May 8, 2026 • 23 mins
Bucky Brooks and Lance Zierlein occupy the latest edition of Move the Sticks with a discussion about Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and his future with the team. The MTS duo gauges Stroud's early development in the aftermath of a disastrous postseason showing before gravitating to the larger NFL QB market, where a shortage of starter-level talent has driven QB value to an unsustainable high.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
We're gonna move the sticks. I am bucket brought in.
That is my man, my main man, Lance Aerline holding
it down.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
H House?
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Finus this and that, this and that. We'll just we'll
find out. We'll find out here. I gotta I got
a basketball team.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Out of it.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
I got a baseball team and shambles compared to where
we used to be.
Speaker 5 (00:23):
Buckets, bring dust I need to get these textsa work.
Bring Dusty back. Indeed, indeed, where's uh, let's get did
we have a mini camp going on here? Can we
get some football going on in this city?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I need well.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm actually glad that you brought that up and we're
gonna talk about this on It's time for how to
not brought to you about what Sabi hot cloud.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Storage and Lance. I got to bring this up.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm sitting around over the weekend. I'm reading this article
on CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
These executives are wearing in on what the Texans should do.
And because you're close to the fire, what's your take
on CJ Stroud, the Houston Texans and what the future
looks like for my man?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In a soun It's interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I don't know if you saw the picture that ESPN had,
I think it was ESPN had a picture of him
working out and you know, so the big thing in
Houston was he cut the He cut the brains, cut
the braves of them all. Yeah, it had to go.
So he went and I'm like, okay, it's a rebrand.
We're in the middle of a rebrand. Okay, you know
you got a rebround every once in a while. Anyways,
(01:25):
that was the he's had that since high school, college.
It's good, we're gonna do something new. What I didn't
know and what I'm very happy to see is it
also involves he's slimmed down. You can see in the
face like he's leaned down. They showed him he was lifting,
getting a little getting a little pump in. He's getting
a little pump and those tries, those tries are starting
to pop.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
A little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
What it shows you a CJ. Stroud And we've always
known this. CJ loves he loves ball. It's important to him.
His performance was not good in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It was bad.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
His performance over the last two years have not been
the jump that people afected after a really good rookie
season where he went offensive Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And so the.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Question in Houston that we've we've kicked around is, you know,
has really been about what's going to happen when Will
Anderson gets paid? Which has happened asis Al Schaer just
got paid Nico Collins like they're they're filling up the
whole roster.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
With with with payments and extensions. And now you've got
picked up the fifty option on CJ. But you can't
give him a new contract yet.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Number One, his agent, David Mulghetto, would be silly to
ask for top of the top of the food chain
money after what CJ did. He has no leverage right now,
and the Texans would be I think the Texans do
they want to give him a guaranteed contract worth one
hundred and eighty million guaranteed, like which is what Moget
(02:49):
is going to shoot for that number or higher? Would
you want to do that on the on the on
the strength of what just happened? Probably not. So you
need to see him playing the fourth year. You picked
up fifth your option was which was ever in doubt
and CJ. I think fans get so caught up in
like what's the bag gonna look like how much money
is he gonna get. We didn't used to talk about
(03:10):
that buck, you remember, we used to just talk about
if a guy was winning, if he was like, well
he was gonna do to make a seem These guys
are not gonna let you hold their money.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I promise you you cannot hold any of these guys money.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I don't know why people get so caught up in
a guy getting this much or not getting this much.
It's like, for me, I just want to see how
you're gonna play, because the money's gonna come for you
and you're gonna do what you do with your money.
It's gonna help your family, and it comes with being
a pro athlete. I don't I don't get caught up
in that. Just the the idea of where you slot
compared to others is interesting to me because those those
(03:43):
numbers a lot of times the money that they may
never spend, but it does show a certain relevance to
where you are, which is going to lead to a
turn and topics the same topic. But I'm gonna turn
it here in a second. But let me let me
say this. I love seeing CJ say I gotta do
something this is it's not good enough, and that's what
(04:03):
you want from your quarterback. You want him to always
you want that from your best players, always trying to
be the best they can be. And CJ is going
all in saying I'm gonna change body type, I'm gonna
do things I've never done this offseason.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I gotta get right because it's not good enough. What's happened.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
That's what you want your quarterback to feel like. And
I've never felt that he's a complacent. I've never thought
he was. I never That's not who he is. He
loves ball and he wants to be the best he
can be. The Nick Cassara's done a good job and
Demiko rans of putting offensive linemen in the run blockers,
they got David Montgomery. They drafted well with Kayden m
McDonald and Keelan Rutley. So they drafted the trenches and
(04:41):
basically said, we're gonna stick to whipping ass in the
in the trenches on defense, but we're gonna try to
get nasty in the on the offensive trenches as well.
