C.J. Stroud thinks Matthew Stafford is much, much better than Aaron Rodgers

Stafford gets some respect from the reigning ROY.

C.J. Stroud isn’t just one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, he’s also not afraid to drop his opinions on football. The latest making waves is his assertion that Matthew Stafford is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, and that if he had the same Packers team that was around Aaron Rodgers he would have won “three or four” rings.

“Stafford another one bro. He might be up there with Brady and them ... no, that’s crazy, that’s crazy, that’s crazy. Let me go back. [...] If you give Matthew Stafford a chance like Aaron Rodgers had, I guarantee he might have had more rings — for sure. I’d say he’d have like three or four. Tough as nails, bro.”

Stroud says there’s nobody in football he’s learned more from than watching Stafford. The Texans QB acknowledges that Patrick Mahomes is unbelievable, but notes that there’s some things Mahomes does that he just can’t replicate — so a lot of his skills were borrowed from Stafford. Most notably this includes his ability to beat defenses using the same plays again and again, but winning by manipulating defenders with his eyes and diagnosing defensive tendencies.

It’s a bold claim of Stroud to essentially say that Stafford is far better than Rodgers, when the consensus opinion has long been that Rodgers is one of the best of all time. There’s little doubt that Stafford lost most of his prime years to incompetence in Detroit, especially after Calvin Johnson retired.

Here’s the tale of the tape from Stathead if you’re so inclined to debate.

Personally, I think it’s just awesome to see a young player give Stafford his due. Too often he’s lost in the discussion of top quarterbacks because he spent so much time on terrible teams that were out of his control.