Can C.J. Stroud repeat his rookie-year success? | Zero Blitz

Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice, fantasy analyst Matt Harmon, and NFL writer Charles McDonald dive into the first year of QB C.J. Stroud and if his rookie success was a fluke or sign of more to come. Hear the full conversation on the “Zero Blitz” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

I just wrote about CJ Stroud.

Uh He's good.

Uh I don't know if anyone knows this but he's really good.

Uh uh I'll just drop one that he had the sixth highest EPA per drop back from any rookie quarterback since 2006.

But also he was the top five quarterback if you just looked at true drop backs as far as no play action, no RP OS.

And that's where you watch CJ Stroud, you know, make some magic.

It's not the wide open Dalton Schultz touchdown, the playoffs or any of those that are wide open that we typically see some from the Shanahan type offense that Bobby Slick runs.

It's him dropping back on third down, reading out the whole field finding the fourth progression, looking at safeties moving in the pocket, not even looking to scramble and firing a rocket in there.

He's freaking awesome.

I'm excited about CJ Stroud.

I'm pretty excited about this team mainly just because we, we saw CJ Stroud last year and you, you just listed off basically what makes him so great if he takes another step and you have Stefan Diggs and Stefon Diggs is willing to step back into the wide receiver two role.

If he's willing to do that, he's, he's a really mellow personality that has never had issues with his previous team.

So it's good.

It's good.

I don't think I'm ready to say they're going to knock off Kansas City or Baltimore in the playoffs, but for where they are right now, I personally would be a little surprised if they didn't win, uh, the AFC South unless, you know, Anthony Richardson has been, you know, meditating and ready to just absolutely light the world on fire.

I'm not going to go so far as to say they can knock off Kansas City, but I think they could easily be like the second best team in this conference this year.

If everything comes together.

CJ.

Shrout is a freaking monster.

He's unbelievable dropping back.

He's unbelievable play action.

He can get the ball quick, he can launch the ball down the field.

He's super aggressive.

He's super smart.

I'm curious if they spread it out more.

If it's not, doesn't look as much as like a Shanahan offense with a lot of tight sets where they just let Stroud drop back and let it rip.