And if you run the ball well, you take some
pressure off CJ. And CJ is more likely to succeed
if he's not so far behind the sticks. If he
is able to run off play action, if you're able
(05:03):
to open up the playbook because it's third and four
instead of third and seven, there's a few more plays
at your disposal.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I think all of that is good.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And but with all that said, you got to show
up in the postseason. Like Jeff Bagwe and Craig Bigio
are loved in this city, but people remember George Springer
and Carlos Korea and now two guys who came through
in the clutch. And when championships with clutch play as
(05:31):
opposed to the guys who couldn't hit the braves and
they were they were out.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
James Harden had love, but James is also there's a term.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
For James, no elimination James. When it's alimination game, Oh
bad James.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
And so now you look at c J. Stroud and yeah,
that Rookie of the Year is nice, but what did
you do in the postseason? And so CJ really needs
to play well. And if he plays well this year
and the Texans go deep, let's just even ac championship game.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The big Payday's coming. We already know that. It's just
a matter of time.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
So and then they'll have to figure out how they
manage the salary cap when that happens, because that is
going to legitimately, you know, cost some shuffling. But the
fans down here are not one hundred percent behind CJ.
They need CJ to give them something to to to
cheer for, and that that means you got to play
at a certain level in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, he certainly has to take his game up and notch.
And I will say this, the one things I've always
admired from CJ is since knowing him as a high schooler,
he has always been able to take his game up
a notch on the biggest and brightest stages. He has
always kind of come through and delivered. Has some issues
in this postseason that I would say it was troubling
just because he looked so bad. Kept slinging it, but
(06:50):
you could tell he was throwing without confidence. What I
wanted from him. Now, second year in the system, mastery
of the system, Now, how do we push it?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
How do we push the envelope.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
A little bit to get to where we need to
be aggressively while also learning from those experiences and knowing
when to dial it back. He still has a lot
of room to grow into that. But I'll say this,
having looked at Bryce Young's career arc, and first they
love you, then they hate you, then they love you again.
He's back on the upkeep with I love You. I
(07:19):
think with CJ very similar. It's kind of like the
Heroes arc where you started at the top. He had
a lot of success right away naturally is going to
create her, and now he's trying to dig himself out.
I think when he gets to the other side of it,
we don't see the best version of him, but it
may take us a while to get to the other side.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Of the storm.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
That he's a bus bucky you know this and talking
to teams about you know, just trying to tighten up
my process and learn what's important. The teams from an
evaluation standpoint, over the years had of conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We've got named Brian Decker who used to be at
the Colts. He was with the Browns Colts.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And I think right now he's with the Panthers as
a matter of fact, and he was I can't remember
what special units he was in. When we talked a
lot about you know. He was a specialist for interrogation
and interviews and I got to talk for him for
about an hour and a half and he talked about
a variety.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Of you know hey.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I'd ask him, what's it like when you have, you know,
players who come from military backgrounds, and that's got to
be be a big advantage. He said, not always, because
sometimes you have discipline imposed on you and you don't create,
you know, self create your own discipline. Just different things
I'd never thought of. It was one of the best
conversations I've ever had. One of the things he talked
about was adversity. And this is something when you guys
(08:34):
scouts understand this. Show me a player who's overcome Show
me a person who's overcome adversity, and I'll show you
somebody who's likely to overcome adversity in the future because
they have coping mechanisms, they have the skill sets, they
have a history of it. Show me someone who's never
gone through adversity. You don't know what you're getting. I mean,
maybe they'll handle it okay, but you don't know what
you're getting. And Brian talked about how he would empower players.
(08:59):
I said, how do you get them to tell you
things that they don't want to tell you that maybe
they find embarrassing about something in their background or something
that's family related, or maybe it doesn't you know, it
doesn't necessarily reflect on them, but maybe they don't want
it to reflect poorly on him. He said, would you
just let them know that, you know, great people have
come through adverse situations and overcome it, and you know,
(09:21):
tell me about some adversity that you've gone through. And
he said, then they open up when they realize it's
a badge of honor that they have overcome adversity. CJ
had personal adversity in his life that he has had
to overcome, and that's a positive that shows mental toughness
and fortitude and character. This is a different level. This
(09:42):
is a professional adversity he's facing. And it humbles you
and it resets you. And we see CJ resetting. It's
going to harden you a little bit. One of two
things can happen. Either it's gonna crumble, he'll crumble beneath
the pressure of what's coming. Or it will make him tougher.
It will make him more calloused, and it will create
(10:04):
a level of aptitude in the face of adversity that
can lead him towards greatness. Like there's nothing wrong with
the adversity. It's an opportunity, and that's what I think
CJ's in the midst of. It's an opportunity. It can
go poorly for him, or if his mind is right
and the confidence is back, because not the body language
(10:26):
wasn't always great last year, Bucket, I think the confidence
really was shaped. You see the work you see in
the internal clock is just is off. If they can
get him back to being right and being confident, and
I'm the best player on this field. If you can
get that mentality back, he'll be fine. But there's no guarantee.
