00:00We might recall last year was a big thing.
00:02C.J. Stroud was not at OTAs.
00:04Everyone was very concerned.
00:05He's expected to be there tomorrow.
00:07We'll see what happens.
00:08But how big now, as we fast forward a year here to this year's OTAs,
00:13how impactful, how important are these OTAs for the Texans quarterback?
00:16So this is where it started a year ago this week.
00:21Remember, actually, he was at OTAs, but he wasn't throwing.
00:25Remember?
00:25And how vague and how mysterious it all was.
00:31And even D'Amico Ryans, he said, oh, just general soreness.
00:34We're trying to monitor him.
00:36I'm paraphrasing, but, you know, limit him and make sure he's ready for when it really counts.
00:41But, Fig, you remember it.
00:42It was an ongoing story.
00:45Yeah, it was.
00:46I mean, because we didn't expect it.
00:48We was wondering if it was from the season before or did he have some type of work done.
00:54And it was OTAs.
00:55He'd already had months off.
00:56Yeah, some people were saying he was overreacting.
00:58Some people were saying it was a big deal.
01:00I think Clint thought it was a big deal that he wasn't, you know, throwing.
01:04That was a year ago.
01:05And every day, we would be trying to monitor the video and the reports that we're getting.
01:11Like, did he throw today?
01:12Nope.
01:13Like, dang, what is it?
01:14What is it?
01:15And so, the reason I wanted to bring that up is because we're getting all these reports
01:19and we're seeing ourselves kind of the new C.J. Stroud, the new approach.
01:25And, heck, Aaron Wilson was reporting that, you know, he's changed his diet significantly
01:30and is in much better shape, lost some weight.
01:34We're seeing a new look that he has down to the look, you know, buying in and all that.
01:40But if you go back, I would argue that that whole OTAs mystery and stuff kind of started
01:49the whole, I guess, narrative about C.J. Stroud.
01:55People kind of were like, come on, man, you know, stuff like that.
01:57Or what is it?
01:58Or is he injured and all that.
01:59And then it just mushroomed, you know.
02:01It just blossomed from there to what we know it was at the end of the season.
02:06You don't think OTAs are that important.
02:08But I feel, and I don't know about you guys, I feel like that's kind of where the seeds
02:12were planted on, I don't know about this guy.
02:14You know?
02:15Interesting.
02:16I don't think it helped.
02:17I will certainly grant you that.
02:19Honestly, I feel like it started before with the whole, fair or otherwise, the whole, like,
02:23Tank Dell thing.
02:23And then there was another second one, too.
02:26Well, you took, what's her name, home?
02:28Remember that?
02:28Amber Rose.
02:29Amber Rose.
02:30And that was, like, two years ago.
02:32Oh, was that two years ago?
02:32Around this time, yeah.
02:34Yeah, yeah.
02:34Yeah.
02:34So, I think it was already kind of starting.
02:36But I do agree with you that it certainly didn't help.
02:38And the mystery of it, that's always the case.
02:40I've referenced this before.
02:41Actually, somebody in the text line earlier took a dig at my girl, Barbra Streisand.
02:45But they call it, like, the Barbra Streisand, that when you try to cover something up, obviously
02:50it makes it worse.
02:50Because going back, Barbra Streisand bought a new house.
02:53She didn't want the paparazzi to see her new house.
02:55And she had a whole, she made a whole spectacle of trying to keep her house hidden.
02:59So then suddenly it's like, oh, well, then we've got to see this house.
03:01No, we've got to see it.
03:02So, it's similar to the mystery with Stroud.
03:04I think it wasn't so much that he wasn't throwing, but it was the mystery of, like, what's going
03:07on here?
03:08Why isn't he throwing?
03:09And I think that didn't help his case of just the lack of transparency.
03:12We see what the Astros, too, with especially injuries.
03:15And you're trying to figure out, like, what's going on?
03:16How soon are they going to be back?
