kungfoodude

I think Murray will not be short of opportunities if he gets released. If Justin Fields had so many suitors after how bad he was, Murray will get plenty. I think he is likely to go for a price that doesn't make a lot of sense unless we deem him THE QB, which I don't think I would be interested in. I'd even be wary to have him on a Geno Smith/Baker Mayfield/Sam Darnold level "dollar store" franchise QB price tag/length.

There aren't many. Here are the close and maybes. Eagles: AJ Brown was a 4.49 guy and DeVonta Smith was supposedly a high 4.4 guy as a sophomore(he didn't run at the combine or his Pro Day, so this is going to be sketchy in general). Lions: Williams didn't run the 40(ACL injury, although he is likely a sub 4.5 guy on the eye test) and St. Brown was a 4.51 guy. Seahawks: Smith-Njigba was a 4.5-4.55 guy(didn't run at the combine, numbers from stopwatches at pro day) and Cooper Kupp ran a 4.62. Rams: Adams was a 4.56 and Nacua was a 4.57. 49ers: Jennings was a 4.72 and Bourne was a 4.68. Cardinals: Wilson was a 4.62 and Harrison Jr. is a complete question. The last recorded 40 time was in HS at 4.6. Likely he is faster than that but it's unknown how much.

I can deal with playing poorly, just chalk that up to more Canales being a complete idiot. I cannot deal with him re-injuring himself. If you think I have been anti-Canales so far, wait until you see me if that happens.

He will

That's basically the floor of all the guys I listed, IMO. Dalton replacement. Many of them would absolutely beat Bryce and a several more could. I will continue to beat this horse the rest of the 2026 offseason, but this is the big test of Morgan/Canales. If they do nothing with that QB room this offseason, I am done with them. I would say sign someone and draft someone. Get options available. Carry 3 QB's next year if need be. I am so flabbergasted that people still think he is actually worth investing any more time into. Three year's in. Even the Jets waved the white flag after year 3 of Zach Wilson and the Bears after year 3 of Justin Fields. poo, the Pats jettisoned Mac Jones after three years and he was a better QB after those first three years. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

After two seasons, I definitely have strong opinions of his playcalling and even stronger ones on his game coaching abilities. Isolating AT as logic for BY success doesn't make any sense. Look at his body of work, his ratings in intermediate and deep, his bad throw percentages or FOR fuging SURE his terrible footwork. As I have continued to stress, he is an arm throwing, scrambling QB with significantly below average arm strength and underwhelming athletic ability for a modern QB. The "clutch" stuff is a lot of wishful thinking for a guy with a very low career winning percentage. I have never heard clutch attached to a QB that has the kind of winning percentage that he does. It doesn't logically make sense. I understand you are keeping your hope alive but most of us can see what I think you will eventually come to realize, he just isn't an NFL caliber QB. Sunk cost fallacy is holding onto assets in the hope of recovering a return, rather than taking your losses and reinvesting them into something that may pay off. This is the exact opposite of sunk cost fallacy by keeping a failed asset. He has to be one of the football dumbest players we have ever had in the history of this franchise. Easily the most football dumb 1st round draft pick. Yeah well he seems to fug that up pretty often too. Further back into the stands, I would say.

He is literally a waste of a roster spot. If you can get anything from a 4th(lol) to a conditional 7th, I would move him. The only light that is gonna come on for him is the one on his air fryer to let him know his crispy squirrel nuggets are done.

I am not ruling it out in a Day 1 scenario but it would have to be a BPA thing and a lot closer to a sure thing/TMac than XL. Especially when the type of player we are talking about is often found outside Day 1.