But it's an opportunity, and I think this adversity gives
(10:46):
us a chance to see if he comes out on
the other side, Bucket, it could be the best thing
that ever happened to him.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
In the long run, it absolutely will. And this is
the time.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
We always use a quote that my dad gave me
and I use it when I talk to young people
all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And I just got cut by the can see the chiefs.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It may have been the third or four times that
I've been cut and he said, you cannot be made
of steal until you try by fire. And for CJ
and for others, they have to go through these storms
to be prepared for what's on the horizon.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So when we talk about Houston, because you're.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Down there, man, the next step for the Houston Texans
is to play championship caliber ball, whether that is AFC
Championship Game or the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
That's the next step.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And you can't be ready for that until you vanquish
some of these demons that have kind of popped up,
particularly the way that it looked against the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Here's the challenge.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You can't deal with playoff pressure until you get back
to the playoffs. And so he has to be able
to run that entire marathon and still have enough. He
may want to solicit your wife put some advice. He
may want to figure out, Okay, how do I run
these twenties six point two but not burn up all
(12:03):
the gas before I get to the twenty fifth mile.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Yeah, my wife a marathon run, or she was. She
had to retire because of the need, but she just
started at a she started later in life really and
just went through And it was the mental toughness that
You've been running four marathons with a with a bone
on bone knee condition, and the only way you can
do that is with the level of toughness where you forget,
(12:26):
you forget that the pain you're in and you go
somewhere else with your mind.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And you know, it's funny and she's not a pro
athlete or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
She didn't come up as an athlete, but it just
speaks to there's a certain level of mental toughness where
you have to like, you're right, there is there is
and we you.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Know, for me, we just went through it with the Rockets.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
You lost in Game seven to the to the Golden
State Warriors last year, so everything was a build up
and we were just waiting until the postseason and then
they fell short the postseason.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Again. It's the same thing with the with the Texans.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Well, fans here will will enjoy watching Texans games, but
it's all just going to be we're just waiting till
the postseason and how CJ plays. Really that's what it is.
We want to see how CJ plays in the postseason
and there'll.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Be this art where they love them and all that,
but then be like, yeah, but what about the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah, but what about the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And that pressure that he is going to feel internal
and external is gonna be great and how he manages
those emotions arguing me critical.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
A lot of pressure on CJ.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Stroud not only to get the Houston Texas over the hump,
but he needs to play well to get paid. That
was this week's how Do Not segment, brought to you
by what Sabi Hot cloud storage, store more and do
more with your data. Try them for free at Withsabi
dot com.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
All right, last, you have something that we talk about
or ump them there? Yeah? You want to you want
to flip it on you?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, So you were talking about the second contract, c J.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
C J. Stroud is fourth theear. You got to fit
your option coming up.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Texans have a decision to make right. There was a
tweet I'll never forget. I'm pretty I was in a
hotel room and I can't remember if it was the combine. Yeah,
but it was a combine or if it was at
the I think it was the combine where you made
a comment like at some point is there going to
be a time, especially with these contracts for quarterbacks doing
what they're doing. It's gone way higher from the time
(14:21):
you sent this post. And you can correct me if
i'm you can tighten this up. But it was basically,
are we going to have a situation where teams start
looking at quarterbacks and saying we can't just automatically be
ready to give them second contracts.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
We may have to start working through quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I don't want to call it like running backs, but
is there going to be a team that says, we
don't think you're good enough for a second contract, so
we're gonna let you walk and we're gonna redraft it
again if it's not there, and we're not gonna just
fall into the trap of giving somebody that we don't
believe in a second deal. Okay, on no one has
the balls to do that so far, Bucky, But I'm
waiting for the thing to say, you can we don't
(15:01):
think you're good enough. We'll take the chance of being
a quarterback purgatory and redraft a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Now, you caused a fush when you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Originally, Oh Lace, it was bad now because this is
what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right when you're trying to be a good teammate on TV,
sometimes it can bite you in the tail. And this
was in the midst of Lamar Jackson trying to get paid.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Justin Fields is.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Coming out, and I made the suggestion like, hey, if
they can't get it done, maybe they should consider treating
it like college and letting him graduate and bringing another one.
Because in college, that's what you do. You have the
big time quarterback. At some point he graduates, you go
and get another big time quarterback behind him. Now we
have not seen a team with I would say the
(15:42):
courage to do that, because what we then do is
we pay him and then we regret it immediately buyer's
remorse immediately. Now we're mad and we're pissed off at
the player. But the players played exactly how he's been playing.
But because we.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Pay him, the expectations go up.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And I think that's the danger when it comes to
evaluating quarterbacks when you pay them, and particularly like people
now look at the number, Oh my god, fifty million dollars.
He has to be able to carry the squad. But
what you and are saying is like, nah, that's the market,
that's the going rate. But it doesn't mean that he
is going to be what those initial guys that crossed
(16:22):
the frontier. He may not be that because now we
went from having two or three in that then now
it's like fourteen or fifteen and the fifty million dollar club,
So it's not as special as it is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
But when we hear it and we see.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Those numbers, there's a level, there's an expectation of what
is to come. And I'm gonna say this, seeing it
up close in personal with Trevor Lawrence, there's a lot
in trepidation.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
When Trevor Lawrence got his money whatever you guy.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Like, it was fifty two million annually and they paid
him before it was kind of time to pay him.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
And the season this year started out.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Now he finished with like thirty eight touchdowns and did
his thing, but there was a lot of oh my god,
why do we pay him?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Da? Da?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But then you're like, he's number one overall pick. If
we don't pay him, who is going to be next?
