Khyber53

I'm going to be so happy if he can be Jordan Carstens but with a longer career. Carstens was one of the country strong guys to ever play for this team and he was a monster at tying up the center of the field. Injury and illness (I believe it was kidney issues that finally sidelined him). If we can get that guy, we can do a lot. Honestly, though, I just want him to be so good that he becomes the next benchmark for us at the position.

Here we are saying which teams will be tough in May. Last May Seattle would have been third in their division and the Patriots fourth, third at best. And everyone would have said that Kansas City was in the driver's seat for the season again. It's May, very early May.

Cool.

Yeah, back in my original post I clearly said that if he doesn't produce this year, then we have to, HAVE TO, move on. They've made their decision to give him this year and he has all the weapons AND a defense to work with. If he can't do it, then it's next man up and he will have a team that's pretty much ready to roll from day one. Of course, if it is a new rookie QB, even with a great team out there, it can be a rough patch. There ain't an easy way to the top in the NFL.

Was a round number. Say $30 million. $40 million. Whatever. It all really depends on what product he puts out there this season, doesn't it?

Hard to pass up millions for a couple of days work per week for a coaching gig in the NFL that is 60-80 hours each week during the season and a more relaxed 50 hours a week during the off season. Yeah, I'd love to see him as our DC but hard to see him giving up the cushy job there if he gets it. And he's going to be a great commentator for the network.

Really, I think that is where negotiations come in. If you've got a QB getting you to 10 wins but statistically he's not a great performer, then you say look you can take $22 million or you can try it on the market. Because let's face it, out there, any leadership skills that we're seeing aren't going to be on the table, it's just going to be performance and that lands him in the QB2 market, which is much, much less lucrative (although any of us would love that money). No one is saying that Bryce will be a $50 million QB, barring something short of a miraculous jump. I'm just saying that if we are winning somehow with him at the helm, then it would be fuging stupid to dive back into the rookie pool all over again. Let's say we do hit the 10 win mark, heck, let's call it 11 and a second round in the playoffs. I think we can all say that would be a really uplifting result and one that should be doable if we have good play. What do we do then? Here's what I would offer if I were Morgan and Tepper. $25 million a year for 3 years, each year with up to $10 million in incentives for touchdowns, wins, playoff depth, being under 10 interceptions, completing a full season, passing yardage milestones, taking less than 15 sacks. Look, Bryce isn't a Ferrari, he isn't a Corvette, or a mid-level BMW. He's probably a new Toyota Sienna that will definitely get you somewhere and bring the whole team along with it, no fuss but not a lot of pizazz. And really, it's about the destination, not about what drove you there.

I like it, but really our future hinges on three very important and expensive things we really can't predict right now. 1. Bryce. He either is or isn't going to be the guy. We won't know until this coming season ends. If he puts us in the 10 wins category and continues to improve (that TD-INT ratio is the big tell there), he won't be cheap. But I don't think he's going to be getting anywhere near the bank breaking amounts, unless we see some kind of Drew Brees-type emergence. 2. Can Icky even come back to play? At all. LT, guard or RT. I sure hope he can and I'd love to see him at guard. If he can come back, though, he's looking at vet pay at whatever position. $10 million a year is probably what we're looking at if he has to change position, if he can still play LT then it gets very steep. We might end up looking at letting him hit to open market. 3. Taylor Moton. Love the guy and he's been the picture perfect Right Tackle. The question is will he want to keep doing this? He's getting long in the tooth but he's still a hell of a scrapper out there. If he wants to go and we really want him to stay, well that costs big bucks. While RTs are supposedly easier to replace than LTs, it's still a tough one for us. And we won't know anything on this until after training camp and then season end. Dan Morgan's got a lot of stuff in the "still to be decided" bin on his desk.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

Thanks for the transcript!

Hey, I was against drafting him back when, but you can't go back and undo it. So... you move on and hope there really is something developing there. Someone with more knowledge of the situation (whose job relies on it) seems to have more than hope than we do. So... once again, we trod into the coming season with Bryce and a lot of expectations. Like I said, the extension wasn't offered for past performance, it's a hedge against something great happening. If something mediocre happens, it also gives us something tradeable. If something bad happens, then we aren't on the hook for much more and we wade back into the rookie pool.

Dude, I'm saying the Cardinals have proven they know nothing. Not saying keeping Bryce is the best choice long term, just saying that we've made the right move for this moment in time. But man, the Cardinals are never a blueprint for success. Haven't been since they were in Chicago.

Dude, if you're using the Cardinals as a jumping off point for good governance of a team...

If he wins out, it will be a pittance to pay him. If it doesn't pan out for him this year, that figure isn't going to break the bank. It was really the best answer to the question. Now, we just see how it plays out. If he's the guy, then we're good to go. If he's not the guy, then we've built a heck of a supporting cast for the next guy and we aren't looking at a $40 a year contract on the books. Either way, we'll know by December. And honestly, I'm more worried about how things go in early November than I am this.

Whatever happened along the way, Alex Smith came to be one of the toughest and most professional QBs to ever play the game. No shame on his name.