Extend CJ Stroud or Wait for Loaded 2027 QB Class?

On the quarterback front.

So we have 2 in Kyler, and I want to kick that can down the road because you, you, you had this, made this great point on Bo Nix and the rising tide and the cost of an extension.

And we're sitting here after the Texans imploded in a playoff game against the Patriots where, again, not all these picks were his fault, but CJ Stroud threw a lot of interceptions and CJ Stroud had a bad sophomore season, uh, that necessitated a quarter coordinator change, right?

So, we have all this, there, there, there's this there, there, um, and Nick Casario said that discussion about trading CJ is moronic.

Um, which is, you know, whatever.

I've been talking about this since August, so, but I've been a moron for 38 years.

So he's, he's dead on about that, that he's not incorrect.

But if you're the Texans, You were 3-0 with Davis Mills.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Come back, please.

Sorry, housekeeping was knocking on the door.

Just start again.

I like, I was, I was waiting for an opening there, but no, it's fine.

Come back, please, or you can put, you can put that on, you can put that in the show.

This is just housekeeping trying to do their job, clean Albert's room, but they don't know we got a podcast going on here, um, but yes, so the Situation with CJ Stroud, as we outlined it, plus the fact that it's gonna be the standard now to pay these guys 60+ million dollars a year as a franchise quarterback, plus the fact that you're gonna have the Will Anderson deal, which is gonna be a market topping extension for Houston at the edge rusher position.

I mean, does he hit 50?

What's that?

Does he hit 50?

Probably gets close.

Right, I mean, like, if, so it's not moronic, right?

It's not moronic to think about it, right?

If you thought, I thought about this, this is weird, and maybe it's just me, but do you think the optic of the cap having a 3 in front of it might like embolden some agents to be like, well, you know, this is not the same environment anymore.

You know what I mean?

Like when you're asking, I mean, honestly, like I, I, I think for some agents, you'd look at it and you say, There's that the cap's over 300 million now, like, what are you talking about?

You can't afford it, like, you know what I mean?

Like, and you can do that, you can play the percentage game and everything else, but it's escalated so fast, you know, I, you were talking there and I almost thought about it too, like, where With the quarterbacks, I almost feel like it's becoming like the max, the max deals in the NBA, or at least the way they were, where, like the worst place an NBA team could be was to, was to sign the wrong guy to a max deal, right, right, because you couldn't get out of it, and it and it prevented you from going out and getting another like a1A player, you know what I mean?

Like, and so.

Like, that's somewhere where you have to be careful now.

And I think, you know, Tua and Kyler become the cautionary tales, but I think we could all see that coming too.

You know, when everyone's getting that same number, that number is massive, not everybody's gonna be right.

You know what I mean?

Like, not everybody is gonna feel great about that 2 or 3 years down the line.

And you do wonder how that's gonna affect, again, this offseason, Bryce Young, CJ Stroud are both, you know, both eligible for extensions.

My guess would be like the two of them both.

Get their 5th year options exercise and maybe go into this year the way Tua did, the way Tua went to year 4 and had to prove it again, um, you know , but I, I think these, the, the, the numbers have escalated to the point where it's like if you're not willing to work with a team, a team might wait a little bit longer to do a deal unless it's like, again, obvious where we might be with, with, with Caleb and, and, and Drake and, and, and Jaden next year.

And that's the thing, it's like, I, I just wonder how.

Moronic, it really is, when you look at how well that that team has been constructed, and how it has essentially survived.

Through CJ Stroud's struggles, right ?

I mean, and, and how it's thrived as he's getting comfortable.

And now listen.

All the tools are there.

That first year wasn't a fluke.

The kid's incredibly smart.

He's incredibly talented.

But, but I can't remember.

I, I don't know.

I mean, I guess some people wanna compare Jaden to, like, what's happened with CJ.

I don't think it's the same, like, Jaden's hurt, you know what I mean?

Like, that's, and if we're having an argument about whether or not Jaden makes it, I think that's more like injury related and based on his frame, like, can he take the pounding of playing the way that he plays, you know, is that gonna catch, is, is that already caught up with him, right?

Like with CJ I think that the questions are more about where the football is right now.

Yeah, that's what, I mean, that's what I Feel like, right?

I mean, it's, and it's just, I don't know.

This is such an interesting market because CJ Stroud, you could get.