That is the challenge because most teams aren't positioned enough
to be like, oh yeah, man, we're good, Like, hey,
we're not gonna do that deal. We'll we'll drafted because
normally you either don't have the draft position, you don't
have the capital you have to draft to the quarterback
soon enough to kind of be in the stable and
(17:30):
ready to go if he does walk.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
It is a challenge.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
But I just know, we talk all the time about
it being the most important position in ball, but yet
we commit the fewest resources to the position. Why not,
if it's that important, should we double down, triple down
to make sure that we always have a quarterback? To me,
it just makes sense to approach it like that.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
I think it's a fascinating you know, if there were
more good quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It would be.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
It would be a real decision for teams if you
had more guys coming out right now that were legitimate
quarterbacks that you felt were starting level quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And this is a great year, great example this year.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Of expectations before the season, how they were not even
close to being met by the You know, realistically, the
play of quarterbacks in college football are very disappointing this
year relative to the expectations of some of the top quarterbacks.
But to your point, it's not only the expectations that soar.
When you have fifty plus million dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And soon it's gonna be sixty million dollars for.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
These quarterbacks, it's it's it's it's twofolds. It's twofold in baseball,
and baseball is on cap. But in baseball, what we're
seeing is the very best players are getting the very
best money. But if you're not one of the very
best play players, you're getting shorter contracts and you're not
getting the money that you want. They've really the market
(18:57):
has really said, we're only paying the very best player.
Is the long term, you know, two and three hundred
million dollars guarantee, we're only paying the very best guys
at and some other good players have found that the
market is is kind of it's not the same for them.
Football is one of the only places where you don't
even have to be a good quarterback. You can be
(19:17):
an average to above average quarterback, and which is what
trace I would say, Trevor Lawrence was an average quarterback
when he got paid. But they slot you in at
well your next up, well, your next up, I guess
we have to pay that, And no other sport do
they just say. I mean in basketball to an extent,
some of the max contracts, but football is still the
(19:37):
only sport where you are truly saying we know you're
probably not worth the money. That makes you the top
three or four at your position, but we feel like
we have to give it to you anyway because there's
no other choice.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And as you mentioned, there's immediate regret.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And one of the reasons there's immediate regret is because
if you don't start all of a sudden elevating your
play into one of the top four or five quarterbacks
in the league, it really makes no sense with what's
happening to your salary cap and the way you can
maneuver for the rest of your roster.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
You're tied up.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
You're an anchor for the rest of your rot in
terms of your ability to maneuver around the rest of
your roster.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And we all know when you have a rookie deal
going on.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
That's why the Texans are in such a rush to
try to win a championship because they're still working off
a rookie deal and you've got opportunities to do so
much more once you lock in all the contracts. Like
you let good players go, some good players have to walk.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
That's just the way it is, and that's why the
quarterback has to match up. And it's funny, man, because
I call it twenty one and one twenty one. Other
positions have different priorities, different expectations. When it comes to
a you got to earn it. We're gonna bring people
in all the time. You got to be ready to
compete and fend it off. And then we have the
one outlier, which is the quarterback, where we're so sensitive
(20:53):
to the quarterback's feelings and needs and demands that we
don't hold them to the same standard even though he's
eating the biggest piece of the pot.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Like that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
When it comes to it, it is a fascinating discussion.
It is one that continues to boggle our minds, but
it's one that I can't see changing in terms of
the way people approach it. Like as much as I
would love people to be daring in bold, the one
thing that happens is look, look look at Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
It got Quazy fired. He moves on from Sam Donald
thinking that he has won in the holster.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
In JJ McCarthy, I mean, he didn't make it to
the end of the season and they just said repaid.
They just resigned. Crazy, So that is the thing. It
sounds good. So now what you have is a bunch
of decision makers like I ain't gonna put myself out there.
I just resigned what I got and we'll deal with
it on the back end. Because Quasi tried to do
(21:51):
the right thing. They took the quarterback before they needed
a quarterback. They had one in the holster. They were
trying to get Daniel Jones and those things. They let
Sam walk thinking J. J. McCarthy was ready and he wasn't,
and so it blew up in their face.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Is Brian Billick once told me in a group full
of people, I think there's an NFL films.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He said, if you.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
As soon as you draft a quarterback in the first round,
they turned the They turned the uh, you know, the
hour glass over on your job. If you don't get
them developed by the time the sand trickles out and
the sand moves at different paces for different coaches and
different general managers. Once you draft that quarterback in the
first round, everyone's job is on the is on the line.
(22:37):
And that's just that's how it is. And Quazy found
that out. And you know, Chris Ballard is on the
clock right now. After the Anthony Richardson like you can go,
you can look at you can look at all these
different teams who drafted quarterbacks. I don't think Nick Casserio
is not in any You know that he's not in
any trouble there. They're a good team.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
But when you get when you draft a quarterback in
the first round, you expect to develop them. And that's
it if you If if that quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Doesn't develop, you better develop somebody else.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You better come up with a Plan B quickly. In questions,
couldn't come up with a plan B quickly enough?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
No, despite his best attempts, he couldn't come up with
a plan B. But I'm gonna tell you what I know.
He's not a plan B. The name las Z is
not a Plan B. So happy to have you on
the Move to six podcast today. Looking forward to more chats,
more conversation, more personnel breakdowns next week when you get
you and I get back together, to have two six
(23:31):
podcasts next week.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Until then, people keep it locked on Move the Sticks.
We're out.
We're gonna move the sticks. I am bucket brought in.
That is my man, my main man, Lance Aerline holding
it down.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
H House?
