Stroud must prove he deserves a big-time contract
Mike Florio and Chris Simms examine the contract situation for C.J. Stroud, who could play it safe and negotiate a new contract before the season or "bet on himself" and prove he deserves more money after 2026.
Video Transcript
Pft Live, Wednesday edition, September 2.
One week away from the start of the regular season, when we will see Sam Darnold and the Seahawks take on Drake May and the New England Patriots.
Drake May, a guy from the class of 2024, who is destined to unlock a massive new contract after this season.
There are three quarterbacks taken in the top five of the 2023 draft.
Actually, the top four.
Three out of four picks were quarterbacks that year.
One, Anthony Richardson, has been benched.
Another was benched, Bryce Young, the first overall pick.
He was benched, and then he was unbenched, and now he's the starter of a playoff team from last year, even though they weren't .500.
And C.J.
Stroud has been the best of all of them from a team standpoint, but there are real questions about what his ceiling is, and that has delayed- Yeah the, the number.
The Texans wanna keep him, but when you have a $45 million range now among veteran quarterback APY, where does he land?
Well, right now, a hell of a lot lower than he'd like to, so he's gotta play well this year to try to push himself higher on that scale.
And that's the reality for C.J.
Stroud.
And Bryce Young's kind of in that same spot.
They seem like they wanna keep him, but where does he fit?
And where they'd put him now, well, after this year, maybe he earns a higher spot.
Yeah.
So I see the connection between the two of them.
With Richardson, it's just finish this year in Indianapolis and go somewhere else.
Yeah, that, that's right.
But yeah, it, it's odd in that you don't often talk about a guy who's going into year four and go, "Hey, the, his rookie year was actually the best year of his career."
And that's odd, and that's kind of where you are with C.J.
Stroud.
You know, I, I look at C.J.
Stroud and, and this situation here with Houston and extension and all that, and I wanna go, "Why?
Why even want it right now?
Go out and prove yourself."
I mean, you go out and prove yourself and play good this year, and you guys get deep into the playoffs, that you have that kind of a quality of team there in Houston, you're, you're gonna be paid closer to the top of the market.
And I think if you take something right now, I don't know.
Unless Houston, you know, just wants to save face and make it look like, "Oh yeah, we made the right pick and he's the franchise," you know, I wouldn't think he's gonna be anywhere to near the top of the market.
There, there's just too many questions.
So that's where it's different.
You know, Bryce Young's situation's, yeah, interesting in itself.
I know, listen, people down there before the year started last year, they were convinced he was not the guy.
"I don't think we got the guy," that's what they said.
Then they go to the playoffs.
Now they gotta put their, the old toothpaste back in the toothpaste holder, as that, that Aggie said.
Only an Aggie could say something like that.
And, and, and yeah, I mean, only.
I mean, a Longhorn is just too smart.
We would never say that, but an Aggie would.
But yeah, so now they're in a little predicament.
But, but either way, with this Houston situation, you know, I, I, I guess there's a part of me that's a little surprised that we're even here in this conversation.
If I'm Houston, I do wanna see him more.
I like him a lot.
He's got all the potential and the things we like to be the future of the franchise.
And if I'm C.J.
Stroud, I wanna go out there and play good so I'm, I'm making north of 50 million a year, like the other good quarterbacks in football.
And that to me is, you know, a little bit of the predicament they're both in right now.
Let's hear a little bit from Nick Caserio, GM of the Houston Texans, on where the contract negotiations currently stand with quarterback C.J.
Stroud.
You know, we've had productive discussions, I would say.
And the reality is we'll either get it figured out before the season starts, and if we don't get it figured out before the season starts, then it's something we address in the off-season.
So, you know, whenever it happens, it happens.
Yeah, every situation's gonna be different.
So, you know, we've done some deals during the season.
I would say, look, once players get into the season, sometimes they wanna focus on football and don't wanna worry about dealing with the contract.
And, you know, maybe it's not as clean as some others.
So again, we've done it both ways.
We've done deals before training camp.
We've done deals during training camp.
We've done deals during the season.
So, you know, we'll see how this goes.
I mean, it's just my sense.
I mean, I could be wrong.
I mean, I'm, I'm wrong a lot, so kind of see how it goes.
Kind of keep working, keep working through it.
I think the most telling part of what he said is, "If we don't get it done before the season, we won't do it until after the season."
That frames this exactly the way that I think you and I believe it will be framed.
"Hey, you wanna take what we'd be willing to give you right now, we're happy to give it to you.
But you probably don't wanna take it, right?
We're happy to give it to you, but it's, it's a number that reflects where you are right now.
You wanna take this season and you wanna try to push it higher, go for it."
Yeah.
Right.
Good problem to have.
Yeah.
If you play so well that we take whatever number And I'm not even gonna put a number out there, 'cause somebody's gonna think that I'm suggesting that's the number.
Whatever the number is right now that surely isn't enough for C.J.