03:17So, I'm with you 100% that I don't think it helps Stroud.
03:20And I think it did hurt the way people viewed him before the season even started.
03:25Or as the season progressed, you think back to that.
03:27But, at the same time, I will say, I think it all began before last year's FTAs.
03:32It just didn't help.
03:33Every little, you know, tidbit of information sort of had people, and there was some people
03:38questioning him already based on the previous season, but it didn't help him.
03:42So, how important is it now just for him to be out there throwing, you know, leading
03:48the way, clapping, and, you know, being the quote-unquote leader?
03:51Because, like I said, I would argue, right there, people started just kind of going, ah,
03:56ah.
03:57Even if it was before, it sort of, you know, galvanized, yeah, I don't know about this
04:01guy.
04:02Would that change things for you?
04:05Yeah.
04:05Yeah.
04:05And it's fascinating, because, yeah, it was definitely bad publicity for him at the time.
04:10And it's interesting.
04:11I heard you reference Seth and Sean.
04:12I heard Seth make a good point earlier about, you know, if we want to compare the differences
04:16from last year's OTAs, where Stroud wasn't throwing, to now this year, we expect him to be
04:21out there tomorrow.
04:21I thought Seth made a good point about just how motivated these quarterbacks get when
04:26there is not a commitment.
04:28And he pointed to somebody like Aaron Rodgers, who wasn't playing great in Green Bay, and
04:32then as soon as they draft Jordan Love, like, he goes out and he becomes an MVP, back-to-back
04:37MVP.
04:38And so, it's almost like, you referenced the office earlier, Michael Scott, where his math
04:42teacher told him, like, you're not going to pass math class.
04:45And then he says, and then I went out and scored the most goals in hockey and school history
04:48the next day.
04:49Like, those two things are related.
04:51But Michael Scott's saying, you know, I perform with a chip on my shoulder.
04:53And where I'm going with all of this is that for C.J. Stroud, he's obviously still playing
04:58towards a long-term contract.
04:59So, if we want to, you know, juxtapose the two OTAs last year, he's not even throwing
05:04and there's a lot of questions about him.
05:05Fast forward a year, and now, with that motivation of wanting to get the contract and get rid of
05:11that bad taste in everyone's mouth from last year's postseason, we might just see a different
05:16guy this week taking these things far more serious than maybe a year ago where, for one
05:21reason or another, he wasn't throwing.
05:23I would absolutely, I'm going to throw a little bit of a curveball at you guys here.
05:26I would absolutely expect him to be the model citizen.
05:31You know, come in, because everything we've seen has been exactly that.
05:36You know, come in, just a new guy, buying in, you know, embracing the offense.
05:41We'll see how it plays out over the course of the season, but, you know, for now, embracing
05:44the offense, doing all that, there is a little bit of a curveball here that I think would
05:49set things back to maybe even worse than they were at the end of last year.
05:54And that is, you know what?
05:57OTAs are voluntary.
05:59I'll be there for minicamp.
06:00I'll be there for minicamp.
06:02But making a little statement during OTAs, oh boy, you talk about...
06:08Davis Meantron out there taking first-team reps at OTAs.
06:11Yeah, because there is, you know, hey, Will Anderson, sitting side-by-side with him on
06:16draft night, you know, got his extension.
06:19Yeah.
06:20So, that's why it's just intriguing as hell to me, right?
06:23It is.
06:23That part is.
06:24It's twofold.
06:25It's one in the sense of, as we were just talking about, if you thought last year not
06:28throwing at OTAs hurt his reputation amongst Texans fans and whatnot, if he sits out this
06:34year as part of, like, a negotiation, I think that will have a much bigger impact.
06:38It would go off the rails.
06:39Yeah.
06:40It would go off the rails.
06:41Oh, man.
06:42And I don't want to see it go off the rails like that.
06:44And then the second aspect, of course, is that whole negotiation.
06:48That's his sign that he's going to start playing a little hardball here.