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Finus this and that, this and that. We'll just we'll
find out. We'll find out here. I gotta I got
a basketball team.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Out of it.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
I got a baseball team and shambles compared to where
we used to be.
Speaker 5 (00:23):
Buckets, bring dust I need to get these textsa work.
Bring Dusty back. Indeed, indeed, where's uh, let's get did
we have a mini camp going on here? Can we
get some football going on in this city?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I need well.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm actually glad that you brought that up and we're
gonna talk about this on It's time for how to
not brought to you about what Sabi hot cloud.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Storage and Lance. I got to bring this up.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm sitting around over the weekend. I'm reading this article
on CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
These executives are wearing in on what the Texans should do.
And because you're close to the fire, what's your take
on CJ Stroud, the Houston Texans and what the future
looks like for my man?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In a soun It's interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I don't know if you saw the picture that ESPN had,
I think it was ESPN had a picture of him
working out and you know, so the big thing in
Houston was he cut the He cut the brains, cut
the braves of them all. Yeah, it had to go.
So he went and I'm like, okay, it's a rebrand.
We're in the middle of a rebrand. Okay, you know
you got a rebround every once in a while. Anyways,
(01:25):
that was the he's had that since high school, college.
It's good, we're gonna do something new. What I didn't
know and what I'm very happy to see is it
also involves he's slimmed down. You can see in the
face like he's leaned down. They showed him he was lifting,
getting a little getting a little pump in. He's getting
a little pump and those tries, those tries are starting
to pop.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
A little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
What it shows you a CJ. Stroud And we've always
known this. CJ loves he loves ball. It's important to him.
His performance was not good in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It was bad.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
His performance over the last two years have not been
the jump that people afected after a really good rookie
season where he went offensive Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And so the.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Question in Houston that we've we've kicked around is, you know,
has really been about what's going to happen when Will
Anderson gets paid? Which has happened asis Al Schaer just
got paid Nico Collins like they're they're filling up the
whole roster.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
With with with payments and extensions. And now you've got
picked up the fifty option on CJ. But you can't
give him a new contract yet.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Number One, his agent, David Mulghetto, would be silly to
ask for top of the top of the food chain
money after what CJ did. He has no leverage right now,
and the Texans would be I think the Texans do
they want to give him a guaranteed contract worth one
hundred and eighty million guaranteed, like which is what Moget
(02:49):
is going to shoot for that number or higher? Would
you want to do that on the on the on
the strength of what just happened? Probably not. So you
need to see him playing the fourth year. You picked
up fifth your option was which was ever in doubt
and CJ. I think fans get so caught up in
like what's the bag gonna look like how much money
is he gonna get. We didn't used to talk about
(03:10):
that buck, you remember, we used to just talk about
if a guy was winning, if he was like, well
he was gonna do to make a seem These guys
are not gonna let you hold their money.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I promise you you cannot hold any of these guys money.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I don't know why people get so caught up in
a guy getting this much or not getting this much.
It's like, for me, I just want to see how
you're gonna play, because the money's gonna come for you
and you're gonna do what you do with your money.
It's gonna help your family, and it comes with being
a pro athlete. I don't I don't get caught up
in that. Just the the idea of where you slot
compared to others is interesting to me because those those
(03:43):
numbers a lot of times the money that they may
never spend, but it does show a certain relevance to
where you are, which is going to lead to a
turn and topics the same topic. But I'm gonna turn
it here in a second. But let me let me
say this. I love seeing CJ say I gotta do
something this is it's not good enough, and that's what
(04:03):
you want from your quarterback. You want him to always
you want that from your best players, always trying to
be the best they can be. And CJ is going
all in saying I'm gonna change body type, I'm gonna
do things I've never done this offseason.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I gotta get right because it's not good enough. What's happened.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
That's what you want your quarterback to feel like. And
I've never felt that he's a complacent. I've never thought
he was. I never That's not who he is. He
loves ball and he wants to be the best he
can be. The Nick Cassara's done a good job and
Demiko rans of putting offensive linemen in the run blockers,
they got David Montgomery. They drafted well with Kayden m
McDonald and Keelan Rutley. So they drafted the trenches and
(04:41):
basically said, we're gonna stick to whipping ass in the
in the trenches on defense, but we're gonna try to
get nasty in the on the offensive trenches as well.
And if you run the ball well, you take some
pressure off CJ. And CJ is more likely to succeed
if he's not so far behind the sticks. If he
is able to run off play action, if you're able
(05:03):
to open up the playbook because it's third and four
instead of third and seven, there's a few more plays
at your disposal.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I think all of that is good.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And but with all that said, you got to show
up in the postseason. Like Jeff Bagwe and Craig Bigio
are loved in this city, but people remember George Springer
and Carlos Korea and now two guys who came through
in the clutch. And when championships with clutch play as
(05:31):
opposed to the guys who couldn't hit the braves and
they were they were out.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
James Harden had love, but James is also there's a term.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
For James, no elimination James. When it's alimination game, Oh
bad James.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
And so now you look at c J. Stroud and yeah,
that Rookie of the Year is nice, but what did
you do in the postseason? And so CJ really needs
to play well. And if he plays well this year
and the Texans go deep, let's just even ac championship game.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The big Payday's coming. We already know that. It's just
a matter of time.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
So and then they'll have to figure out how they
manage the salary cap when that happens, because that is
going to legitimately, you know, cost some shuffling. But the
fans down here are not one hundred percent behind CJ.