Stroud to say yes, or he'd already have a deal, whatever the number is now, you can move it higher.
And I saw that someone, and this is one of the realities of social media, and it can be someone who doesn't know Jack diddly squat, who throws a number out there.
And this is why I'm being careful because number one, I don't know Jack diddly squat, and number two, I don't wanna throw a number out there.
But I did see that somehow this idea got traction that he wants 70 million a year.
And my first reaction was, "No, he doesn't."
There's no way that anyone with any ounce of sanity or intelligence would assess C.J.
Stroud as a guy worthy of 70 million a year.
Now, the goal may be to play so well this year that 70 is the logical extension because you would take the current market high of 64 and push it up by, you know, 10%, less than 10% actually to get to 70.
But you have to win the Super Bowl.
You'd have to have a phenomenal year, and maybe he can do it.
I don't know.
Maybe it is the offensive line stinks, and maybe the offensive line is better, and now all of a sudden C.J.
Stroud is gonna go out there and play like vintage Deshaun Watson.
I don't know.
But there's no way he would demand 70 now.
It could be an aspiration, but it's not a reality.
No, it's not.
The reality is the Texans have him at some number far below what he's willing to take in exchange for rolling the dice on this season and trying to make it much higher.
Yeah, that, that, that's exactly right.
And you know, what you said there, you're, you're not wrong.
I mean, they haven't had the greatest support system around him.
I mean, that's been an issue.
Yeah, the offensive line's been a big issue.
It, it, it's year four.
He's had two offensive coordinators.
We know that.
The Tank Dell injury really hurt them to where it just made, like, oh, Nico Collins is it, and that's it.
Who else is gonna help out?
So some of those things, yes, have not been conducive for anybody to be real successful.
And then he had the bad concussion last year, and I think a lot of people, us included, don't think he was really ever the same for the rest of the year after that.
So he's got a little bit of the benefit of the doubt here, but it's the age-old question.
It's the age-old question of do you want security and sign something now, or do you wanna b- back the Brinks truck up and try to cash in big time?
What are you gonna do?
Do you wanna bet on yourself that way?
And that's the big thing because yeah, right now, listen, like, if he's sitting there right now, his contract to me would be somewhere in between Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold-ville is that.
Right?
I mean, he hasn't played as good as Sam Darnold the last few years.
That's, that's not even questionable.
And Sam Darnold's making $33 million a year.
The next guy up above that is Daniel Jones at 44 million a year.
And he certainly didn't play as good as Daniel Jones did last year before he got hurt and all that.
So that's where I would think he'd be kind of in that, that spot there somewhere.
And does he really want that?
I doubt that.
I bet, I think he wants to be up there.
So we'll see where that goes, but, yeah, I, I, you know, we had this conversation yesterday.
We kind of got on the Steelers, right, about the not doing the contract negotiations during the season.
I had somebody reach out to me to kind of go, you know, "Hey, it is a thing," right?
It is a thing a little bit because it, when you get into it, and they said, especially with a quarterback, okay?
It can maybe be different with different positions, but especially with a quarterback because the quarterback more times than not has so many relationships within the organization that the rest of the team doesn't have.
The, the quarterback gets to hang out with the GM, like, a- and maybe a few of the star players, and gets to be around the head coach and, in some important meetings when he's really saying things that he's not gonna tell the rest of the team, but he tells the quarterback, and there's all of that.
And I think the, the thing that the thought there that, you know, I was being corrected with a little bit is that, yeah, negotiations during the season with a quarterback, you make a low offer or do something like that, and it can get personal.
And it can get a little contentious all the sudden in week five of the NFL season, and teams just don't believe that's great for the, the health of the football team.
And I can understand that, and that's where this one's a little dicey here.
Listen.
Yeah.
Don't let yourself be- Suaded?
Be weakened in your- Yeah, b- you were swindled by someone from the Steelers- who called you up and said, "Hey, don't go so hard on us."
It is objectively insane- Yeah to have a rule that we will never, never, ever, ever, ever- I agree with that do a new deal.
And it was nobody from the Steelers.
Right?
I promise you that.
It was not from the Steelers.
I- But they did see that conversation we had yesterday- Yeah about that.
You're funny.
Well, well, we weren't talking about a quarterback though.
We were talking about a quarterback.
You're talking about a coordinator.
That's different.
So I can understand it- Yeah with a quarterback.
I can understand it with a quarterback.
Yes.
Yes.
Because you're right, especially a self-represented quarterback like Lamar Jackson, people were surprised when he's trying to get a new deal and all of a sudden we're into football season and he's not gonna negotiate.
Well, yeah, he's focused on football.
Right.
He's foc- he doesn't If he has any free time from his regular job, the last thing he wants to do is sit there and haggle over a contract.
There's nothing unusual about that.
My life is very different during football season than when it's not football season.