Top price for him right now because there is nothing else on the market.

Like, look at the state of things.

Like, the Cardinals are like, do we have to keep Kyler Murray, you know, like the, the, the Pittsburgh Steelers are like, God, I hope 45 year old Aaron Rodgers comes back this year, you know, to play quarterback again, or else, what the, what the hell else are we gonna do?

Like, it's, it's bleak out there, man, you know, and if you were to just dangle him and just be like, all right, I mean , 2 1st round draft picks in like a a second or something like that.

And you hold the fort with Davis Mills this year, or Which it's at least interesting that they signed him to an extension in season, you know what I mean?

I know, I don't know, like, and I'm not saying, I'm, I'm not saying that Davis Mills is better than CJ Stroud.

CJ Stroud is more talented.

He's a better quarterback.

He's got, you know, like every one of the stars next to him that we're category, but that's all we're asking.

Yeah, it's like, do you love CJ Stroud enough to.

Walk down the aisle for 5 years at 60+ million dollars a year, and you can't get out of it for a while after watching the Cardinals struggle with this and after watching the Dolphins struggle with it, or do you set yourself up for the 2027 draft that everybody wants in on right now, or, you know, or trade for trade for, I don't know.

You know what I mean?

Get Kirk Cousins, like, I don't know.

I think the 27 draft is gonna, is gonna hover over all of this.

I'm gonna give you, like, I, hang on one second, cause I, I thought, like, so, you know, I did my, my, my annual thing with McShay and um with McShay and uh and DJ and I'm gonna pull it up for you because the way that these names just I mean, they rolled off Todd McShay's tongue, right?

Like, he started talking about, he was like, listen to this list and just started firing off names , right?

Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Brandon Soresby, Lenora Sellers, Trinidad Chambliss, Darian Mensa, Julian Sayan, CJ Carr, Sam Levitt, Niko Iamalava, John Mattier.

It's freaking 11 guys.

And that doesn't mean I, I'm not, I'm not sitting here telling you there are 11 first-round picks.

In fact, I don't think there's anybody that's like Caleb was going into 23, right?

Like where You know, that that 23 season and 24 draft cycle, we sort of always knew, like, this guy's gonna be the number one pick.

We knew, like, Drake May was gonna go somewhere in the top five.

So you don't have, like, I think the super obvious guy, but you have like that's 11 names I just rattled off.

And so if 4 of those hit, you know what I mean?

Like, if You know, Arch and say, let's just say it's Arch, Lenora Sellers, CJ Carr, and, you know, Darian Mensa, let's say it's those 4, those guys hit or Sam Levitt with Lane Kiffin at at at LSU or Julian saying like looks like Drew Brees at Ohio State, like, you, you could be in a situation where we're looking at like 4 or 5 or 6 guys.

You know, going in the top 10 to 15 picks the way we had it in 24, you know, and if that happens.

You know, like now, you almost have, if you have one of these guys where, you know, it's Bryce, it's CJ, whoever.

You know, even like, uh, you know, Minnesota has the ship sailed on JJ?

Are they back in that market in 207?

There's a lot of questions that have to be answered, you know, and it's, and, and what I think the, the thing that really Magnifies it, all of it, is the fact that it's Fernando Mendoza and like no one else this year.

Like, I don't, I don't get the sense that many teams view Ty Simpson as a franchise quarterback.

I don't think teams view Garrett Nussmeyer is a franchise quarterback.

So if that's your view, and I'm not saying it's every team's view, but if that's your view, that it's Mendoza and then a black hole at quarterback or Mendoza and a bunch of backups.

Then, you know, you're gonna be circling 27 already if you're a team like, I mean, the Jets would be the best example of it, right?

Cause they got 3 picks in the first round next year.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

I'm just saying like, you know, again, and I think that Nick Casario is doing the right thing because CJ Stroud's young, he's impressionable, like all these guys, you're sensitive to a degree, and I'm not saying that as an insult.

I'm saying like if Uh, our, uh, our great editor, John Plume came out and said, like, yeah, we're thinking about trading Connor.

Like, I'd be hurt about that.

Me and my wife would probably go in a little bit of a tailspin.

So, you have to come out and say these things in a public-facing role, because you wanna make sure that your quarterback feels confident if you have to roll with him.

But would you passive aggressively, put your house on the market?