If C.J. Stroud didn’t turn the ball over as much as he did on Sunday, DeMeco Ryans and the Houston Texans might be heading to Denver for the AFC Championship Game.
Instead, the Ohio State Buckeyes product and former No. 2 overall draft pick will have to worry about his pockets being lighter than they otherwise would’ve been.
“C.J. Stroud... I think he cost himself millions and millions of dollars these last two games,” Dan Patrick said Monday on his radio show. “Because there is no way I’m going to extend him. I don’t wanna make the mistake the Dolphins did with Tua (Tagovailoa). Kyler Murray (and the Arizona Cardinals giving him an extension).
"You’ve gotta show me again next year, and even then I’d be a little apprehensive. Because something was going on. Body language was terrible. And I know the conditions weren’t great. I understand that. ... But there were throws where you’re just going, ‘What is going on here?’”
ESPN color commentator and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was critical after Stroud threw four interceptions in the road divisional round playoff loss to Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots. Patrick added that the Texans needed “just average quarterback play” to have a chance to win. He wondered if Ryans was going to bench Stroud for backup Davis Mills.
“I thought, ‘Maybe just give the offense a little jolt of something there,’” Patrick said. “Because you weren’t out of it. … You could just see C.J. Stroud just kinda look like, ‘I don’t know.’”