Big props to CJ, Slowik and Jerrod Johnson

Is there a lot of work to do? Of course. It's a young team and there will be ups and downs so let's temper expectations this year. BUT lemme sip the Kool aid for a bit.

CJ- I was not high on him in the first half of last year but as the year got close to the end, I thought he showed a lot of improvements in handling pressure and throwing with elite accuracy even under pressure which was the big question about him. People still questioned it when the draft came around but I was already sold. He was the only QB that I saw evolve last year and legit address questions I had about him. Now he's come in an unfavorable situation with rookie coaches and a young unproven WR core, a banged up OL and still has only gotten better each game. I knew he was meant for this scheme and that his mechanics were great and that he was going to be an elite thrower. I was much less concerned about the processing, although there were some instances I flagged but not to the degree where the pre draft narratives were. Despite that, I was still underestimating CJ. He's throwing with such incredible anticipation on the regular and that's incredible for a rookie that was supposed to have "processing concerns". He's taken my evaluation and topped it. I still think there's another level to his passing that he will reach this year too. We haven't even seen the best of his ball placement… Mark my words it will only get better.

I hope to see this improvement continue and for Stroud to work out any weak parts of his game.

Slowik- people were not happy with some of his play calling early on but my main issue was the way he was using certain personnel and not play calling. Either way, he seems to be getting better and we can only go up once the OL is healthy and we can actually run the ball better. His teaching and scheming is clearly getting to CJ and the weapons because they are understanding things and playing well really early.

JJ- the mediator between CJ and Slowik. Whatever he's doing, it's really working because CJ isn't just carrying over good things from college but he's already building a lot on top of it and getting better each week. CJ at times doesn't even look like a rookie. I'm hyped for us.

TL;DR: I'm hyped about the marriage between CJ, JJ and Slowik. They've got the offense getting a lot better week after week but ultimately they've got CJ starting off strong. The thing about Mills was that the hype was always contingent on him figuring out mechanics which he never really did. CJ is already great in a lot of areas and only getting better. His success will be less contingent on environment too as he's already elevating the team.