The Houston Texans are hoping that they found their franchise quarterback of the future in CJ Stroud. They selected the Ohio State product with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, addressing their need for a quarterback after Deshaun Watson essentially forced his way out of town.

CJ Stroud has been turning some heads in the early stages of his professional career, looking good during the team’s OTAs the last few weeks. However, nothing he can do in practice will garner headlines quite like what came from his appearance on the Caps Off Podcast.

During that appearance, one of the questions that CJ Stroud was asked was who he thought were the top five quarterbacks in the NFL. Some of his answers aren’t surprising as many people would have the same group.

Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills were the first four. The fifth is where CJ Stroud will raise some eyebrows as he believes that the last spot belongs to Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears.

That is certainly a bold take from CJ Stroud, who is showing some love to his fellow Buckeye alum. Fields certainly deserves some praise for the work he did in 2022 and is a quarterback on the rise. With the improvements that the Bears made to their roster, they will be much improved in 2023.

However, leaving off former MVP Lamar Jackson for Fields is something that plenty of people will criticize. Jackson isn’t everyone’s cup of tea at the quarterback position but there is no denying just how dynamic of a player he is.

Not that Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens need more motivation during the season, but CJ Stroud certainly provided them with some. You can be sure that this snub will be used for bulletin board material when Jackson and the Ravens face off with CJ Stroud and the Texans in Week 1 of the 2023 season.