CPcavedweller

Some people question the plan here. We don't have the assets to build around the number 1 pick and the talent base of this offense is literally the worst in the NFL. So maybe we will have a decent offense by Year 3 of Reich, but this 1st year is going to be rough and I'd hate to ruin a number 1 pick by having them throw to Shenault, Shi Smith, Terrace Marshall, and Ian Thomas. Think about that for a minute. It's quite literally the worst receiving group in the NFL and it isn't even close. Then we have Blackshear and Chubba under contract at running back. Then we have a transition to a 3-4 defense coming. So people aren't upset, they just don't see how this is going to work in the foreseeable future. It reeks of Tepper wanting a cash cow to me. He wants to be noticed. That's it. It's not about winning because if it were, trading down amd developing the talent base of the entirety of the roster would've been the better move here. Could've had potential stars on the lines, tight ends, running back, edge rusher, safety, corner, etc. Now we traded all of that for one pick, along with DJ Moore... So yeah. People are wondering how this is going to work.

Those teams usually have assets to build around the number 1 pick as well. And guess what, we don't have any. If recent precedent is any example, we will also make the wrong pick here. The last two notable guys who were traded up for in the Top 10 were Rosen and Trubisky. Then you get into the Jets run of QB's in Darnold and Zach Wilson. Our pick needs to be Stroud or no one else, in my opinion. He's the only guy worth the number 1. Maybe Young works out but he is just so small that physics says he probably won't be able to stay healthy (look at Tua). A lot of Young's throws have been to wide open receivers after getting 3 to 5 seconds to throw. Seeing how Stroud played against UGA makes him the undisputed number one guy in the draft, in my opinion. He had the single best game against them in quite some time. He made a ton of NFL throws, under pressure reminiscent of the NFL, playing against basically an entire defense that will be in the NFL. If it's Levis, dumb decision because we could've had him at 5 or 6. Richardson? Probably could've waited until 9. Young? Probably going to be injury prone at his size. Brees and Russell are small guys but they are built differently than Young.

Another thing, Stroud will go from playing with two to three Too 15 draft picks at receiver to two guys who probably won't even be on the team in two years.

Exciting right. Stroud, Terrace Marshall, Shi Smith, Chubba Hubbard, and the 24th rated pass blocking offensive line... Little cap space, one second round pick.. Long-term, I get it. But we also don't have a 1st to go get Marvin Harrison in 2024.

Well, if Stroud sucks, which he probably won't, we are screwed for at least 6 years. We also now get to draft a number one QB with Terrace Marshall amd Shi Smith as our top receivers which means we hopefully go out and draft Mimms or Dell. Which means we neglect our defense which is transitioning to a 3-4. I would love to love this but man, that's a lot to give up for a team who isn't particularly close to a Super Bowl, and now we don't have a 1st pick next year either. Trading up in the Top 10 for a QB hasn't worked in probably 15 years and we are bereft of any talent on offense outside of the offensive line. Who wasn't particularly good at pass blocking last year. So we either have to hit in free agency, which, unless you're just getting retread veterans, is usually more expensive than the value you receive in return. Stroud seems a bit like Patrick Mahomes to me, in a lot of ways. His size, his movement, his arm strength and off platform throws, his demeanor, etc. But if we traded up for Levis, with everything else we are missing, it's going to be a shitshow. That's some Trubisky or Josh Rosen level dumbassery. I hope Fitterer has a plan because we have now created yet another hole by trading Moore. Plus, if we suck next year, the Bears get a very high pick again while they are slowly building into what could be a juggernaut if they hit in the draft. And they are in the NFC. So I don't love it. I'd have rather traded down and filled out the talent base of the team, then sucked for Maye or Caleb Williams. But hey, I'm not Tepper who is only in this for the money. Put me down as skeptical that this works out the way we want. Too much given up on a team with too many holes. If Stroud turns out to be a Mahomes type, it could work as the Chiefs just won a Super Bowl playing 9 rookies. But, if not, I just hope it doesn't take until Strouds 2nd contract for us to be able to get competitive.

The offense Kentucky runs is hardly "Pro style". I guess it's more "Pro Style" than most but it isn't a Pro Style offense.