So when it's not football season, that's when I take care of all the other shit- Yeah that I don't have time for between September and early February.
So I get that, but these guys have agents, and sometimes you've got it framed down to just a little difference, and we just need to talk a little bit more.
And then nope, it's week one, the store's closed.
Go home.
That's what we were talking about yesterday, this idea that once you kick off week one, we're never gonna, we're Nah, that's asinine.
For a team, that, that's, that's Browns behavior.
"Hey, Steelers, you wanna act like the Browns?
Go ahead and act like the Browns."
That's something the Browns would do.
"Sorry, time's run out."
Well, what do you mean, "time's run out"?
"Time's o- season's started.
We're not gonna finish a deal.
No more contracts once the season starts."
It's just asinine.
I understand what whoever called you yesterday, whatever Rooney called you yesterday- Art Rooney.
And talking.
I understand that.
We both said the same thing.
I understand that.
But the rest of it, the rest of it I say is ca-ca.
All right.
I was gonna say something else too, and, I, I had it, beh Oh, Will Anderson.
Yeah.
Will Anderson.
Yeah.
When a guy plays well, and, and you know what?
Yesterday when we were talking about this idea that And we were musing about the possibility that Nick Bosa isn't practicing because he's trying to get a little, a little sweetener on his $34 million per year contract, I cited Micah Parsons as the top of the market.
How could I forget that Will Anderson pushed the bar all the way to 50?
So that's all the more reason.
And it's funny, all the, like, the 49ers beat writers who just prefer to have things handed to them by the team and not think critically and not look behind the curtain, they all get a little pissy- When we possibly stir the pot a little bit by saying, "Hey, maybe Bosa wants a little more money."
All the more reason.
If Will Anderson's at 50 and I'm at 34 and I got any amount of tightness, yeah, I'm gonna wait.
I'm Maybe they're gonna sweeten the pot a little bit for me before I go out there and risk another torn ACL.
But Will Anderson, back to the point at hand, is at 50, and they'll do it.
They'll pay you market value.
They did it with Derek Stingley Jr.
They did it with Will Anderson after three years.
Yeah.
That's the right way to do it, too.
Th- that's right.
That's the right way because the rookie wage scale holds down the financial reward.
After three years, responsible teams will go out there and take care of their guys, and the Texans are willing to do it.
The fact that they haven't done it with Stroud is conspicuous because it tells us they don't believe he's worthy of it.
Yeah.
So he's gotta go prove it this year.
That's right.
We gotta see it.
We gotta see it.
I mean, we heard, even in that wi- wild card game against the Steelers, I believe that was Monday Night Football, right?
I remember Troy Aikman even then, he talking about, you know, they gotta figure out what's going on with C.J.
Stroud.
Why has he regressed since his r- his fresh, rookie year?
And yeah, if I was Houston, I wouldn't wanna throw anything major out there right now.
I wouldn't.
I'd be scared.
I, in fact, I wouldn't wanna do anything.
I wouldn't.
I would wanna go, "I gotta see it this year.
We gotta see it.
You gotta be better.
You gotta handle your s- handle, handle yourself better."
And I think that's probably part of it, too.
You know, a little bit of the maturing of C.J.
Stroud.
I think he got a little, you know, chest out after that rookie year and, and whether it was, you know, going on the world tour with Bleacher Report and ranking, you know, quarterbacks in the NFL right now as he's playing, and of course, him, you know, talking to Caleb Williams acting like, you know, he was Tom Brady in year 17 and teaching him how to play football.
A- all that kind of flew back in his face, and it hasn't been real consistent quality football.
And so we'll see.
But if I'm Houston, yeah, I'd wanna wait, wait and buy more time here, too, to make sure what C.J.
Stroud we got in 2026.
That was a Monday night game in Pittsburgh.
It was, right.
Yeah, okay.
The Texans went in, and they won 30 to 6, and that makes people think, "Oh, well, C.J.
Stroud must have been good that night."
No, no, no, no.
He had three turnovers, and the score was 7 to 6 entering the fourth quarter, even though the Steelers offense was completely non-functional, in part because, as we found out not that long ago, Aaron Rodgers had the flu.
And they didn't tell anybody that he was sick.
So that was the night in Pittsburgh.
It wasn't because of C.J.
Stroud.
They won that game 30 to 6 in spite of- Totally C.J.
Stroud.
Totally.
And then the following weekend, that's when it all blew up.
The game against the Patriots was there for the taking.
Stroud wasn't able to take it.
No, e- exactly right.
Those were, those were two blunders of football games.
Disasters.
Could've been more turnovers in e- each of those games, too.
There were so many plays where balls hit guys in the chest, whatever else.
I mean, 20 for 47 in a playoff game.
And then, I mean, we had fumbles on top of it and other plays where you were like, "Man, does this, had this guy played football before?
He doesn't know where to throw the ball away when the pocket's collapsing."
So yeah, it was a bad, bad end of the year.
