The days and weeks leading up to the NFL Draft routinely lead to analysis that can be construed as an attack on a prospect’s character. Recent remarks made by Brady Quinn about Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud led to criticism from ESPN’s Ryan Clark.
During an appearance on his Pick Six podcast, Quinn revealed he was told Stroud no-showed a previous commitment to the prestigious Manning Passing Academy.
“I’ve been told that he committed to it the night before, then just kind of ghosted them, didn’t show up,” Quinn said. “That’s football royalty, and when you do that, that’s gonna kind of set off some alarms for people, like, ‘Hey man, that’s not how you conduct yourself—especially around the Manning family, or just in general—if you’re gonna be a franchise quarterback.’”
Clark pushed back against the assertation from Quinn, saying the FOX Sports Radio host was “telling stories with 0 value to diminish a man’s character while validating his own. That comment led to a back-and-forth between the former NFL players.
“This is also an example of an analyst not doing his homework,” Quinn shot back. “There was no shot taken at his character & clearly you don’t know me, my work ethic or integrity.”
Quinn then offered Clark an opportunity to appear on the podcast to discuss the situation. Clark declined by saying “I have 0 need to join a podcast to refute this claim. As you suggested I did do my research. I wanted to know what happen before tweeting about it.”
Stroud was a previous guest on The Pivot podcast — hosted by former NFL stars Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor, and Clark — which was recorded before the comments by Quinn were made public.
“You can be doing good, you could be bad… cute, ugly. People are gonna talk about you regardless,” Stroud said during the episode. Clark shared the clip after the comments from Quinn went viral.