Which is what? He was getting 8 reps a day in Fall Camp last year. Then the Huddle acts like his Preseason games were indicative of something. Lombardi is full of crap.

If he is to be believed, we have wasted at least 10 draft picks on QB's in the last three years. Let that sink in. Now Tepper is going to be okay with mortgaging our future to move up? The Cardinals did that for....Josh Rosen. Look how that worked out. No trade-ups in the Top 10 have worked for QB's in the last decade. Mitch Trubisky and Josh Rosen say helllllooooo. Insanity at this point. I also think Lombardi is full of crap.

Adam Gase and Matt Rhule were his head coaches. Where would Patrick Mahomes be with those two?

All of the QB needy teams have more needs than QB, not enough cap space, and don't want to give up multiple first round picks.

Apparently around Week 1 the offer was around $180 mm guaranteed. He said no. It then dropped because he was injured again

Because he's said...what he wants?

According to Adam Schefter, they can't contact Lamar right now because it would be considered tampering. All of this is a non-issue. Teams saying "we aren't interested" is to protect them from any claims of tampering by the Ravens, ala the Dolphins in 2022. In other words, teams coming out and saying "we are not pursuing Lamar Jackson" (right now) is cover for not losing draft picks and being fined by the NFL. Had the NFL not taken draft picks from the Dolphins, this wouldn't have happened. So guess what? It's much ado about nothing. It's a cover until the tampering window is done. Why it's considered tampering, I don't know. I'm just repeating what Schefter said and ultimately answering the question of "is it collusion?" No, it isn't. But, my point stands. Not only do you have to offer Lamar a fully guaranteed contract, you then have to trade your 2023 and 2024 1st round draft pick away. This for a guy who is a bottom 12 passer by DVOA and has missed several games in each of the past three seasons. So, no, it's not collusion. It's not racism. You don't give a guy like Lamar guaranteed money to likely end up injured. Injury could strike anyone but with Watson, Lawrence, Brady, Wilson, etc. you have guys who throw first and are less likely to suffer an injury as a result. We've all witnessed this, as Panthers fans. Would you all have given Cam a $200,000,000 fully guaranteed contract in 2017? No. No. And no. Why? His playing style led to him being injured and it's a dumb thing to commit that much cap space, and draft picks, to a guy who may not be there. GM's and owners don't have to collude to reach this conclusion man.

Why would we take Hooker in the 2nd when we have Corral? If you don't take a QB in the 1st, you roll with Corral and re-sign Darnold. Why? If you draft a QB in the 2nd or later, they are probably going to be QB2, yet many would want a veteran to start. So then you end up with Veteran, Corral, Hooker. You're wasting a pick when there is a ton of talent in the first three rounds of this draft. 1. Torrance 2. Darnell Washington 3. Zach Charbonnet 4. Mimms 5. Re-sign Darnold and see if Caldwell can help develop Corral and Darnold enough to maybe have some trade bait in 2024 which you can then use to trade up to 1 or 2 to get Drake Maye or Caleb Williams. Doing this you've developed the talent base of your roster enough to have the ability to trade future 1sts away to nab one of those two QB's who will be generational talents like Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck.

It's collusion to not want to give a QB who has missed time in three of the last five seasons $250 million guaranteed? Ooohhhkkkayyy.

And that's the problem. "We are getting a QB one way or another" should not be the line of thinking. "Spare no expense" only works in Jurassic Park and MLB, and it doesn't always work well in either; ask Dr. Malcolm about his leg and the Yankees about all of their World Series championships the past 18 years or so. If there is a transcendent talent like a Trevor Lawrence, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, etc. it's a no brainer. If it's not one of those "can't miss" guys, you are throwing darts at a dart board while blind folded but the stakes are almost as bad as if someone is standing on either side of the dart board, unable to move. You may hit them in the arm and they will be fine, but you missed. Or you may hit them in the eye and they will be screwed for life. The only certain player in this draft, in my opinion, is CJ Stroud. Everyone else is a gamble. If you have to gamble with multiple first round picks, you don't do it. You just don't. You roll with what you have, stack talent and trade picks and develop the roster around the QB. Then in 2024 you go for guys like Maye and Williams.

