At the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, C.J. Stroud made it clear what his strength was as a quarterback.
That strength is a big reason why he is the newest member of the Houston Texans.
In somewhat of a draft-night surprise, the Texans selected Stroud with the second-overall selection, after weeks of speculation regarding whether Houston would draft a defensive player, or even trade out of the No. 2 pick. Instead, Stroud joins the Texans, and will try to turn around their franchise.
Many will point to Stroud’s performance against Georgia in the College Football Playoff, when he flashed athleticism and play-making skills outside the pocket, as the main reason he came off the board when he did on Thursday night. After all, perhaps the biggest question mark on Stroud’s evaluation was his athleticism. Was he more of a throwback, the classic pocket passer from a bygone era? Or could he create outside the pocket more?
Stroud certainly answered that question with his performance against the Bulldogs in a losing effort.
But going back to that Friday morning in Indianapolis, when asked about his style of play, Stroud outlined his biggest strength in detail:
I tried to describe myself as free-flowing but still disciplined. Able to take the completion when it’s there, but at the same time making plays. I like to be just confident in myself. Another thing I like to do is extend plays and take the routine plays when they’re routine. I don’t try to press the envelope, and I think that’s very important being a quarterback sometimes. You want to let your teammates know that you’re not always trying to be Superman, but when you need to make that play and you can extend that play, you get a lot more respect from your teammates. So those are just things I like to do. I think I’m a playmaker. I think I’m very creative. And I think I’m smart when it comes to protections and things like that because I solve a lot of issues before they’re even there. That’s something pride myself on it. And one thing about me, I think I’m a ball-placement specialist. I like to be very accurate. I don’t want my receivers have to do really anything to catch the ball. And I think I’ve shown that time and time on film.
And Stroud certainly has shown that time and time again on film.
Take this throw, a vertical shot along the right sideline to Marvin Harrison Jr. against Maryland. A throw where Stroud puts the ball in the absolutely perfect spot to beat tight coverage — and a very talented cornerback in Deonte Banks — around 25 yards downfield:
Another example is this slot fade to Harrison against Indiana, with the wide receiver operating out of the left slot. At first blush, this might seem like an off-target throw, as Harrison has to make a tough adjustment to the ball, but when you see the leverage of both the underneath defender running with Harrison and the safety playing over the top, you can understand exactly why Stroud put this throw where he did:
Stroud’s ability to place throws, and to shape passes around defenders and their leverage stands out when studying him. A prime example of this concept comes on this crossing route against Penn State. Stroud has to fit this pass around a linebacker dropping from a presnap blitz alignment into underneath coverage.
Stroud layers this throw in perfectly:
Perhaps the best example of his accuracy — in combination with his ability to create — is this completion to Harrison early in this season’s game against Michigan. With the Buckeyes facing a 3rd and 1 early in the game, Stroud backpedals away from pressure and creates a back-shoulder completion to Harrison, putting the football in an absolutely perfect spot:
Throughout this draft process, it was easy to say things like “Stroud could not put some of his passes into a better spot if he walked downfield and simply handed them to the receiver.”
This is a prime example.
While putting this piece together I worked through the rest of Stroud’s remarks in Indianapolis, and something certainly stood out. The second question he was asked involved whether he met with the Texans, and if so how that meeting had gone.
Here was his response.
“Yes, sir. It went really well, I got to meet everybody in their front office and had a great conversation. They asked me some questions and I feel like I did really good in the interview process with them, and I’m looking forward to going deeper and deeper and building a relationship with them.”
Apparently, that meeting indeed went very well.
It certainly helps when you can make throws like these.