Aight, had to take a little break to deal with some non-arguing on the internet things. So this is what I came up with: Disclaimers: I am well aware that some of these guys will/may not become available. I am also well aware that some of these guys would never in a million years consider coming here. I am also well aware that not ALL of these guys are DEFINITIVELY better than Bryce, they may just have higher ceilings and are cheap, low risk roster gambles, especially in the scenario that Bryce is still on the roster in 2026. Also, I am not digging into the NFL Draft yet. Until the class is more clear(who is staying/going/etc) and I get a chance to actually look at some of the more fringe draft guys, it’s not really going to be worth my time nor very much accurate. Suffice to say, there aren’t likely to be many prospects that are unquestionably better than Bryce. Expiring Deal Free Agents Daniel Jones: He is unquestionably a better option than Bryce Young. The issues will be recovery from the injury, price and his interest in the Panthers. Aaron Rodgers: He is unquestionably a better option than Bryce Young. The issues will be if he wants to continue playing football and his interest in the Panthers. Russell Wilson: He is potentially better than Bryce Young, however his physical decline has removed his most effective weapon, his mobility. Depending on price, he would be an upgrade over Andy Dalton. The issues are age/physical decline and his interest in the Panthers. Zach Wilson: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. This is more of a pick for the “Sam Darnold/Geno Smith” crowd. I do not personally believe he will ever pan out but his physical gifts massively dwarf Bryce Young. At best, this is a 3rd string QB upgrade/flier. The issues are obviously him actually developing at all. Joe Flacco: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. At his advanced age, it’s hard to see him for wanting to continue to play but if he does, we are a far better option than the Bengals or Browns simply because he will not face that kind of pass rush pressure. The issues will be age/decline and his interest in the Panthers. Mitchell Trubisky: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. Trubisky is in the discussion for best backup QB in the NFL. Although he had an up and down career with Chicago, he is also a former Pro Bowler with a career winning record as a starter and been an accurate passer(64.4%). The issues will be price and his interest in the Panthers. Malik Willis: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. Willis has showed tremendous career progression from his time in Tennessee to Green Bay in 2025. However, his sample size is VERY small with 6 career starts. His physical gifts are tremendous and his accuracy has consistently improved. If you want a high ceiling, young field stretching QB, this is your guy. This is likely a 2nd string with potential to replace Bryce option. The issues will be price and his interest in the Panthers. Sam Howell: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. Calm down UNC homers and tuck your boners away. Howell is a dual threat, gunslinger with significantly more physical gifts than Bryce. However, he is also a “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I THROW BALL” level, TO prone gunslinger. At best, this is a 3rd string upgrade/flier. The issues will be well…Sam Howell. Current NFL Backups That May Be Available Jameis Winston: See Howell, Sam +with more experience but also more age. Jacoby Brissett: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. Brissett is in the same “best backup in the NFL” discussion as Trubisky. With a sub-$6 mil 2026 salary and the probability that the Cardinals move on from Murray being relatively high, it is unlikely that he will be available. If he is, you will get a veteran NFL starter with 65 career NFL starts. What you won’t get is a massive upgrade over Bryce Young. I would call it a lateral plus move. Despite the fact that he outproduced Bryce in 2 less games played in 2025, he is ultimately a game managing QB. That’s not a bad thing because he also has a career 1.4% INT ratio and historically has been a very low TO QB. If nothing else, he would be a massive upgrade over Andy Dalton. The issues will be ceiling and price. Mac Jones: He is unquestionably better than Bryce Young. Yes, unquestionably. He has been a more accurate(66.5%) and more productive passer(202.2 YPG career, 212.3 in his longest starting stretch) his entire NFL career. He is also only 27 years old. Now, let’s not confuse this for a high ceiling pick. Historically, he averages 0.95 TO’s/GM and a 2.7% INT ratio. Compare this to Young at 0.91 TO’S/GM and a 2.2% INT ratio and you are going to see this is fairly similar. Jones is essentially Bryce Young’s ceiling, a middling game manager QB. While this may rustle the jimmies of the people wondering about the “unquestionable” part, this is what you all want from Bryce and he is already it. However, he is extremely cheap at basically $6 mil left on his contract(bunch of crazy void years out to 2030). I would be genuinely surprised if the 49ers were willing to part with him without significant compensation because they will have an exceedingly difficult time ever replacing him at the price tag he is at. The issues will be price and ceiling. Davis Mills: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. Mills has one of the weakest of any argument to the “better than” statement. Although he was 3-0 in starts in 2025, he was 5-19-1 in his first two years in the NFL. In 2025, he did throw for 239 YPG, 5 TD and 1 INT in those starts. There are significant downsides. He is a 61.8% career passer and while that may seem similar to Bryce, he has only actually had one season where he finished above 61% and it was his rookie season of 66.8%. Even in his two seasons of starting he averaged around 205 YPG passing. But his TD and INT percentages are eerily similar to Bryce. Ultimately this would be a bet on an upward career trend or possibly just an upgrade over Dalton. He is still under contract at a very reasonable $8.125 mil($6.45 mil to the team he would be traded to) so it’s unlikely that an effective backup QB would be available. The issues will be price and ceiling. Will Levis: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. This is another very weak argument for “better.” Levis is physically much more gifted than Bryce and is only 26. But after two seasons in the NFL and 21 total starts, the Titans moved on to draft Cam Ward. Levis made a substantial jump in accuracy from 2023 to 2024(58.4 to 63.1) but also proved to be on the TO prone gunslinger end of the scale with a 2.9% INT percentage. He is still under contract for 2026(last year of his rookie contract) and the Titans have indicated they have no plans to move/release him. The issues will be price and ceiling. Kirk Cousins: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. This is another very weak argument for “better.” Cousins has never looked the same after the Achilles injury in 2023. His statistics are at near career lows almost across the board in his two years in Atlanta. The drop off from 2024 to 2025 alone was precipitous. However, despite near career lows in 2025 they looked pretty similar to….Bryce Young. He should become available after the contract restructure that will force Atlanta to release him before March 13(making $67.9 mil fully guaranteed for 2027). At worst, he is a mild upgrade from Andy Dalton. The issues will be price, age/decline and his interest in the Panthers. Current NFL Starters That May Be Available Tua Tagovailoa: He is potentially better than Bryce Young. I know, he was statistically worse than Bryce this season, calm down. However, he is an unbelievably accurate passer for his career, with a 68.0% completion percentage. Furthermore, he can be tremendously productive in a high volume passing offense with 3 of his 6 seasons at 260+ YPG passing. The biggest issue is obviously his health and in fact he has missed 23% of his career starts with injuries. Trading for Tua should be a nonstarter as his contract is extremely onerous. The issues will be price, injuries and his interest in the Panthers. Geno Smith: He is unquestionably better than Bryce Young. Despite the performance this past season on a very, very bad team Geno is a highly productive gunslinger at his peak. He is also a very accurate career passer at 65.2%(Since he started in Seattle it has only been below 67% once). However, it is fair to question if age is becoming a factor(he turns 36 in Oct.). Trading for Geno is unlikely but possible. He is due $8 mil on March 8th making $18.5 mil of his $26.5 mil(sound familiar) contract fully guaranteed. His remaining year is a whopping $39.5 mil but none of this is guaranteed. It’s also likely with the changes in Las Vegas and the #1 overall pick that he could get cut if no team is interested in trading for him. In that scenario, he could become a highly sought after bridge QB for the many QB needy teams. The issues are age, price and his interest in the Panthers(if cut). Kyler Murray: He is unquestionably better than Bryce Young. Oh, may the poo storm rain down upon me from certain posters. I am aware that he definitely had a worse season statistically than Bryce. That being said, there is no equivocation about the fact that he has been tremendously more effective and productive in his career than Bryce Young. He is a career 67.1% passer and has averaged over 270 yards of total offense for his career. Nor is there any question about physical abilities. He is a true dual threat QB with almost 3200 yards rushing and 32 TD’s on the ground in his career. However, his motivation to be an NFL elite QB is certainly questionable. It may not be XL caliber lack of dedication but when your team is having to insert clauses about “independent film study” into your massive contract extension, that’s an equally massive red flag. He has spent his entire career in Arizona so perhaps a change of scenery for a 28 year old QB wouldn’t be the worst idea. The final red flag is injuries. He has missed a total of 21 games over the past three seasons. Trading for him is a nonstarter, as his remaining contract is massive and includes yearly guaranteed clauses in 2026 and 2027, which could lead to his release prior to March 22nd when his 2027 base salary becomes fully guaranteed. The issues will be motivation, health, price and his interest in the Panthers.

