On March 29, 2024, the Kansas City Chiefs made a difficult decision to trade L’Jarius Sneed to the Titans. He was traded as a “franchise player” for a fully guaranteed $19.8 million. However, despite it being 5 months, Sneed still seems to have a soft corner for his previous team and its quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Probably, that’s the reason when he was asked to compare quarterbacks – CJ Stroud and Patrick Mahomes – Sneed showed his loyalty toward the 3-time Super Bowl champ.

During a recent appearance on the Pivot Podcast, the host tried to push the narrative that Stroud is comparable to Mahomes. However, Sneed was quick to reply, “He’s not like Pat. I respect his game. He has some games. But I’m not concerned about any of that right now.” While Sneed had a rather direct response to offer, former NFL star Greg Jennings had a different take to make.

CJ Stroud doesn’t need to be Patrick Mahomes?

In a recent episode of First Things First on August 30, 2024, former Packers WR, Greg Jennings joined the show with other hosts, Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes & Chris Broussard, to talk about the recent comparison made by L’Jarius Sneed on Patrick Mahomes and CJ Stroud. During the show, Jennings made sure to give a subtle nod to what the former Chiefs corner said.

However, he also clapped back at him bringing a different perspective. The 40-year-old agreed with Sneed’s comments by making it clear that no one is like the 28-year-old QB, and it’s not a fair comparison because “Mahomes is the gold standard in the NFL.” He said that even Stroud would admit he’s not trying to be Mahomes, as they play different styles of football.

Yet, Jennings gave another perspective to this. He emphasized, “I’m worried about Sneed. He is a great corner, you know this, he’s a really good corner. But when you have CJ Stroud at quarterback, he doesn’t have to be Patrick Mahomes, like because he is CJ Stroud, he’s creating and blazing his own trail the way he wants to do it.” Jennings made sure to highlight that CJ Stroud is a problem in his own right, and Sneed will realize that soon enough.

In addition to that, Jennings also pointed out that Stroud has talented weapons like Tank Dell and Nico Collins. Per him, these players can give defenders like Sneed a tough time in the matchups. Hence, in a crux, in Jennings’ opinion, there’s no need for Sneed to worry about comparisons or to respond to the notion that Stroud isn’t Mahomes. According to him, they both are good in their ways.

Nevertheless, for Sneed, Stroud is still a rookie when compared to his former QB.

Patrick Mahomes vs. CJ Stroud

It has been 8 years since Patrick Mahomes graced the gridiron as the starter for the first time. Hence, comparing him to a new and young quarterback like CJ Stroud would be an unfair comparison. So, let’s make this straight! With a look at the QBs in a balance, taking up their first year as a starter would probably be a fair collation.

Starting with the young QB first – Stroud’s rookie stats in 2023 were great! He covered 4,108 yards, with 23 touchdowns. In addition to that, he also was successful in making the league’s lowest interception rate at 1.0%. That’s a phenomenal stat for the first year. In contrast, Mahomes in his rookie year as a starter, recorded a spectacular season in 2018, which also gave him the MVP title of that season. According to stats, he completed 5,097 yards, with 50 touchdowns, and had 12 interceptions in that year.

Therefore, if we consider the stats of both players, while both were exceptional in their own rights, one cannot deny the fact that Mahomes had a slight edge over the Texans QB for sure. Nevertheless, let’s not forget that Stroud is just getting started in the league and has a long way to go to achieve greater things in the league.

And even Patrick Mahomes himself agrees with that as he called Stroud his favorite QB earlier this year, saying Stroud is a “phenomenal player, who has been out there making plays.”