They need CJ to give them something to to to
cheer for, and that that means you got to play
at a certain level in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, he certainly has to take his game up and notch.
And I will say this, the one things I've always
admired from CJ is since knowing him as a high schooler,
he has always been able to take his game up
a notch on the biggest and brightest stages. He has
always kind of come through and delivered. Has some issues
in this postseason that I would say it was troubling
just because he looked so bad. Kept slinging it, but
(06:50):
you could tell he was throwing without confidence. What I
wanted from him. Now, second year in the system, mastery
of the system, Now, how do we push it?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
How do we push the envelope.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
A little bit to get to where we need to
be aggressively while also learning from those experiences and knowing
when to dial it back. He still has a lot
of room to grow into that. But I'll say this,
having looked at Bryce Young's career arc, and first they
love you, then they hate you, then they love you again.
He's back on the upkeep with I love You. I
(07:19):
think with CJ very similar. It's kind of like the
Heroes arc where you started at the top. He had
a lot of success right away naturally is going to
create her, and now he's trying to dig himself out.
I think when he gets to the other side of it,
we don't see the best version of him, but it
may take us a while to get to the other side.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Of the storm.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
That he's a bus bucky you know this and talking
to teams about you know, just trying to tighten up
my process and learn what's important. The teams from an
evaluation standpoint, over the years had of conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We've got named Brian Decker who used to be at
the Colts. He was with the Browns Colts.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And I think right now he's with the Panthers as
a matter of fact, and he was I can't remember
what special units he was in. When we talked a
lot about you know. He was a specialist for interrogation
and interviews and I got to talk for him for
about an hour and a half and he talked about
a variety.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Of you know hey.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I'd ask him, what's it like when you have, you know,
players who come from military backgrounds, and that's got to
be be a big advantage. He said, not always, because
sometimes you have discipline imposed on you and you don't create,
you know, self create your own discipline. Just different things
I'd never thought of. It was one of the best
conversations I've ever had. One of the things he talked
about was adversity. And this is something when you guys
(08:34):
scouts understand this. Show me a player who's overcome Show
me a person who's overcome adversity, and I'll show you
somebody who's likely to overcome adversity in the future because
they have coping mechanisms, they have the skill sets, they
have a history of it. Show me someone who's never
gone through adversity. You don't know what you're getting. I mean,
maybe they'll handle it okay, but you don't know what
you're getting. And Brian talked about how he would empower players.
(08:59):
I said, how do you get them to tell you
things that they don't want to tell you that maybe
they find embarrassing about something in their background or something
that's family related, or maybe it doesn't you know, it
doesn't necessarily reflect on them, but maybe they don't want
it to reflect poorly on him. He said, would you
just let them know that, you know, great people have
come through adverse situations and overcome it, and you know,
(09:21):
tell me about some adversity that you've gone through. And
he said, then they open up when they realize it's
a badge of honor that they have overcome adversity. CJ
had personal adversity in his life that he has had
to overcome, and that's a positive that shows mental toughness
and fortitude and character. This is a different level. This
(09:42):
is a professional adversity he's facing. And it humbles you
and it resets you. And we see CJ resetting. It's
going to harden you a little bit. One of two
things can happen. Either it's gonna crumble, he'll crumble beneath
the pressure of what's coming. Or it will make him tougher.
It will make him more calloused, and it will create
(10:04):
a level of aptitude in the face of adversity that
can lead him towards greatness. Like there's nothing wrong with
the adversity. It's an opportunity, and that's what I think
CJ's in the midst of. It's an opportunity. It can
go poorly for him, or if his mind is right
and the confidence is back, because not the body language
(10:26):
wasn't always great last year, Bucket, I think the confidence
really was shaped. You see the work you see in
the internal clock is just is off. If they can
get him back to being right and being confident, and
I'm the best player on this field. If you can
get that mentality back, he'll be fine. But there's no guarantee.
But it's an opportunity, and I think this adversity gives
(10:46):
us a chance to see if he comes out on
the other side, Bucket, it could be the best thing
that ever happened to him.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
In the long run, it absolutely will. And this is
the time.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
We always use a quote that my dad gave me
and I use it when I talk to young people
all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And I just got cut by the can see the chiefs.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It may have been the third or four times that
I've been cut and he said, you cannot be made
of steal until you try by fire. And for CJ
and for others, they have to go through these storms
to be prepared for what's on the horizon.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So when we talk about Houston, because you're.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Down there, man, the next step for the Houston Texans
is to play championship caliber ball, whether that is AFC
Championship Game or the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
That's the next step.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And you can't be ready for that until you vanquish
some of these demons that have kind of popped up,
particularly the way that it looked against the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Here's the challenge.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You can't deal with playoff pressure until you get back
to the playoffs. And so he has to be able
to run that entire marathon and still have enough. He
may want to solicit your wife put some advice. He
may want to figure out, Okay, how do I run
these twenties six point two but not burn up all
(12:03):
the gas before I get to the twenty fifth mile.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Yeah, my wife a marathon run, or she was. She
had to retire because of the need, but she just
started at a she started later in life really and
just went through And it was the mental toughness that
You've been running four marathons with a with a bone
on bone knee condition, and the only way you can
do that is with the level of toughness where you forget,
(12:26):
you forget that the pain you're in and you go
somewhere else with your mind.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And you know, it's funny and she's not a pro
athlete or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
She didn't come up as an athlete, but it just
speaks to there's a certain level of mental toughness where
you have to like, you're right, there is there is
and we you.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Know, for me, we just went through it with the Rockets.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
You lost in Game seven to the to the Golden
State Warriors last year, so everything was a build up
and we were just waiting until the postseason and then
they fell short the postseason.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Again. It's the same thing with the with the Texans.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Well, fans here will will enjoy watching Texans games, but
it's all just going to be we're just waiting till
the postseason and how CJ plays. Really that's what it is.
