CJ Stroud Claps Back at Colts LB, Calling Zaire Franklin’s Bluff as Texans QB Issues Week 1 Warning

CJ Stroud garnered a lot of attention lately because of his top 5 QB based on the last season. Now, he has a bone to pick with linebackers, especially with Zaire Franklin of the Colts. During the Super Bowl, Franklin had a run-in with CJ Stroud and the two players had a competitive argument about who was “cooking” who.

It all started at the Super Bowl where CJ Stroud mentioned that he “cooked” the Colts in both games the teams played in the last season. Zaire Franklin met him again at Super Bowl venue at the XM radio show and tried to sort things out with him. But that wasn’t resolved on the spot, but Stroud, despite the competition, holds Franklin in somewhat high regards.  He went to the Million Dollaz Worth of Game and gave his side of the story to the hosts.

“The thing that I don’t agree with all these podcasts these players have, Zaire not so much, Zaire actually played really good when we played him,” said Stroud and recalled, “But a lot of dudes come to these podcasts ‘I’m coming to hit, I’mma hit CJ in his face, I’mma get him next year..’

He had more incendiary things to say about the naysayers, “Why don’t you do something? Where I’m from, we say why didn’t you do something when you were mad.” “You could have made plays dawg, you could have shut me up right there, but you didn’t.”

In the last season, the Texans played the Colts on two occasions, the second game of the regular season, in which the Texans lost 31-20, and the last game of the season, in which the Texans won by an inch, 23-19. In the former game, Stroud and Richardson went head-to-head where the Colts QB passed for 56 yards, but had 0 touchdowns, however, Stroud had 284 yards in the game. Anthony Richardson was a rookie last year and didn’t get an opportunity to play a lot of games. The pick-four of round 1 had 577 yards and 3 touchdowns in the last season.

But the day CJ Stroud gets to stand his ground is not far away after the Texans just released their schedule. Also, the Colts Linebacker cannot wait to see CJ Stroud on the field once again and he let his intentions known on the Green Light with Chris Long Podcast.

CJ Stroud will see Zaire Franklin once again

As it stands, Stroud and Franklin will face each other again in the first game of the Texans’ regular season and a ferocious challenge is imminent. The Colts have a 32-11-1 record against the Houston Texans. Franklin is a good linebacker and Stroud is a great quarterback, hence the matchup would be exciting.

In his rookie career, Stroud was sacked 38 times and intercepted just 5 times. But even though the pressure was omnipresent throughout the season, the Houston QB managed to amass 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns last season. As for Zaire Franklin, the Colts LB had 107 solo tackles in the last season with 2 forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks.

Franklin dismissed the Tennessee Titans as a competitor saying, “No, because I already smacked them a couple times.” When asked whether he has a “beef” with any specific team, Franklin was quick to remind himself and everyone of Houston Texans and their quarterback CJ stroud, who was also the OROY of the last season. “It really be Houston. I’m not going to lie to you, I like C.J., man, I support all our young brothers at quarterback, but C.J., he done said a lot of wild stuff to me in our run-ins. … He is feeling himself. … I need to see that boy again.”

However, right now, Franklin and Stroud are 1-1 against each other and the first week of the game will decide where the scales are going to tip. In his top 5 QB list, Stroud pitched himself to be in the third position, behind Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, though he had a phenomenal last season, it will be fun to watch Stroud take the field aside Stefon Diggs, a most recent veteran addition to Texans roster.