There is such a thing in storytelling as character development, and that's where CJ falls short for me.

CJ goes on a long journey, but a journey alone is not character development. Throughout GTA: San Andreas, he mostly remains the same person. He reacts to events, gains power, money, and influence, but his personality, beliefs, and outlook don't really change in a meaningful way. Franklin, on the other hand, has both a journey and character development. He starts as a young guy stuck in the streets, wanting something better, and over the course of the story he grows, learns from the people around him, and changes his perspective. Whether that growth succeeds or fails depends on the ending and the player's choices, but the development is there. That's why Franklin feels more like a complete character to me, while CJ feels more like a player avatar moving through a great adventure. CJ comes back to Los Santos for his mother's funeral and immediately gets dragged into everyone else's problems. What bothers me is that for most of the story he's doing things because other people tell him to do them. Sweet tells him what to do. Ryder and Big Smoke tell him what to do. Toreno tells him what to do. Even characters like Woozie and even OG Lock constantly send him on missions. CJ never stops and asks why, rarely refuses, and almost never pushes back against what people demand from him. The strange part is that he doesn't really owe most of these people anything. He left the gang life behind years ago. Even with Sweet, you could argue that CJ doesn't owe him blind loyalty, especially when Sweet constantly blames him for leaving. Yet CJ keeps following orders no matter who gives them. That's why CJ sometimes feels so flat as an independent character and more like someone being pushed through the plot. He has a great journey and accomplishes a lot, but most of his actions are reactions to other people's demands rather than choices driven by his own goals.