06:50How is that going to progress and impact things throughout the rest of the offseason or into
06:56the regular season?
06:56So, yeah, if that happens, that will be a big one.
06:59We talked earlier about what we're most looking for in these OTAs, what we need to see.
07:04And we excluded the quarterback because we knew we were going to spend more time on CJ
07:08Stroud later on.
07:09And we talked about who's playing center, who's linebacker three now that EJ Speed is out.
07:13What is the wide receiver rotation going to look like, both with, potentially, or without
07:18Tank Dell?
07:18But then, obviously, yeah, CJ Stroud's the other big story.
07:21And most notably, it would be if he tried to play a little hardball financially and doesn't
07:26show up or doesn't throw this week or whatever, that, of course, would be the biggest story.
07:31But for me, even if he is there and he is participating and he's being that great teammate
07:35and leader in throwing, as I said yesterday, I'm curious, too, just to see, like, the body
07:39language, just to see the media conversations.
07:42Not even so much with the contract, but obviously, the last time we saw him on a football field
07:46was an utter disaster I've been talking about for the four months since.
07:50So now here's our first chance to see him back out there with his teammates.
07:53What's the body language?
07:55What's the interactions like with him and his teammates?
07:57When he talks to the media, how is he sounding?
08:00Does he bring that up?
08:02What's the last four months been like?
08:03All that sort of stuff.
08:04To me, you know, even if Stroud weren't to throw a football, just him being there, getting
08:08eyes on him, hearing him at all, seeing how he interacts, to me, that's big after what
08:13we saw four months ago in the playoffs.
08:15No, I think, and I expect it.
08:17I'm just saying it is a possibility out there.
08:20David Molagetta has done this before, and that is his agent.
08:24You know, and certainly, it's a slight possibility to me, but I think it's a possibility.
08:29Hell, Sho was saying he would.
08:30I know, I hear that.
08:31He said he would do that.
08:33But other than that, I'm totally with you.
08:36I'm going to watch how C.J. Stroud performs rather than how he performs on the field, if
08:43that makes any sense.
08:44It's just, like, just down to, heck, Nick Caley and Jerry Szaplinski is his quarterback's
08:51coach.
08:51It's true.
08:51And how he, what he says about that, and the run game.
08:54Hey, we got an offensive line, but they're going to, you know, they keep saying, run
08:58the ball, run the ball, run the ball.
08:59How are you feeling about that?
09:00Oh, I'm in, man.
09:00I'm in.
09:01Well, even that would be significant.
09:04Yeah.
09:04Because we didn't see that him really kind of embrace that last year.
09:08Yeah, absolutely.
09:09So, it is the number one story, and my goodness, if he is not there.
09:13Yeah.
09:13Right?
09:13If he doesn't show up tomorrow or in the next 48 hours, I'll tell you what, it'd be a fun
09:18day on the radio, Aaron.
09:19It would be a fun day.
09:20How would you feel if he was there but wasn't throwing, like, similar to last year, where
09:25he's just on the sideline?
09:28It would come, to be fair, Aaron Wilson says he's been here for a month already.
09:33Slimming down and all that.
09:35Slimming down, you know, eating differently, et cetera.
09:39So, all expectations are yes.
09:41I just, I mean, it is, it is absolutely a possibility, and it would, it would just, it
09:46would just change everything.
09:47It would just change it, change it back to worse than it was.
09:50Yeah, it's true.
09:51So, all eyes on, as a Texans take the field here in the next 24, 48 hours.
09:56He'll be on the quarterback, Stroud, making sure he's there, making sure he's participating,
10:00making sure he's not ruffling any feathers here at the organization, because otherwise
10:04the narrative or the conversations will change drastically throughout this offseason about
10:09the Texans and their quarterback.
10:11OTAs begin tomorrow.
10:12How important is this week and the next week here for CJ Stroud?
10:16Let us know, 713-572-4610.
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