24-Year Old C.J. Stroud, "I Feel Like I'm Getting Old. I'm Not As Quick As I Used to Be"

I guess you can file "elite 23-year old professional athlete stands up on a podium and pines for the glory days when he used to be fast" in the "things that make you feel old department" . I'm not sure that's something you should be admitting, C.J. I don't think that's necessarily supposed to be happening while you're still on your rookie contract. I had to do a quick double check of his injury history to make sure I wasn't forgetting about some brutal ACL tear that might have contributed to him slowing down in his old age (the age of 23). But nope. He's had shoulder problems (separated AC joint), but no injuries that should really be affecting how fast he runs.  

And I watched C.J. Stroud's senior year high school tape. He's certainly not slow,. He's just about the fastest player on the field. But he's not Lamar Jackson out there. I don't watch this highlight and think, "DAMN I didn't know C.J. Stroud could move like THAT."

But his defense, I did some Googling to try and find any statistics or studies that would back up his claim, and if you cherry pick the right information, you could argue that he's not entirely wrong. The National Library of Medicine published a study on duatheles (runners/bikers), that found men between 20-24 were fastest in short distance races. There's a Canadian Olympic sprinter named Charlie Francis who says men's reflexes peak at age 21. So there is a bit of data that implies C.J. Stroud could be on the tail end of his fastest years. At this point, his fastest years are probably behind him. I found nothing that says he should have been at his fastest when he was 17-years old back in high school. But when you factor in that NFL C.J. Stroud is 40 pounds heavier than high school C.J. Stroud. Considering he's being hit every Sunday by 300-pound freak athletes. All while playing behind this offensive line.

It makes sense that his body feels a bit old. Probably a little less fresh and agile than back in high school when he was the biggest, fastest, strongest person on the field all season long. 

And I always appreciate when athletes are candid and speak from the heart. The media crushing C.J. Stroud for saying things like this is the reason we end up with the Russell Wilson's of the world. The overly media trained athletes who under no circumstances give anything other than canned cookie cutter answers, and will talk for 5 minutes straight without saying anything at all. At least C.J. Stroud is being honest. At least he's giving us something. I'd imagine he wishes he could take that one back, but he'll learn from his mistake. He's more than capable of growth in that department. 

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By the way, today is C.J. Stroud's birthday. I said he was 23 in that blog title, because he was 23 when he said it. But he's 24-years old now. Another year older, another year slower. Happy Birthday C.J.