CJ Stroud Claims He’d Rather Have Eli Manning’s Career Than Aaron Rodgers’ Due To Super Bowl Rings

Getty Image / Kirby Lee

Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud played exceptional football as a rookie, good enough to be considered among the best at the position in the NFL after his rookie year. The sky is the limit for the former Ohio State Buckeye.

MVP’s and Super Bowls seem to be in his future, and those are the things that define a quarterback’s career. But, when it comes to which one he values more, it seems that he pretty clearly values Super Bowls.

Asked whether he’d rather have the career of Eli Manning, who has zero MVP’s but two Super Bowls, or the career of Aaron Rodgers, who has four MVP’s but just one Super Bowl, CJ Stroud chose the New York Giants legend over the current Jets quarterback.

That’s a pretty bold statement, considering that I think pretty much everyone would agree that Aaron Rodgers has had the better career. And, it’s not like Rodgers doesn’t have a ring. He won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers over the Steelers, and was also named the game’s MVP.

Eli Manning was a very average regular season quarterback his entire career and was never really one of the league’s five best quarterbacks. But, he has two iconic Super Bowl wins over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Both times he orchestrated game-winning drives late in the 4th quarter.

Stroud has already seen success in both the regular season and playoffs. Last year, the Texans exceeded all expectations when they went 10-7 and won the AFC South. They beat the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Wild Card Round, too, before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.

On the season, CJ Stroud threw for just over 4100 yards and had 23 touchdowns against just 5 interceptions, showing exceptional maturity for a rookie.

He has the ceiling to win as many MVP’s as Aaron Rodgers, and to win multiple Super Bowls like Eli Manning.