Albert Breer on C.J. Stroud’s Future, J.J. McCarthy QB1?, Grass v. Turf Dilemma

All right.

Welcome in.

It is the Brew Report for Wednesday, May 13th.

It is a mailbag edition of the Brewer Report.

As always, you can find more answers to more questions at the MMQB.

com.

The print edition of the mailbag will be up a little bit later today.

Get some more detailed answers there, but as we always do.

We are going to answer three of your questions right here, right now, and that'll start with a question from John Ferris, that's at bullet_Silver.

John asks, where will CJ Stroud, Stroud be quarterbacking in 2 years?

Fascinating.

And it is fascinating, John, because I do think there is a question of whether or not CJ Stroud is the quarterback that you want to hit your future.

Or two for the next 10 years.

The reality is though, when you sign these contracts, it doesn't always turn out that way.

It's an affirmation that the team thinks you're gonna get there, but it doesn't always work out like that.

And the cautionary tales that we have right now from this particular offseason are Tuatungavaloa being released by the Miami Dolphins.

And Kyler Murray being released by the Arizona Cardinals.

Tua did a big second contract after his fourth year despite all of the injuries, and that was what delayed it for a year.

But he did his, uh, his, his, his big second contract with the Dolphins during the 2024 offseason, which means he only got two years in the new deal, uh, before the Dolphins wind up walking away from him.

And Kyler Murray, of course, did his after 3 years.

So he did it at the first point that he could have possibly done it.

We've also seen other cases of these sorts of contracts recently blowing up in the face of teams.

Um, Russell Wilson is a big example of it.

Deshaun Watson is another example of it.

Two trades that obviously did not work out for the Browns and the Broncos.

Um, it made things difficult for those teams to build going forward because of the financial albatross that was hanging around their neck.

Um, so, you know, this is a big decision for where the Texans are going.

They've got a lot of mouths to feed, um, and they've already paid some of the guys that have become big-time players for them.

Over the last few years, Nico Collins is on that list, Will Anderson is on that list, uh, Derrek Stingley is on that list, and they're gonna have more guys that they're gonna have to pay, um, over the next few years to keep the nucleus of the team that they've put together intact.

So, is CJ Stroud a piece of that nucleus.

And my sense is you'd probably want to see another year before you make that determination.

I don't think anybody would have questioned the idea that we could get there after his rookie year.

He was phenomenal as a rookie.

It's come apart since.

And the last two years, I think it's fair to say at the very least have been uneven.

Now, not all of that is on him.

The offensive line room was not in a good place in his second year, that would have been 2024.

They wind up trading Laremy Tunsil.

After that season, as a result of all that rebuilding the offensive line, it was still an issue last year, but they started to work through it and working young guys like Ariante Ursy in there.

They've done more now in bringing in Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith to try to resurface the offensive line.

Um, they bring in David Montgomery to replace Joe Mixon.

Losing Joe Mixon was a big deal last year.

And so there have been all these moving parts as the defense has ascended to the very top of the league.

You know, and again, like I think at least the 5th-year option gives them the flexibility now where they can wait another year and see if CJ Stroud turns it around, and they don't have to do anything right now, and that's what I think they should do.

CJ's got a ton of ability, and there's no question about his natural physical talent.

Um, he's also got a great head for the game.

So the question is, can he bring all of that together?

And, you know, I do think like when you're looking at what's around him now, it's probably in a better place than it's been since he was a rookie, and it's in, and, and it puts him in position to perform at a higher level.

So this is gonna be an important year.

I do think he winds up being the quarterback that the Houston Texans hitched their wagon to.

But make no mistake about it, if they can't find some sort of compromise over the next couple of months, there's a lot on the line for CJ Stroud in 2026.

No question about it.

Question number two, this is from PT Shandman, that's at PT Shandman.

What percentage would you put on JJ McCarthy starting at least a game or two this year?

You know, I think Kevin O'Connell is gonna give JJ McCarthy a chance to win the job.

