CJ Stroud Draft Breakdown: A Good Fit For Houston Texans?

Obviously, this is CJ Strouds’s worst game as a CFB QB so it will have more negatives than positives. From the very first play of the game, his lack of progressional decision-making was evident. The system he is in employs a lot of 1-read and RPO passes. This makes the decision-making part of his game relatively easy. On the very first play, CJ stares down one receiver who is very well covered; eventually, he throws it out of bounds above that receiver. That is a lost play.

On the fourth pass of the game, Stroud makes a great pass to Harrison Jr. (who makes an even greater catch). What stood out to me in this play however was how antsy Stroud was in the pocket. In this play, with a clean pocket, Stroud takes 6-steps backward and throws off his back foot. That’s less than ideal.

At the 4:00 minute mark, you’ll see the potential Stroud has oozing out. With a clean pocket (and his awareness of that), CJ steps up and rips a perfect deep ball for an impressive touchdown.

More evidence that he would thrive in a system that protects him well as well as provides some talent to throw to.

Pros: when he sets his feet and gears up he throws an immaculate deep ball, puts good zip on the ball, you can see the arm talent when he lets it rip

Cons: jittery in the pocket and creating false pressures in his head, very few big-time throws (most of his throws were short quick reads), consistently throwing off his back foot despite no defender in his face, rarely looks past his first read, poor ball placement, trying to do much led to a turnover