WTF Happened to C.J. Stroud in 2025? & More Lingering Questions

The Giants have spent a ton of resources along the defensive line in recent years, and made a splash this offseason by bringing in head coach John Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. So, what exactly is this defense? The Texans had a Super Bowl caliber defense last season, but were ultimately let down by their previously up-and-coming quarterback. So, what happened to C.J. Stroud in 2025? The Jaguars had one of the best offenses in the NFL in the second half of last season. Was that real? Can they carry that over to 2026? Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman dive deep on those three questions on this Lingering Questions episode of The Athletic Football Show. 0:00 Welcome to the show 0:54 We’re talking bottle episodes 1:27 Big fans of Community 3:57 Are you sure about that? 5:08 What is the New York Giants defense? 6:04 Giants D-Line 6:53 Giants edges 7:58 …Isn’t it okay? 9:01 Giants run defense 10:13 Run defense personnel 13:46 Hype vs reality for Giants D 14:54 Setting new expectations 15:47 How Dennard Wilson will use personnel 16:53 Cedric Gray = Arvell Reese 18:00 Giants pass defense 18:51 What Giants can take from Denver Broncos 21:14 Ar’Darius Washington 23:09 Middling 23:15 Wtf happened to CJ Stroud? 25:00 The Mac Jones trajectory 25:22 What is CJ worth in a contract negotiation? 27:17 Playoffs vs regular season 30:05 CJ vs New England Patriots 32:40 Confuddled by CJ’s inconsistency 33:53 CJ vs Kansas City Chiefs 34:29 A+ Jurassic Park analogy 35:19 Concussion issues 35:54 CJ lack of scrambling 38:13 How CJ mirrors Jared Goff 40:52 What CJ & Houston Texans did well 44:33 CJ through a Trevor Lawrence lens 46:36 When to pay CJ 51:50 Was the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive ascension for real? 52:30 Dave steps into an anthill 52:40 Why aren’t Jags getting the Chicago Bears treatment? 54:52 Run game 55:17 Losing Travis Etienne 56:29 Liam Coen 57:21 Trevor Lawrence 58:47 The 15-yard sweet spot 1:03:26 Nate Boerkircher 1:04:37 Offensive line 1:07:40 Jags as regression candidate For more Athletic Football Show content: Join The Athletic Football Show Discord Server:   / discord   Follow The Athletic Football Show wherever you listen to podcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-fo... Twitter: https://x.com/TA_FootballShow IG:   / tafootballshow   TikTok:   / tafootballshow   Subscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/footballshow