And I think after, you know, what you saw last year, it might sound crazy, they obviously went in on Kyler Murray and so having the opportunity um to get a good long look at Kyler Murray um on a one-year deal, you know, obviously, like that's, you know, gonna give you another shot at finding a long-term answer at the quarterback position because Kyler is still young.

Um, JJ is very, very young.

And the reality of it is, I mean, he's got less than a half a season of snaps under his belt 2 years into his career.

So we don't really know what he is right now.

There's some physical ability there for sure.

I think he's a good kid, a team player, all that different stuff.

So can he put it all together?

At the very least, having Kyler Murray on the roster, creating some competition for him, which they intended to do last year before, you know, they failed to get Daniel Jones or Sam Darnold back in the building and those guys left for better opportunities elsewhere.

Now, with JJ McCarthy , it's, OK, now we've put the competition in the room, let's see how you react.

Um, they're gonna have a new general manager there, that's gonna be part of the equation.

Kevin O'Connell's been through the last couple of years with him.

The guy who drafted JJ McCarthy, Kwesi AdolfoMa, is not there anymore.

And so, you know, I think this is a, a real wild card, um, you know, in, in, in 2026 is the status of JJ McCarthy.

He could wind up putting it all together and we've seen guys who are first-round picks, put it all together later in their careers.

It happened for Sam Darnold, it happened for Baker Mayfield.

Those guys needed changes of scenery to get there.

So, does JJ McCarthy blow the team away in OTAs?

Does he blow the team away in training camp?

He's gonna have an opportunity to win that job , but can he win that job?

Um, and, and this is with a guy who's probably gonna come in and take the first snap of training camp, probably take the first snap of OTAs.

Like I think that this is a fascinating situation because I don't think anyone in that quarterback room is guaranteed anything in 2027.

And all they're guaranteed now is a shot.

And the new general manager could come in and they could have a discussion about Brendan Sorsby, which is another topic altogether.

But, you know, like I look at where the Vikings are right now, and they've got a roster that's sort of built to win right now, and this is not going to be like a development year for JJ McCarthy.

JJ McCarthy is going to have to prove to the Vikings coaching staff that he gives them the best chance to win right now.

If Kyler Murray gives them the best chance to win right now, Kyler Murray will be the quarterback.

So this is not about draft status anymore.

This is about who's gonna help you win now.

And if you can do that, then maybe you can build on something going forward.

I do think we'll see McCarthy at some point this year to answer your question though.

Finally, question number 3, and this was kind of a curveball um by our guy, our producer, Kent Brown, um, Want to explore the turf, uh, question a little bit more.

And so I posted an explanation of why so many stadiums have turf now on Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it.

So someone asked this question coming out of that.

That's Brandon Folkert.

That's at the Folkert.

Could you see this being a concession the owners make in exchange for an 18-game schedule?

Let me explain the way this has all worked and how this has all happened because I think it's fascinating when you really break down how we got here.

So, the cost of stadiums exploded in the first decade of this century.

So if you look at the cost of the stadiums early in the decade, you look at what it costs to build Gillette Stadium in, in, in, in, in Foxborough, less than $300 million.

You look at what it costs to build Energy Stadium, which is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Houston, $352 million.

Then that's 2002 that those stadiums open, right?

So energy opens at $352 million in, in, in, in, in 2002.

6 years later, Lucas Oil Stadium opens in Indianapolis for almost $800 million.

Then two years after that, MetLife Stadium opens in 2010 in New Jersey, $1.6 billion.

So far, obviously, there were all kinds of different elements there, but that's a $6 billion stadium.

So the cost of these stadiums was such where you owners looked at it and say we can't justify building these places for 10 football games a year if you include the preseason.

We have to have more to justify how much money, how much infrastructure, how much all that stuff is going into it, right?

So, You want to put every event you can in it.

The problem with that is it becomes hard to maintain grass.

And when you're, when you're constantly having concerts, you're having monster truck rallies, you're having all these different events, some cases rodeos in these stadiums.

So, what is easier, what is cheaper?

It's cheaper just to lay down turf, which you can pull up, you can cover, you can do whatever you want with the turf, and it's not going to be affected much by the different events that you're putting in the stadium.

So that becomes a simpler solution.

