SmokinwithWilly

I don't see it as drafting a premium player to sit and wait if Walker gets hurt. We need a legitimate swing T. Unless you have a Sewell or Slater type tackle that is pretty much a sure thing, these guys can need some time to develop year 1 just like a QB ideally should. They all haven't played the elite 5 star talent on the edge. If we think another franchise tackle has dropped to us at 19, you have to pull the trigger. The position is just too damn hard to find. If it's just a "we need a tackle and this guy has a T on the board", yeah, move on, take one in the later rounds. But if that guy is there, let him back up and learn a year, then slide him into LT on year 2 of his rookie deal. I don't see us being able to offer Walker a multi year contract after a prove it year, pay Moton his final almost fully guaranteed year, Hunt, Lewis a center and do a 50-60m extension for Bryce. The 3 most important positions on the field are QB, blindside tackle (usually LT), and edge rusher. Those are the premium positions that cost the most and are hardest to come by. If a starting caliber talent is there at 19 you have to pull the trigger. I understand the need for a DT and S. I've been on the C and FS train for years. If we weren't staring at a potential Bryce extension, it'd make the decision a lot easier I think. It's just with all these huge contracts I don't see how we can hedge our bets on being able or even wanting to re-sign Walker, especially if he has a bad year. Icky and BC's injuries really hurt our long term plans. If no blue chip talent at those 3 key positions are available at 19, by all means pass and draft another position. But I think it's pretty safe to say we don't have a guaranteed lock at any of them right now beyond Phillips, and they have to be somewhat of a priority.

If we could without breaking the bank in picks I would love to. He's been in Peyton's dog house for whatever reason. He's not a bad receiver from what I've seen in game, he just doesn't make the field a lot on game day.

Icky is no guarantee to ever return to football, plus his salary is already 100% guaranteed. He's on the books no matter what. BC is coming off an Achilles injury and played much better at guard than he ever did at tackle, not to mention, Achilles is usually a 2 year recovery to full performance level. BC would be on a very low cost prove it deal. He only made 2.8m last year anyway. You really want to put a tackle with a busted wheel, one coming off a major knee injury, or a guy that can't crack the Raiders roster on Bryce's blind side if Walker gets injured?

Right now our only depth at T was cut from the worst offensive line in the NFL and we have nothing for next year except 1 year left on Moton, who already admittedly has knee concerns, though he minimizes them, which I would too for over 40m bucks. You have to draft for the future as well as the present. Being short sighted is why we ended up paying 2 guards 150m instead of drafting them when they were sitting right in front of us to take. If we end up paying Bryce 50-60M per season, we're going to need some guys on rookie contracts.

Taking a 6'8" tackle with a 5'9" QB just seems like a bad idea

Now if we could only get a punt/kickoff return specialist. I've never forgotten the impact Devin Hester made as a returner. Every time he lined up, you had to wonder was he taking it to the house. Having a feared return guy is better than a WR6 that only sees the field during practice.

"I feel like I can work with anybody. I feel like winning is the ultimate goal and I — just like our team — have got to be willing to adjust and adapt to things that are going on." When one of the conditions is Bryce has to be your ride or die, you can't adjust and adapt. Bryce being the guy was a condition from the get go.

Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. We just gave an extension to a QB that couldn't even significantly best Howell's only season as a starter. Our bar for QB is so low it's laying on the ground and everyone is tip toeing around it afraid to actually do anything to raise the standards even a little fugging bit.

All of this plus, even after you find your first, you still need to keep looking for the next, just not as aggressively. One injury changes everything, as we've just seen with Icky. We thought we were set and now we aren't. Just the nature of this sport.