We want to see how CJ plays in the postseason
and there'll.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Be this art where they love them and all that,
but then be like, yeah, but what about the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah, but what about the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And that pressure that he is going to feel internal
and external is gonna be great and how he manages
those emotions arguing me critical.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
A lot of pressure on CJ.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Stroud not only to get the Houston Texas over the hump,
but he needs to play well to get paid. That
was this week's how Do Not segment, brought to you
by what Sabi Hot cloud storage, store more and do
more with your data. Try them for free at Withsabi
dot com.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
All right, last, you have something that we talk about
or ump them there? Yeah? You want to you want
to flip it on you?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, So you were talking about the second contract, c J.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
C J. Stroud is fourth theear. You got to fit
your option coming up.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Texans have a decision to make right. There was a
tweet I'll never forget. I'm pretty I was in a
hotel room and I can't remember if it was the combine. Yeah,
but it was a combine or if it was at
the I think it was the combine where you made
a comment like at some point is there going to
be a time, especially with these contracts for quarterbacks doing
what they're doing. It's gone way higher from the time
(14:21):
you sent this post. And you can correct me if
i'm you can tighten this up. But it was basically,
are we going to have a situation where teams start
looking at quarterbacks and saying we can't just automatically be
ready to give them second contracts.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
We may have to start working through quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I don't want to call it like running backs, but
is there going to be a team that says, we
don't think you're good enough for a second contract, so
we're gonna let you walk and we're gonna redraft it
again if it's not there, and we're not gonna just
fall into the trap of giving somebody that we don't
believe in a second deal. Okay, on no one has
the balls to do that so far, Bucky, But I'm
waiting for the thing to say, you can we don't
(15:01):
think you're good enough. We'll take the chance of being
a quarterback purgatory and redraft a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Now, you caused a fush when you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Originally, Oh Lace, it was bad now because this is
what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right when you're trying to be a good teammate on TV,
sometimes it can bite you in the tail. And this
was in the midst of Lamar Jackson trying to get paid.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Justin Fields is.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Coming out, and I made the suggestion like, hey, if
they can't get it done, maybe they should consider treating
it like college and letting him graduate and bringing another one.
Because in college, that's what you do. You have the
big time quarterback. At some point he graduates, you go
and get another big time quarterback behind him. Now we
have not seen a team with I would say the
(15:42):
courage to do that, because what we then do is
we pay him and then we regret it immediately buyer's
remorse immediately. Now we're mad and we're pissed off at
the player. But the players played exactly how he's been playing.
But because we.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Pay him, the expectations go up.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And I think that's the danger when it comes to
evaluating quarterbacks when you pay them, and particularly like people
now look at the number, Oh my god, fifty million dollars.
He has to be able to carry the squad. But
what you and are saying is like, nah, that's the market,
that's the going rate. But it doesn't mean that he
is going to be what those initial guys that crossed
(16:22):
the frontier. He may not be that because now we
went from having two or three in that then now
it's like fourteen or fifteen and the fifty million dollar club,
So it's not as special as it is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
But when we hear it and we see.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Those numbers, there's a level, there's an expectation of what
is to come. And I'm gonna say this, seeing it
up close in personal with Trevor Lawrence, there's a lot
in trepidation.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
When Trevor Lawrence got his money whatever you guy.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Like, it was fifty two million annually and they paid
him before it was kind of time to pay him.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
And the season this year started out.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Now he finished with like thirty eight touchdowns and did
his thing, but there was a lot of oh my god,
why do we pay him?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Da? Da?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But then you're like, he's number one overall pick. If
we don't pay him, who is going to be next?
That is the challenge because most teams aren't positioned enough
to be like, oh yeah, man, we're good, Like, hey,
we're not gonna do that deal. We'll we'll drafted because
normally you either don't have the draft position, you don't
have the capital you have to draft to the quarterback
soon enough to kind of be in the stable and
(17:30):
ready to go if he does walk.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
It is a challenge.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
But I just know, we talk all the time about
it being the most important position in ball, but yet
we commit the fewest resources to the position. Why not,
if it's that important, should we double down, triple down
to make sure that we always have a quarterback? To me,
it just makes sense to approach it like that.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
I think it's a fascinating you know, if there were
more good quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It would be.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
It would be a real decision for teams if you
had more guys coming out right now that were legitimate
quarterbacks that you felt were starting level quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And this is a great year, great example this year.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Of expectations before the season, how they were not even
close to being met by the You know, realistically, the
play of quarterbacks in college football are very disappointing this
year relative to the expectations of some of the top quarterbacks.