And then once the teams that had the more expensive stadiums are doing that, it became a green light for teams that had stadium, had existing stadiums to do the same.

And so you saw turf going into Energy Stadium, you saw turf going into Gillette Stadium.

You saw turf in southern climates, which I think is the, the real turning point here when Charlotte and Nashville, they're putting turf down.

In environments where you should be able to grow grass pretty easily.

Like this isn't about weather anymore.

Meanwhile, Green Bay, which is, doesn't have an owner, um, you know, that, that, that where it's a publicly held thing, right?

Like and where the, the, the, the team itself, all the money goes back into football.

They're able to maintain a grass surface, which that grassmaster surface, which is a hybrid, is actually used by all the Premier League teams over in England.

They're able to maintain that.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, and now you see Buffalo, and Buffalo is not worried about having a million other events there.

And what do they do?

They're going to put down the Grassmaster surface, right?

And these teams have been able to maintain this grass surface, the grass surfaces in northern climates because they're investing in it.

It costs a lot of money to do it, but they're They're willing to do it, right?

Over in Europe, why are they doing it in Europe?

Because you have these leagues competing against each other for players.

So the owners can't like get together and say, like, let's all put turf down, right?

When you've got Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich and, and, and, and Chelsea competing for the same player, those players, like you got to do everything you can to try to attract those players and part of it is having the best surfaces for them to play on, which prolongs their careers.

The NFL has done these studies.

I don't really trust the numbers that say that turf is just as safe as grass.

There's a reason why all 32 teams practice on grass.

They practice on grass because their players prefer it.

They practice on grass, by the way, even when Those players are playing on turf later in the week, and, and these are coaches, by the way, remember, that blast noise at practice to simulate crowd noise, that'll do different things to stimulate the environment, but they're comfortable, they're more comfortable putting their players on grass, even when they're playing on turf that week.

To get ready for a game.

Why is that?

It's because it's healthier for them.

It's because they feel better coming off of it.

It's because they're in a better position to perform at the at the highest level when they've been practicing on grass versus turf because there's less wear and tear on their bodies.

So, um, you know, I think this is something that, that they, that, that, that, that, that the owners, um, have felt, have, have, have, have sort of drawn a line on because it does come down to their bottom line.

And the players probably would, would have to give up something to get grass, um, uniformly across the league because there would be a way to do it.

If you want to see the way to do it, look at Bernabeu Stadium in, in Madrid, um, and that's an expensive, expensive system, but it's an example of how you can pour money into , in, into a, into a playing surface and make it work.

Um, there is a way to make this stuff work.

And so, the NFLPA has taken it upon themselves to point out that all, point out that all the stadiums that are hosting World Cup games, the stadium in, in, in Foxborough, the stadium in Atlanta, the stadium in Dallas, the stadium in Inglewood, California, all these stadiums that have artificial surfaces are putting down pristine grass surfaces for the World Cup, be the, be as FIFA.

Demands it, and it was the only way they were gonna be able to host the World Cup, and those grass surfaces are coming right back up after the World Cup, and the fake stuff's going back down.

It's obviously, it's, it's, it's another sign, of course, of, of what the reality of these situations are.

And again, like I think it's something the players feel pretty strongly about.

Do they feel strongly enough to give up something to collectively bargain some sort of uniform surface regulation where the league has some sort of like standard for what surfaces are, they already have some standards, but where You'd have to have grass surfaces in outdoor stadiums.

Maybe you'd have to have grass surfaces everywhere.

There might be a way to do it now.

Um, it's certainly something we're gonna be talking about, uh, you know, over the next few years as we get closer to another CBA negotiation.

And it's certainly something that's been a hot button topic for the NFLPA's new executive director, JC Trotter.

So, something, something that we'll definitely be talking about in the years to come and something that I think is really interesting as it relates to the business of football and also the health and safety of the players involved.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

As always, you.

You can leave your comments down below here on the YouTube page.

You can also get to me on my social media as always at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

We have got a special scheduled release show coming for you later in the week.

We also have Breer Report coming for you on Friday to tie the whole thing together.

We will see you guys then.