Dalton is ancient by NFL standards. Howell is only 25. Howell's only year as a starter he put up almost 4k yards, 21/21 with a 43.2 QBR while being sacked 65 times. This past year and the 3rd starting, which many would consider to be Bryce's best, he barely put up 3k yards 23/11 with a QBR of 47.6 while being sacked 27 times. Pickett 4 years in the league, with 27 starts, he's amassed 4900 yards, 16/16 with a 53.6 QBR. Now if Bryce were injured for a season, which QB would you say has more potential to step in and run an offense? I'd say Howell only because in a single season he threw for 1k yards less, more tds and granted more ints in 11 less games as a starter than Pickett's whole career. Everyone is saying Pickett sucks, Howell sucks, but what I'm seeing is Bryce is right on par with them. Howell is on his 5th team, so is KP, yet Bryce just got a 5th year extension putting up pretty much similar numbers. The bar for QB on this organization is really low. Did I want Howell? I didn't care. I wanted someone, anyone, who can potentially be better than what we've had the past 3 years or who we signed as a backup. We do not have even a mid tier NFL QB on the roster right now. If Howell was brought in as camp fodder and didn't make the cut, wouldn't hurt my feelings at all. If we bring in another QB via the draft, I hope it's someone who could have the potential to be a starting QB with some development because that's the whole point. We can't be afraid to bring in anyone who might have the potential to unseat Bryce or take his job if he's injured. The goal is to get winning seasons and make SB runs with hopefully a victory or 2. Pickett doesn't accomplish that. Dalton hasn't been able to even be in consideration for that role in over 2 years.

You could just as easily turn that around. Imagine drafting a guy number 1 overall, because he surrounded by more talent than 95% of the opposition that he played in college, put him on a bad team facing opposition that is at least equal to or better than his offensive talent, and believing he is going to not only excel from day 1, but that he is going to be able to lead an offense at a top NFL level at playoff contender level. I don't think the expectations are too high. The top QB prospect should be able to at least have back to back games where he looks like a NFL QB. We haven't seen that in 3 years.

I genuinely do not care who is our QB as long as they are producing at a mid to upper starting NFL QB level. If we do not have that, we should be looking for it. I care about one thing, winning. And it's been 8 damn years and counting since we've had a winning season. For those saying we did some amazing fleece job by selling off Dalton for a 7th, we had to buy that god awful QB contract first to even be able to sell him off. And it's not like it was ever a good signing anyway, because Dalton had already proved his time as a viable backup was over the year before. For all the good things Dan has done this and last off season, the moves regarding the QB room make zero sense at all.

He doesn't have to say it. We already knew it.

You think if Bryce has been drafted in the same spot as Howell he wouldn't be among those same names? The only reason he is starting right now is where he is drafted. 5th rounder. He's cut year one after that debacle. After being benched year 2, he's not getting another opportunity as a QB1, he's probably cut rather than benched. Other teams move on from QBs that produce like Bryce has. Carolina fans want to induct him into the HoF. It's mind boggling to celebrate not even reaching mediocrity.

Nah. We just recognize that he has more potential than Dalton or Pickett. Do I think he could come in and potentially push Bryce. Sure. Not because he's a QB god but because Bryce really is that bad as a starting QB.

Pro bowl is a subjective measurement of talent. DB didn't make the pro bowl. Shadeur Sanders did. To be honest, I'd like to see what we could have done with a more capable QB. I believe our offense is being held back. 16 games to barely reach 3k yards is unacceptable, especially when he threw for over 450 in one. That's 170 ypg average the rest of the season. You aren't getting pro bowlers with that level of QB performance. The offense needs help in the one area Morgan will not address. KP hasn't thrown for over 2500 in a season. This is an offensive friendly league. Gotta be better at the most important position on the field.

1 year prove it deals. This is how we should be signing RBs.

I do. I met him and his GF right after he was drafted working on the house he had just purchased. Both were really nice to me and treated me like any other person. I remember thinking that this was a pretty ordinary house for a NFL player, a lot less fancy than I would have expected. Gotta admit I was shocked when that whole thing happened. It was kind of creepy because I still had to work in that neighborhood and drive by that house 6 days a week.

