ESPN's Todd McShay explains why he projects Carolina Panthers draft CJ Stroud over Bryce Young

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay has released his latest mock draft. In it, he predicted CJ Stroud will go first overall to Carolina while Bryce Young falls to Houston at second overall.

McShay then appeared on Get Up, explaining the logic behind his mock draft.

“Listen, it’s a razor thin debate when you start talking about these top two quarterbacks,” Todd McShay said. “And ask Mike T, any general manager would love this opportunity when you have a draft, you move up to number one and have two elite quarterback prospects. Not one but two.”

McShay emphasized that this is going to be a difficult decision. Both quarterbacks are spectacular but Young’s size remains a factor.

“Now, it’s a tough decision. With Bryce Young, to me, it really comes down to are you comfortable with him staying healthy for a 17 game NFL season year after year. Tua Tagovailoa has struggled with his durability. Young has been more durable in college. He had a shoulder injury that kind of prevented him from passing during this last season for a few weeks, but he recovered from it. Fine at his Pro Day. Fine later in the season. But, can he stay healthy? What he brings is magic and creativity and poise and the ability to extend plays that CJ Stroud simply doesn’t bring.”

That isn’t to say that Stroud isn’t a special quarterback. He is. As McShay explained, he just needs to be special on a more consistent basis.

“But, Stroud is bigger, he’s sturdier, he’s been more durable, and he is the best pocket passer in this class. I mean, you look at his touch, timing, anticipation, and ball placement on all three levels — there’s no quarterback in his class like him. Now, we saw against Georgia when he decided I’m going to take over a game, I’m going to run the football when I need to, that’s the guy that you want to see at the next level if you’re evaluating him but that wasn’t always the case at Ohio State.”

At the end of the day, McShay thinks that the Panthers are going to take Stroud. Importantly, this is a prediction of what will happen, not what should happen.

“So, there’s an argument to be made for both of these guys. Frank Reich has typically worked with six-four to six-six quarterbacks and that makes a lot of sense, but the general manager Scott Fitterer was with the Seahawks when they drafted Russell Wilson, an undersized quarterback, albeit in the third round at that point,” McShay said.

“So, this could go either way but I am told that all the decision makers are kind of leaning in the same direction. We just don’t know what direction that is right now.”

Analyst gives first impression of CJ Stroud

Louis Riddick, an NFL analyst for ESPN, gave his first impression of CJ Stroud following his Pro Day.

“My vote? Pick him,” Riddick said.

“I think first and foremost what you saw was the leadership qualities of CJ, Stroud come out in this regard. He ran the workout himself. He didn’t have a quarterback coach. he didn’t have his coaches from Ohio State. He didn’t have a coach from one of the NFL teams directing this workout. He had it all organized. And it was a well-oiled machine right from the get go. He came out pushing the ball down the field immediately, even in the warmup portion of his workout.”