Analysis
10/1/23
7 min read
C.J. Stroud Surpasses Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson in 2023 QB Class
Think back to the conversations about the 2023 quarterback class six months ago. Bryce Young was the unquestioned No.1 pick. C.J. Stroud was a talented passer, but one with questions to answer about his skills outside the pocket and the history of Ohio State quarterbacks. Anthony Richardson was a complete tear-down and rebuild project after barely completing half his passes in college.
That's exactly how the draft order shook out, too. The Carolina Panthers took Young with the first pick, the Houston Texans got the next-best bet in Stroud, and the Indianapolis Colts took their usual swing on high-end traits with Richardson.
It turns out a lot can change in six months of NFL time.
Bryce Young Struggling In Carolina
The Bryce Young era in Carolina hasn't gone according to plan a month into it. Young was supposed to bring a spark to the Panthers' offense and elevate the talent around him. That's the expectation of any No.1 pick in a vacuum, but that's also what Young did at Alabama. Alabama's offensive line and skill talent weren't near the program's typical standard during Young's time in college, but everything he gave them as a problem solver and playmaker made up for it.
That Young was a historically small prospect at 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds wasn't supposed to matter.
Young hasn't been able to beat the small quarterback allegations in the pros yet. He's already serving as an example of the difference between high-end college athletes and pro athletes. NFL pass-rushers are bigger and faster, NFL throwing windows are tighter, and NFL defenses are far more complex than anything Young saw in college. All of that is catching up to Young, who is used to overcoming imperfect play in structure with his creation ability.
The results through three games have been ugly. Young is averaging 4.9 yards per pass and has been sacked 11 times. A few drops and some questionable offensive line play factor into that, but the point of a No.1 pick is that they should transcend that to some degree.
Instead, you get screen-heavy game plans like the one we saw from the Panthers in their 20-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Young just doesn't have the physical tools to fix the problems the Panthers offense has.
Anthony Richardson’s Flashes of Brilliance
Richardson is the anti-Young. He's a cyborg-turned-quarterback who many believed would take time to acclimate to the NFL because of his accuracy issues and perceived inability to process — a bogus claim from the jump, to be clear.
It's not taken Richardson any time to acclimate to the NFL. At least not in terms of handling the mental side and being an NFL-level playmaker. Richardson came out firing against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, scored two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter of Week 2 against the Texans and took the Los Angeles Rams down to the wire in Week 4. Accuracy is still an issue, but there's no doubt he has the tools and mental makeup to be a force.
The difference between Richardson and Young is the Colts quarterback has the athletic tools to make up for an imperfect supporting cast and to mask typical rookie struggles.
The 6-4 Richardson can stand tall in the pocket and scan the field. If Richardson ends up late on a throw, he can throw 100 mph to make up for lost time. If Richardson has to leave the pocket, he runs a 4.44 and can outrace most NFL defenders to the edge. Richardson has all the tools that let a rookie screw up and buy themselves extra opportunities; Young doesn't.
C.J. Stroud’s Immediate Returns
Then there's Stroud, who resides in a different plane from the other two altogether. Stroud is a throwback pocket passer. To many, that was a fault during the draft process.
While Stroud's accuracy and decision-making in college were phenomenal, there was concern that pulling him out of the cushy environment at Ohio State would make things slow down for him and expose his average ability to create outside of structure.
That couldn't be further from what we've seen through a month of play.
Stroud has everything you want. Purely as a thrower, it doesn't get prettier than watching Stroud. He's got zoomer Matt Ryan vibes with how he can bend the ball to his will to all three field levels down in and out.
Stroud maximizes what he's got with excellent anticipation, too. At 6-3, Stroud comfortably sees the field from the pocket and already anticipates throwing windows like a veteran. He's not afraid to throw before the break and trusts his man to get open.
None of the "Ohio State system quarterback" issues come up in Stroud's play, either. The Texans gave him the full playbook from the jump and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is calling plays like he knows he has a certified dude at quarterback. Stroud executes the classic under center Shanahan play-action stuff just as well as handles the quick game from empty sets or five-step dropbacks on third-and-12. It's all on the table for him.
The Texans ask Stroud to make big boy reads and throws, and he's executing as well as any rookie has in the modern era.
Better yet, the game hasn't been too fast for Stroud outside the pocket. It turns out the flashes we saw against Michigan and Georgia at the end of his final college season weren't a mirage. That's just who he is when the lights shine bright enough. Stroud has proven more than capable of making defenders miss and scrambling around to salvage otherwise broken plays. Now, he's never going to be the agent of chaos that Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes is, but he's more than capable of getting active when plays break down.
That has culminated in fantastic early returns on Stroud's rookie year. Not that passing yards are a perfect barometer, but Stroud is already in rare company. Stroud's 1,212 passing yards make him the third player in history with at least 1,200 passing yards through their first four starts. Cam Newton and Andrew Luck are the only other two quarterbacks to do so, and Justin Herbert fell just five yards short. All three of those guys won Offensive Rookie of the Year and became multi-time Pro Bowlers and even an MVP in Newton's case. History is on Stroud's side.
Where Do They Go From Here?
The 2023 quarterback class shows all three shades of rookie play.
Stroud is the guy who stepped in right away and looked like a pro. Luck, Herbert and Newton had that aura about them. Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott had some of that, too.
Richardson, inconsistent as he may be, is an uber-talented player with enough flashes of command and toughness to feel good about moving forward. Josh Allen was an extreme version of that, but Lamar Jackson falls into that mold as well. In the end, the wait was well worth it for those two.
Young is in limbo; neither capable enough within structure to move the offense right away nor talented enough to be explosive. The former can and will change as he gets more reps, but the latter won't. He's not going to get any bigger or faster. The margin for error isn't going to change for him.
Now, the story is far from written for this quarterback class. We're not even through the first chapter. But for the time being, two rookie quarterbacks look like good long-term investments. Neither of them is the guy who was drafted with the first overall pick.
Derrik Klassen is an NFL and NFL Draft film analyst with a particular interest in quarterbacks. Klassen’s work is also featured on Bleacher Report and Reception Perception. You can follow him on Twitter (X) at @QBKlass.
