In the past i was one of CJ's biggest supporters. I like the young man, etc. etc. BUT, he is not the answer going forward. The Texans may have ALREADY missed their best opportunity to go to the SB. AND, CJ was the reason. YES, CJ was the reason! I know it is a team game, BUT his performance was historically HORRIBLE!!! I have never seen worse. He should not have played the second half. That's on the coach. Nevertheless, the Texans must cut bait and go fishing in another pond. Do not waste another season. He is not, can't be, must not be the QB going forward. Explore options and make a change while the defense is together. There are options. And almost all of them are better than "deer in the headlights" Stroud. BUT, the Texans will likely do nothing, and that will be a huge mistake.
I think the only reason Cincinnati would entertain it is his injury risk. He allegedly has some concerns being there. Their relationship is strained. The tricky part is what does a trade package look like? Something like Deshaun Watson (3 firsts, 1 third, 1 fourth)? If you assume CJ is part of it, does one of the first become a 2nd or 3rd?
The opinions on trading for Stroud for Burrow are interesting. I consider it highly unlikely due to Burrow's huge dead cap hit and Cincinnati's low interest in trading Burrow. I find it more likely that Stroud would be traded to the Dolphins, Steelers, Cardinals or Jets if it were to happen. Houston can roll with Mills, not have to payout a max contract and accumulate more draft picks. The Texans are as good as they are now because of the extra draft picks the last couple years. With 2 1st and 2 round picks this year the Texans can draft a starting offensive lineman, a TE that can actually block, an interior Defensive lineman and a top RB.
Dolphins are prolly going Malik Willis I don't know if Steelers would want CJ (prolly) I do not want Kyler Murray (but Jacoby on the other hand...) Jets... whew.... not sure if Coleridge could handle NY media That being said, honestly don't think CJ is going anywhere... yet. I really want him to improve and become a great QB here... but does he want it?
As bad as this playoff run was for CJ, all these alternatives y'all are throwing out for next year are equally unappealing (sans taking a chance on Mills for a full season). Like I've been saying, we're trapped. I don't envy Nick/DeMeco right now. This offseason is huge. If this isn't "rock bottom" for CJ, it's all downhill from here.
The difference in quality of play between CJ and Mills is very minimal With CJ, your going to have to pay him a max contract in order to keep him. You don't have that issue with Mills. I don't want to see the Texans in a Dolphins or Cardinals situation where they were stuck for years with a QB they know was not going to work out because of Tua's and Kyler's contracts. I think the real issue with CJ is not that he is regressing, but the league has figured him out. If you speed up his clock you can force CJ into panicking and creating mistakes. Blitzes on 3rd downs are now being the norm. With Mills, defenses play him much differently. They are rarely blitzing and staying in coverage. Mills seems to have a better grasp of the offense, getting the ball out faster and where it's suppose to go.
Mills was AWFUL for 3 quarters of the games he played and had 1 Great Quarter against the Jags, 1 DECENT Quarter against the Titans, and 1 very good Quarter against the Bills. You are not winning playoff games like that. Sure, may be he wouldn't have turned the ball over. However, you were not winning that game against the Pats because your defense gave up 21 points without any short fields (7 points were that pick 6). So you would have had to score at least 21 points. Just say the pulled CJ at the half or even after the pick 6, You still had to score points and going 3 and out with Mills was not going to cut it.
Agree that you don’t want to be in QB purgatory, but do you trust Mills over a FULL season? Like, if he starts next year and we go 9-8, then what? Only thing I can count on Davis to do is beat Trevor Lawrence twice a year.
This is misremembering things. The only one its really accurate about is RG3. -- Jayden Daniels, it's only his 2nd season cut short with injury. If he hasn't even had a 3rd season to rebound with, how do we know his status? -- Tua didn't become good until his 3rd & 4th year, not his rookie year. -- Vince is an unusual tale. Yes Vince Young slumped in his 2nd season. Then "circumstances" happened. But he did play better than his rookie year, when Jeff Fisher let Vince play again over Kerry Collins. Before Vince fell off again. Vince is a case of having mental breakdown, rebounding better, then a breakdown again after an injury lol. And in spite of drama & mediocre stats, having a nice career Win-Loss record
In some fairness to CJ. Since 1996, there are 13 QB's with worse QB ratings in playoff games than CJ. 9 of those 13 QB's were brought back. The 4 not returning were already vet stopgaps, or the backup playing like TJ Yates Andrew Luck his 3rd season, got beat down 45-7 by the Patriots. There was no talk of getting rid of Luck. Trent Dilfer his 4th year was 11 of 36 passing, a dreadful 30% completion percentage, 2 INT's. Dilfer played 2 more years with Tampa Bay. This is just random trivia.. Out of the worst 17 QB ratings in playoffs since 1996: ONLY CJ Stroud threw a touchdown pass of that group. All the other 16 had 0 TD's - 34 INT's combined. Which just makes CJ even more confusing really. That even in epic collapse, CJ shows a "productive" trait which keeps up a tease about "potential"
Yeah, you can’t do that. The difference in production between those 2 isn’t “minimal” like some are suggesting. That’s absurd. Mills had a good year and we needed him. I love him as a backup. CJs performance in the regular season was more than sufficient. But he also cost us the best chance we’ve ever had to go to a SB. That cannot be emphasized enough. Mills may not have done that - had he started the entire game. I have no confidence he would have led us back after halftime in that environment. But trading away CJ and just rolling with Mills would be one of the most ridiculous, reactionary decisions they could make. There’s absolutely no reason to do that.