But to your point, it's not only the expectations that soar.
When you have fifty plus million dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And soon it's gonna be sixty million dollars for.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
These quarterbacks, it's it's it's it's twofolds. It's twofold in baseball,
and baseball is on cap. But in baseball, what we're
seeing is the very best players are getting the very
best money. But if you're not one of the very
best play players, you're getting shorter contracts and you're not
getting the money that you want. They've really the market
(18:57):
has really said, we're only paying the very best player.
Is the long term, you know, two and three hundred
million dollars guarantee, we're only paying the very best guys
at and some other good players have found that the
market is is kind of it's not the same for them.
Football is one of the only places where you don't
even have to be a good quarterback. You can be
(19:17):
an average to above average quarterback, and which is what
trace I would say, Trevor Lawrence was an average quarterback
when he got paid. But they slot you in at
well your next up, well, your next up, I guess
we have to pay that, And no other sport do
they just say. I mean in basketball to an extent,
some of the max contracts, but football is still the
(19:37):
only sport where you are truly saying we know you're
probably not worth the money. That makes you the top
three or four at your position, but we feel like
we have to give it to you anyway because there's
no other choice.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And as you mentioned, there's immediate regret.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And one of the reasons there's immediate regret is because
if you don't start all of a sudden elevating your
play into one of the top four or five quarterbacks
in the league, it really makes no sense with what's
happening to your salary cap and the way you can
maneuver for the rest of your roster.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
You're tied up.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
You're an anchor for the rest of your rot in
terms of your ability to maneuver around the rest of
your roster.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And we all know when you have a rookie deal
going on.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
That's why the Texans are in such a rush to
try to win a championship because they're still working off
a rookie deal and you've got opportunities to do so
much more once you lock in all the contracts. Like
you let good players go, some good players have to walk.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
That's just the way it is, and that's why the
quarterback has to match up. And it's funny, man, because
I call it twenty one and one twenty one. Other
positions have different priorities, different expectations. When it comes to
a you got to earn it. We're gonna bring people
in all the time. You got to be ready to
compete and fend it off. And then we have the
one outlier, which is the quarterback, where we're so sensitive
(20:53):
to the quarterback's feelings and needs and demands that we
don't hold them to the same standard even though he's
eating the biggest piece of the pot.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Like that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
When it comes to it, it is a fascinating discussion.
It is one that continues to boggle our minds, but
it's one that I can't see changing in terms of
the way people approach it. Like as much as I
would love people to be daring in bold, the one
thing that happens is look, look look at Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
It got Quazy fired. He moves on from Sam Donald
thinking that he has won in the holster.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
In JJ McCarthy, I mean, he didn't make it to
the end of the season and they just said repaid.
They just resigned. Crazy, So that is the thing. It
sounds good. So now what you have is a bunch
of decision makers like I ain't gonna put myself out there.
I just resigned what I got and we'll deal with
it on the back end. Because Quasi tried to do
(21:51):
the right thing. They took the quarterback before they needed
a quarterback. They had one in the holster. They were
trying to get Daniel Jones and those things. They let
Sam walk thinking J. J. McCarthy was ready and he wasn't,
and so it blew up in their face.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Is Brian Billick once told me in a group full
of people, I think there's an NFL films.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He said, if you.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
As soon as you draft a quarterback in the first round,
they turned the They turned the uh, you know, the
hour glass over on your job. If you don't get
them developed by the time the sand trickles out and
the sand moves at different paces for different coaches and
different general managers. Once you draft that quarterback in the
first round, everyone's job is on the is on the line.
(22:37):
And that's just that's how it is. And Quazy found
that out. And you know, Chris Ballard is on the
clock right now. After the Anthony Richardson like you can go,
you can look at you can look at all these
different teams who drafted quarterbacks. I don't think Nick Casserio
is not in any You know that he's not in
any trouble there. They're a good team.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
But when you get when you draft a quarterback in
the first round, you expect to develop them. And that's
it if you If if that quarterback.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Doesn't develop, you better develop somebody else.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You better come up with a Plan B quickly. In questions,
couldn't come up with a plan B quickly enough?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
No, despite his best attempts, he couldn't come up with
a plan B. But I'm gonna tell you what I know.
He's not a plan B. The name las Z is
not a Plan B. So happy to have you on
the Move to six podcast today. Looking forward to more chats,
more conversation, more personnel breakdowns next week when you get
you and I get back together, to have two six
(23:31):
podcasts next week.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Until then, people keep it locked on Move the Sticks.
We're out.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
Popular Podcasts
Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb
Joy is essential. And it's also elusive. You can't order it, borrow it, or simply hope it into life. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence: The Joy 101 Podcast with Hoda! Best known for her Emmy-winning work and co-anchoring Today, Hoda Kotb infuses her authenticity, curiosity, and warmth into conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Entertainment legends, sport icons, wellness experts, and everyday folks will share how they find, allow, and experience joy. Hoda will offer her own tips and takes on seeking a more balanced, harmonious life. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune in to these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Joy after a breakup, joy as an empty-nester, joy after loss, joy as a caretaker — Hoda's new podcast will speak to you. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, an iHeartPodcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com