Former Ohio State star C.J. Stroud is expected to be among the top quarterbacks selected in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Stroud recently visited with the Carolina Panthers, who hold the No. 1 overall selection in the upcoming draft. If the Panthers go another route, the QB-needy Houston Texans could select Stroud No. 2 overall.
But not everybody is sold on Stroud’s future in the NFL.
One person is former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, who recently claimed that Stroud was not coachable.
"I'm not sure CJ Stroud is going #2"@mlombardiNFL and @StormBuonantony discussed the uncertainty of the Texans drafting Stroud with their number two pick in the #NFLDraft on #TheLombardiLine 🏈
For more, visit https://t.co/3zTr7PSvf3 pic.twitter.com/8X1zli6XxV
— VSiN (@VSiNLive) April 11, 2023
“C.J. Stroud is an interesting guy,” Lombardi said on VSiN Live.. “When you talk to people in the league, they will tell you C.J. Stroud is not — and 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 are saying. So he’s a little bit challenging to coach, so it’s not like he comes in and embraces it. He’s got a little bit of a different style to him.”
“He thinks he knows a little bit better, he’s probably hard to coach. I’m not saying he’s not a good player. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying the vibe that you get from talking to people who have interviewed him is he’s not an easy guy to coach. So what I have done is I have asked people, ‘I heard C.J. Stroud is not an easy guy to coach.’ And everyone echoes that back to you. I’m not saying he’s not a good player. I like C.J. Stroud. Would I pick him at two? I don’t know.”
Only time will tell how right Lombardi is about that. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day certainly had no problem getting production out of the former four-star recruit.
[VSiN]