It's a mess because we are about to trade even more assets away for someone who may or may not be worthwhile. Add to that we may be trying to trade with a Conference foe who already has a QB and we could just be mortgaging our future to look up at them. We have a solid QB and can't add talent around them. That's the trade-off and why I'd rather trade down, stack talent, and work on getting enough picks to take Maye or Williams next year. You can stack, stack, stack talent on days 1 and 2 in this draft but we are going to avoid doing that to take a guy like Will Levis. I'd be good with Anthony Richardson, though not trading up much to get him, or Stroud. The recent history on teams who have traded up for QB's isn't pretty, at all. None of them since 2015 are on the team that drafted them.

He has missed several games the last three seasons. If you could get full years out of him, every year, like a Peyton, Tom, Joe, Patrick, etc. then yeah, you pay him. If not, you don't give him guaranteed money that he's asking for. Guaranteed money is for guaranteed play and he hasn't been able to do that.

Well, that's a good deal for the Saints. His style of ball translates to longevity and if he is a Matthew Stafford type who just needed out of the black hole known as the Raiders organization, the Saints will be set.

These are the next two NFL Stars. Absent something unexpected happening with the 2023 class, I don't see anyone but Stroud having the potential of these two. This isn't going to be popular, but how about we don't trade away future 1st's for a guy like Will Levis who has "BUST POTENTIAL" written on his forehead and instead...trade downnnnn. Build the roster with the depth and breadth of talent available at skill positions and the offensive line, compile picks, and get enough to have a package ready to go for 2024. That is assuming others aren't already plotting to suck as well. The Jaguars lucked into sucking bad enough to get Lawrence. The Colts planned to suck to get Luck. The Panthers probably started TEH JIMMEHH (those who don't get this obviously weren't around) to get to the top of the 2011 draft, thinking Luck would be there. Tons of examples of this happening where it completely changed the outlook of a franchise. Now FLAME ME. That is unless you don't watch college football and haven't seen Caleb Williams or Drake Maye. They have transcendent potential.

Aww yeah. Let's take a guy with a good head on his shoulders because he's from Greensboro. Dude had one good season in an Air Raid system. He can throw go routes to wide open receivers. Great! SIGN ME UP. Or, we already have Corral who is basically the same guy so why waste a pick at all?

Trading two 1st round picks, a 3rd, and a 4th for Will Levis... Can YOU IMAGINE the meltdown this place would have. Good god man please let it happen. That would be the worst.

Well, here is a pro tip, don't trade up for Richardson. You either take him at 9 or trade down, collect more picks, re-sign Darnold/Gorropolo, get a star TE, a star RB, and a third wide receiver, as well as the best offensive lineman in the draft in O'Cyrus Torrance. I have this poo all planned out in my head. How we get star players in our first three picks. 1. Torrance 2. Kincaid/Mayer/Darnell Washington 3. Charbonnet 4. Mimms Boom. All of those guys have All-Pro potential. We sign them, put them on IR for sprained ankles (all of them), then we SUCKKKKKK for Drake Maye. I'm talking going -1 - 18. Drake Maye/Caleb Williams will be the next two stars in this league. You can book that today, tomorrow, and twice on Wednesday.

How many other people are interested in Stroud? And are the Bears willing to trade down to 9? We would probably have to trade up to 3, then trade up to 1. By that point Stroud better be as good as Mahomes or we, and he, are screwed.

Carr is a 4 time Pro Bowler in 9 seasons. He was Top 10 with Jon Gruden. Then McDaniel's comes in and does what he did in Denver with Jay Cutler, absolutely nothing. So was Derek Carr the issue in Vegas or was it McDaniel's? Time will tell but I have a feeling that the Belicheck (sp?) only works if you're Bill. His primary assistants fail outside of New England because Bill is a much, much better NFL coach than any one is willing to give him credit for, despite SEVEN SUPER BOWL RINGS. He and Tom and symbiotic. It wasn't one or the other, it was both. Then you add Bill, Josh, and Matt and you have another symbiotic relationship. They all three work well together but take one away and what do you get? I wouldn't be selling Carr short here, especially with the offense that they run and the receivers that they have. He is probably better than Brees was in the last three years of his career and that will present an issue for us.