Welcome to " NFL Thoughts," a wide-ranging, in-depth look at some of the top storylines of the 2025 season. This week, we're examining two young quarterbacks who will be inexorably tied to one another: Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud , the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft who have taken very different paths ahead of crucial third seasons.

On Oct. 13, 2024, Stroud threw three touchdown passes as the Houston Texans cruised past the New England Patriots 41-21 to improve to 5-1. Some 800 miles down the East Coast, Young watched, helpless and, from an outsider's view, hopeless, stuck to the sideline as the Carolina Panthers fell to 1-5 with a 38-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons .

A year and a half since Young and Stroud went first and second overall, respectively, their

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