INDIANAPOLIS – Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud is under attack by people whose names we know, and by people whose names we don’t, and because of that he could be falling to the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which just so happens to belong to the Indianapolis Colts. There’s a portion of this sentence, a sliver, that should feel good around here. The part about Stroud falling to the Colts? This would be good luck at quarterback for the Colts, who are due.
But the whole thing is terrible for Stroud, and bad for the business of the NFL and of sports commentary, and embarrassing for what it says about society as whole:
We are cruel, we are gutless, and we get away with it because we can.
Hell, in some cases we get rewarded. Remember Nolan Nawrocki? Probably not. He was the NFL Draft “analyst” for some outfit or another who blasted Auburn quarterback Cam Newton before the 2011 NFL Draft, and blasted West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith before the 2013 NFL Draft. Newton has played 11 years in the NFL, and has won Rookie of the Year and MVP. Smith has been in the NFL for 10 years, just won the Comeback Player of the Year award.
Nawrocki was hired in 2019 by the Oakland Raiders. To be a scout. They liked his style. What can you say? They’re the Raiders.
This is how it goes before the NFL Draft, before any NFL Draft, because we have too much time on our hands and too much poison in our heart, and before you know it we’re spreading rumors and telling outright lies about C.J. Stroud, and NFL teams like the Houston Texans – who hold the No. 2 pick and need a quarterback but are said to be losing interest in Stroud – might even believe those rumors and lies, because what can you say?
They’re the Texans.
Seven weeks ago, after Stroud finished visiting with reporters at the 2023 NFL Combine in downtown Indianapolis, had you told me he’d be there for the Colts to draft at No. 4 I’d have hugged you. We need someone like Stroud around here. The Colts, their fans, and yes, writers like me. Little secret: All things being equal, we’d rather the teams we write about – is this OK to say aloud? – do not, shall we say, suck.
C.J. Stroud to the Colts? Maybe you can tell: I’d love it.
But not like this.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud describes his style of play at the 2023 NFL combine.
C.J. Stroud, Brady Quinn and the Manning Passing Academy
It started on April 11 with a podcast by Michael Lombardi. Who’s he? Somebody whose opinion used to matter, until people realized it didn’t.
Lombardi worked for a lot of NFL organizations, because people like this survive and advance and climb until they’re exposed for who they are. Lombardi is the guy who once said Doug Pederson “might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL.”
That was September 2017. Five months later, Pederson coached the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl title.
So it was Lombardi, having fallen out of the league and into a steaming pile of microphones, who decided on April 11 to say these words:
"C.J. Stroud's an interesting guy. When you talk to people in the league, they'll tell you C.J. Stroud is not — this is not a knock, this is just a conversation — not an easy guy to coach. I think the word that people use is he's very ‘not believing’ in what you're saying, and so he's a little bit challenging to coach."
Not a knock, clearly.
Too many people in my business, Lombardi among them, allow someone to rip a college kid, but only if we leave their name out of it. Lombardi was not, in that sound bite, sharing “information” about C.J. Stroud. He was sharing poison. But what can you say?
He's Michael Lombardi.
Eight days later it was Brady Quinn’s turn. Quinn, the former Notre Dame quarterback who has worked as an analyst for FOX, CBS and SiriusXM, was on another podcast to spread some nonsense that Stroud “ghosted” Peyton Manning’s passing camp in 2022. According to Quinn, whose reporting accuracy is about as good his arm – 53.8% in parts of four NFL seasons – Stroud simply didn’t show up.
Like that would happen. That version of Stroud and the Manning camp has been disputed, publicly, by people putting their names on their words, unlike Quinn who thought it would be cute to play reporter for a day.
Do I believe somebody told Quinn as much? Sure. Quinn wasn’t “lying.” Neither was Lombardi. They were just carrying water for someone, but too gutless to say for whom. Now, Lombardi has two kids who just so happen to work for the Raiders, who could use a young quarterback and have the No. 7 overall picks among 12 total picks. Forgive yourself if you wonder where he’s getting his information, and why.
As for Quinn, well, as a player he was represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA). That happens to be the same agency that represents two other top quarterbacks in the draft, Bryce Young of Alabama and Will Levis of Kentucky. CAA also represents ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Why am I bringing up Schefter? Because he was the first talking head – back when Young and Stroud were seen as co-favorites to go No. 1 overall to the Panthers – to speculate that the Panthers had decided on Young.
And then it was Schefter, about 10 days ago – after Lombardi’s conversation (not a knock) about Stroud’s coachability – who first suggested the Texans might skip Stroud entirely.
Does CAA represent Lombardi or his kids?
Just a conversation, Michael. Not a knock.
Now, let’s get to the worst part of the C.J. Stroud character assassination.
C.J. Stroud, Bob McGinn and the S2 test
The guy’s name is Bob McGinn. He’s covered the NFL for years, once upon a time in Milwaukee I think, and while it’s not exactly normal in my business for one sportswriter to openly critique another, what McGinn has done – for years – is awful. It’s poisonous.
Google his name. He comes out with a pre-draft story every year, quoting anonymous sources on various prospects. It’s like reading the National Enquirer. Interesting, if you believe Elvis is piloting UFO’s.
This year, last week in fact – six days before the NFL Draft – McGinn posted the S2 scores of multiple quarterbacks in the draft. What’s the S2? A cognitive test that, more effectively than the NFL Draft’s previous test du jour – the Wonderlic – measures how quickly a person can process information. Test-takers look at screens where shapes or colors emerge, and the goal is to identify them as quickly as possible, or to remember their order, or both. Seems like a decent test for an NFL quarterback who has to identify the defense in a split-second, but it’s just a test. Tests can lie. Film does not.
According to our man Bob McGinn, C.J. Stroud bombed the S2 test. McGinn posted the glowing results of players like Bryce Young and Will Levis, and of the time Bengals QB Joe Burrow aced the S2. Turns out Burrow is another CAA guy, like Young and Levis and Schefter and (once) Quinn.
Everyone ran with the Stroud score. It’s everywhere: Stroud bombed it! Look online for yourself.
Meanwhile.
Someone named Brandon Ally told Pro Football Focus to “take some of those (results) with a grain of salt. … We have seen, ‘Hey, so-and-so scored the highest in the class, or the highest ever, and so-and-so scored low,’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s not true.’
“This class as a whole – all the guys in the discussion – have scored really, really well.”
Who is Brandon Ally, and why should we listen to him?
He’s the co-founder of S2 Cognition.
See, not all sports sources are created equally. Neither are all sports reporters.
Neither are all quarterbacks.
If Stroud is there at No. 4, the Colts had better take him. But if he is still there at No. 4, well, now you know why.
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04-24-2023, 06:08 PM
Doyel: Anonymous sources are lying about Ohio State's CJ Stroud as draft stock falls
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