CJ Stroud in his recent media appearances has been extremely candid about his opinion of other players. Some of his takes have truly been outlandish and borderline disrespectful resulting in social media uproar. While many former players and pundits have been of the opinion that Stroud should mellow down his speech, Texans legend JJ Watt feels otherwise.
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In his latest appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, JJ Watt was quipped by the host on CJ Stroud’s outlandish remarks on fellow QBs and rival teams. Watt in response backed his former team’s star QB and argued that Stroud is free to say whatever he wants as long as he can back it up on the field.
JJ took the example of CJ openly taunting and trash-talking rivals, the Indianapolis Colts in a recent interview. The former Texans DE argued that Stroud is not wrong to trash talk the Colts because whatever he said was based on the fact that Stroud and his team completely decimated the Colts at every opportunity this past season.
“I don’t mind it as long as you back it up, that’s how it always goes. Sports [is] backing it up, I mean the talking on the Colts, he beat the Colts, we won the division, we beat the Colts for the division…”
However, on the flip side, the former NFL superstar believes that there is a psychological factor that makes trash-talking a positive exercise for players.
JJ Watt Reveals How Trash Talking Can Help CJ Stroud Better His Game
JJ also shared an interesting perspective on the discourse around Stroud by revealing that when players tend to speak loud, there is an onus on them to perform better to live up to their words. Watt shared from his personal experience that this onus helped him improve his game considerably.
“I’ve been in that situation before you know during my career. You put yourself out there a lot, you’re welcoming feedback onto yourself, then you have to go out there and perform… and sometimes it makes you perform even better.”
While Watt’s argument from a psychological perspective is valid, it’s hard to see how CJ Stroud is to benefit by putting Matthew Stafford on Tom Brady’s level. Apart from trash-talking the Colts, Stroud has been under the scanner for making weird QB comparisons like the one mentioned above.
Another one of Stroud’s controversial takes recently emerged when the QB picked Eli Manning over Aaron Rodgers citing the former’s two Super Bowl victories. Picking Eli over Rodgers really hurt fans as many argued that on an individual level, Rodgers’ four MVPs and five All-Pros are miles above Eli’s accolades.
For the majority, CJ’s takes have been absurd, but at the end of the day, he is speaking his heart. He is a star player and honestly requires no controversies to be in the news. There as JJ opined, CJ should not let the naysayers affect him and continue performing well on the field. As seen with Aaron Rodgers himself, the internet forgives and forgets all the idiosyncrasies as long as one mesmerizes them on the field.
