Before Ohio State’s 42-41 loss to Georgia in the CFP semifinal, the word on Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud was that he was just fine in structure, when the playbook could be followed. But if you wanted a quarterback who could play and win outside of structure, you were better off going elsewhere.
Then, Stroud faced the NCAA’s best defense, and did a whole bunch of stuff like this.
Coaches, scouts, and executives will tell you that player evaluation is about the full body of work as opposed to the last thing you saw, but how can the NFL not be entranced by what Stroud showed against the Bulldogs that he really had not shown before? A C.J. Stroud at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds presents a more favorable overall picture to a lot of people than Alabama’s Bryce Young, whose pre-combine measurables are 6-foot-0 and 194 pounds. There aren’t a lot of quarterbacks that size selected this high in the draft, because it isn’t the 1970s.
So, let’s say that what Stroud accomplished in that loss to Georgia was a massive win for his future.
Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud gained as much as he lost in his final collegiate game
Is that enough to vault him over Young as the first quarterback taken in the 2023 draft, and the first player overall? In this mock draft, Stroud doesn’t just leapfrog Young — the Indianapolis Colts trade their fourth and 35th picks in the 2023 draft, as well as their first-round pick in the 2024 draft, to move up to first overall to take Stroud, moving the Chicago Bears to fourth.
The Houston Texans, who performed losing by winning in their season finale victory over the Colts, moving them from first to second in the draft, still get Young. Then, the Arizona Cardinals get Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter, the consensus best player in the 2023 draft class, and the Bears, moved down to fourth, get the receiver Justin Fields so desperately needs in TCU’s Quentin Johnston.
Here’s how the rest of the first round of the 2023 draft might go with all that in mind.