I see tools as a general term that doesn't really encompass a lot of specifics. Great QB mind but he lacks the physical tools. Why. He's 5'3. Arm strength, power, size, explosion. Some things to look at that you can put a check in the box and then move on to evaluation of skill. Arms are an inch too short so he doesn't have the tools but he was an elite level tackle in college. Yeah that's when skill matters and fug having all the 'tools". Tools are why we didn't draft Slater.

Walker is a 1 year signing. Stone is a 1 year. BC is coming back from an Achilles injury. Typically takes 2 years to get back to full health, but he's also better inside than at tackle. Yosh retired. Moton will have 1 year remaining on his contract and he's already admitted knee issues. That's banking on a whole lot of nothing at the end of this upcoming season. As far as challenging Bryce, a challenge can come from any round. It's about finding the right QB with the physical and mental talent that fits the system. Wilson, Dak, Purdy, Brady. Just a few examples of non 1st round QBs that were able to challenge the starters. Another QB doesn't necessarily have to beat out Bryce, but we should be looking for another starting caliber QB. It's not like Bryce has set the bar so high it's unattainable. The bar is low. The goal is playoffs. Do we throw away a season if Bryce gets hurt, because KP is taking us nowhere. Dan has made some great signings this FA period, I give him that. But replacing Dalton with KP is not aggressively improving our QB room. It's at best a lateral move. This is all about getting better. But this is yet another move that makes it even less conspiracy theory, and more reality, that Bryce is being protected from any real adversity in our QB room.

Oh I think it will be. My point was that we need to be trying to get better in the QB room. KP doesn't do that. He's not going to be a long term plan with a 1 year contract. He's just insurance. This "should" be a make or break year for Bryce. Either He's a guy worthy of an extension or not. Bringing in a rookie number 2 with potential may net us nothing, or it could get us something. The one thing we can be certain of is KP gets us nothing and that's not a good position to be in. I don't want to go into next year with no number 2, Bryce not having developed I to a real QB1, and sitting at 12 or 15 needing to move up to take a QB in the draft just like we did for Bryce. It's not an outcome I see going well for us.

But is it about letting Bryce develop or about winning games? Bryce has not been good enough to be an uncontested starter. He just hasn't. How many times has last drive Bryce shown up for 4 entire quarters? Once in 3 seasons? You aren't going to win 9 or 10 one score games every season year in and year out. You may want Bryce in the last 2 minutes. I want that Bryce the full 60. No one is saying you have to give up on him, but bringing in another QB that can do anything is not hindering Bryce. It helps the team and that's where the focus needs to be. If drafting Sadiq to plague the middle of the field would help out offense, but Bryce struggles to get pass into the middle of the field, is Sadiq a bad pick? Or could he be a good pick with a better option at QB? We can't be afraid to improve. QB, TE, OL, LB, DL, CB, S. It doesn't matter. The goal is SBs, not 5 to 8 years seeing waiting to see if Bryce can develop while the rest of the league keeps passing us by. Sadiq is a nice option, but I think we have to address tackle if one we like is there because we are painfully thin after this year, a LB to general the field, and a true ball hawking safety that can set the tone in the secondary. Those 3 positions are bigger game changers than a TE that will likely struggle to make a round 1 impact in this offense.

You don't draft a mid round Qb with potential to stick him on the practice squad. He needs reps and that's gonna come as QB2. It's Bryce and KP or bust. I feel like we're playing roulette trying to outsmart the house. Maybe we win big, but the odds aren't in our favor.

I'm not sure what metric most of these people are going by, but I damn sure wouldn't trust it. 16 games to barely pass 3k yards on a Stanford band pass. Yes he had 27TD passes but the offense was stagnant a lot of the time. He never had 2 games back to back of franchise QB level play. He had moments that were good but more that were bad. He was outplayed by a backup QB in Arizona. Compared to his rookie year, Bryce had a good season. Compared to the other franchise QBs in the NFL, Bryce barely made it to the finish line.