesses every single physical trait that you look for in a QB. He is 6’3”, 218 pounds. His accuracy and deep ball are automatically some of the best in the NFL. All of that is a given. Some say that this is not rocket science. They are right, psychology is much, much more complex.
That is the difference between drafting a playmaker or drafting a bust. General managers get some things completely wrong just by window shopping. If that were me, I would take a few of these prospects and really get to know them before sending in that draft card.
There are three things that I look for in a QB. My BIG Three.
- Leadership – Are they able to grab their team by the horns and get their teammates to follow them through the trenches and to the ultimate in glory?
- Tight Ends – Do they know how to exploit matchups and can they lean on someone as a safety valve when the play completely breaks down around them?
- Heart – Can they rally their troops and get that one extra yard when it really matters?
With Stroud, it was obvious. Between running back TreVeyon Henderson, wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and tight end Cade Stover, Stroud had all of that covered at Ohio State. Now he is turning WR Nico Collins into a star. He has also yet to throw an interception in his NFL career.
Everyone has that one kryptonite and for Ohio State, it is always Michigan. To watch him respond to that, I will not lie, I had my doubts. I did for the entire 2023 QB class. Between the way they call plays by relaying it from the sidelines into each different player’s helmet is a bit different.
Those are the things that need to be pulled from the depths of their psyche. I already have a Psychology degree. However, one half of psychology is BS and the other half lies. It is that simple. So I keep asking myself about my doubts. Why were they there in the first place? That is just as simple. I did not know the answer to them. When the unknown becomes known, you have something.
Just like USC QB Caleb Williams. I have never had an issue with his physical abilities. It has always been what is going on in his mind that has me baffled.
These two players could not be further apart. Stroud is static; he is constant. Williams, on the other hand, is trying to put on a show. Like he has something to prove. One is a franchise QB, the other is not. Care to take a guess which one is which?
These are things that can haunt me, as social media has a long memory. However, I could learn and adjust my grades accordingly, or I could just stay set in my ways. I prefer the former.
William Yanish III is a lifelong football fan. He’s from the little town of Crawford, Colorado. Along the way, he’s lived in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and Brookings, Oregon. Quarterback Joe Montana was his idol growing up. A little bit of CTE from life’s adventures killed his dreams as a football player. Now, he is an aspiring writer and Draft Analyst at FirstRoundMock.com. He is also on thehellgoingon.blog. He’s a fanatic with a dream and it is coming true.
