Someone tried to get the Texans to not pick quarterback C.J. Stroud. Someone wanted to make Houston wobbly, and possibly to spark a draft-day slide.
Maybe it was a team, one that drafted after No. 3 -- or that hoped to trade up as high as No. 3. Maybe it was an agent representing another highly-rated played, hoping to boost a client higher.
Regardless, an effort was made to trigger a slip. And, as Will Levis learned, a slip can become a slide. A steep one.
Stroud, after landing with the Texans at No. 2, reflected on the situation in comments to Peter King of Football Morning in America.
“A lot of people haven’t played the sport, and I mean critics are gonna critique,” Stroud told King. “For me I know the film speaks for itself. Everything that I’ve done in college, I’ve been very consistent. I think I’ve been one of the most consistent players in college football for the last two years. If you turn on the tape, you can see, you can answer the questions. But those who don’t understand tape might want to go to other things and analyze other things. They’re more than welcome to do such. But the people who are making the choices and the picks, they knew what I can do. They understood the IQ that I do have.”
The thing that stuck the most for Stroud, even if it didn’t was a low S2 score. Stroud continued to push back on the idea that he lacks football smarts.
“I have a great memory when it comes to football,” Stroud told King. “I feel like there’s different ways to be geniuses. You don’t just have to be book smart. You can be analytics smart. You can be numbers smart. You can be football smart. I really think that there’s different types of ways to be smart. That’s something that I pride myself on. And I am book smart. I did have over a 3.0 in college. I had over a 3.0 in high school. I know that I can think. I can process very, very fast. The film, you can see me going from first option to second and then back to one and then to three to four if I have to. I can check down. I can use my feet.”
That didn’t stop the noise, because the goal was to get the Texans to doubt their evaluation, so that someone else could or would take him. And Stroud seems OK with it. Which is easy to do when, at the end of the day, the effort to made him fall failed.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Stroud said. “I’m not upset. I’m actually blessed, I’m super blessed to be a Texan. Number two overall pick in the NFL draft, man. A little kid from the [California] Inland Empire. All smiles, man. I ain’t tripping about this.”
He’s got the right attitude. They tried to make him fall. They failed. Stroud won. And now it’s on him to win at the next level -- and on the Texans to help him get to the point where he can.
