The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - ESPN Writer Dan Graziano Projects $224M Mega Deal for C.J. Stroud

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

ESPN Writer Dan Graziano Projects $224M Mega Deal for C.J. Stroud

Dad Graziano does five teams about contract extensions. I don't know he's doing five at a time or he just happened to pick five. One of the five teams he brought up was the Houston Texans. Okay. And the two key extension candidates this year are, of course, C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson, Jr. We'll do the easy one first. Will Anderson, 12 sacks season, one of the best defensive players in the NFL. He was the third pick in the 2003 draft, defensive rookie of the year, all this kind of stuff.

and he has been everything as advertised. Now, Micah Parsons, we talked about last week. Rossi is at $46.5 million a year. And then you have what, Hutchinson for the Lions is at 45. Watt, that's T.J., not JJ, $41 million a year. Then McGarrett at $40 million. Okay. So it sounds like to me that Will Anderson, according to Dan Graziano,

believes that Will's going to be in that $40 million club. Okay. whether he gets to Micah Parsons level, they don't know, because as you talked about a few days ago, that contract just completely put the whole pay scale out of whack. Yeah. But the anticipation is, according to Dan Graziano, that the Anderson will sign a four-year contract, $176 million, with $121 of that guaranteed at signing. Aidan Hutchinson was around, was a $4.180 or $185, I think? Does it say in that?

Yeah, it doesn't say in this story. Okay, okay. all right so four years 176 what is that sets uh 44 year basically am i right about that four sure one three somewhere in that range okay now let's get to cj so yeah that would be i think a hutchinson was 45 i don't think he's gonna want i don't think he's gonna get worse than a hutchinson deal no and look the texans have always taken care of their first rounders yeah and good second rounders too i mean petrie and stingley have been well well taken care of and nico collins for that matter too. All right. So we got now the Texans

one, and there's a big story about what do you do about CJ and how do you know, how much money do you want to spend on him and how much do you want to spend on a guy that had two horrific postseason games. So reading this story, and I don't need to tell you about what is in there

because it's all the stuff that you've seen over the course of the last month or so. The prediction that Dan Grasiano has, four-year contract for C.J. Stroud $224 million, $110 million guaranteed at sign. This off-season?

I'd presume so. I don't think you're talking about next season. Yeah. So the next two years, the last two years of the rookie contract, it would be years four and five, the total amount of money the Texans would be spending on C.J. It would be $32 million. It's like just shy of six this year

and just over 26 in year, So 58 a million, no, I'm sorry, no, 56. If you're taking Ford about it by 224, yeah. 110 million guaranteed it's signing. 56 million a year would be more than Trevor Lawrence, Jordan. It'd be more than everyone but Dak Prescott. Correct. Now, here's the question.

Is Dan Graziano doing this because he's a legitimate NFL writer? or is he trying to get into the good graces of David Mulageta? I don't know that, I mean, Nick Casario is not reading this article, so I don't think so. I would imagine this is? I guarantee you he's reading the article. There's no way. Mickey C is? The PR department.

Oh, somebody sent it to him, but it's not like he's seeking it out. He's not seeking. That doesn't necessarily mean he's like, you know what, Dan Graziano's making some good points. Right. But no, he, I guarantee you Nicky C this morning when he got to his desk and they have the clips of everything that's the word Texas is involved has this story in front of him. So just, I want, you know, again, we don't think about this money situation because we're not salary cap people.

We're not the general manager to the team. And frankly, when you win a Super Bowl, we don't care what we pay our players because we want a Super Bowl. But you're going to put him in beyond rarefied air for a guy who is looking to make north of $55 million a year. Oh, Lorde. If he doesn't pan out, Ross, that doesn't annihilate your franchise, but it hampers you badly. You would be in, I mean, let's think of the ones that pay, you would be in Arizona Cardinals territory.

Yes. New York Giants territory, because we're talking about Kyle Murray and Daniel Jones. I'm trying to think of who else got paid and it really didn't work out recently. Well, I mean, you could say this. I mean, Jacksonville was really good last year. but the early portions of the Trevor Lawrence money hasn't paid out for them. That's true, but they got him a great play caller and a better offensive line and run game and weapons. And look what happened.

They still bounce in the first round. Yeah, but they're still a much better football team. And there's no doubts about Trevor Lawrence being a potential, you know, at least their franchise quarterback. He's not all-time elite or anything, but he's looking a lot better. Funny how that works. So I was just curious. When I gave you that number, did you cough like I did? 56 million years seems insane.