C.J. Stroud Sticks Up for Bryce Young

Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud and Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young have known each other since their middle school days in California and have remained close friends ever since.

They were able to go through the draft process together and lean on one another throughout their first year in the league.

Despite Stroud having the more successful first year in the league, there's still a lot of reasons to be excited about Young's future. He now gets to work with a head coach who fully believes in him in Dave Canales, the same guy who got the best out of Russell Wilson and helped revitalize the careers of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield.

Like many around the league, Stroud recognized that Young didn't have much help around him in 2023, if any.

"In his shoes, I feel a lot of stuff didn't go his way that was out of his control," Stroud told The Pivot podcast. "You know, like, you can't make a play if someone didn't make a block. You can't make a play if someone (doesn't) catch the ball.

"When you watch the tape, Bryce did a lot of great things, you know what I'm saying? He's gonna be a great player, but it takes time. I came into a situation where we were struggling, I know, but we still had a lot of great pieces. Nick Caserio, our GM, brought in a lot of good vets. DeMeco (Ryans) was the perfect coach for our type of team."

"Everyone's path is different. Maybe I had a good rookie year, and Bryce is going to have a great second year. Hopefully, I'll do (that) too. But I told him, like, 'You the one, bro. You the one for a reason.' … And he's not going to, but (I told him), 'don't ever look at yourself different, bro.'"

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