I mean what leverage could he possibly have if he plays like he has for the past three years in 2026? I'm gonna hold out and....help you move on? That's just it. He basically confirmed that he is far closer to his floor than his ceiling. His ceiling of being a middling game manager doesn't seem achievable.

Why is it a no-brainer? I mean the idea of a hold out made me laugh out loud.

Oh, oh. I see what you are saying. Yeah but not all of those were draft for draft replacements. Jones was a dumpster dive. The overall point I was making is that it is becoming more common to see this quick pivots as people realize their mistakes. It happens with a lot of busts historically at QB. IDK about "most teams" have fast, capable WR's. It's a mixed bag across the league. There are the Hopkins, Evans, etc that aren't sub-4.5 guys and are still star players.

I will work on that now and post it.

Buddy, look at the litany of horrific draft mistakes that were made from that era. Assuming a "no-brainer" pick is made by us is pure insanity. There is a reason Fitterer is far and away the worst GM this franchise has ever had. I am confused about the bolded statement. What do you mean "find a top 6 draft pick for cheap" versus "paying too much for a 3rd rounder." These seem to be incongruent statements. I am very sure about Bryce because he has pretty conclusively proven what he is and what his limitations will always be. I don't think his mindset will ever change enough to fix that. We do have a couple of sub 4.5 WR's. Horn Jr. and.....lol....XL. This is why I don't get too hyperfocused on 40 times. Doesn't mean I don't want speedsters but if you look at the top 5 40 time guys at every combine you don't that often see them being top WR's.

Of course. He should have been given it sooner, for that matter. I agree that we need to mine Day 2/3 for the next couple of drafts to find an excellent, speedy WR. Not some RAS idiot, someone who can actually catch the ball and has route running tools that can be sharpened.

You are aware I am very bearish on the QB position as it stands now but I also think there are bones there for a good offense. I am sure you are also aware that I also think we have one of the worst OC's in the NFL, so that is a limiting factor too. If TMac continues to develop, the sky is the limit. He could be a Hopkins/Fitzgerald type of player for us. Coker has a much lower ceiling but let's say it peaks at(who I think is an excellent comp) Jacobi Meyers. A crafty, excellent route running possession WR that will be a dependable option on 3rd downs and be enough of a threat to allow your deep threats to run free. I do think we should continue to try to upgrade the WR corps. Tremayne and Horn Jr. could be something but having a true #2 or #3 guy could elevate us to a top 10 WR corps for a long time. This should be something we should be pursuing in the draft/free agency over the next couple of offseasons. Another reason I dislike Canales. His personnel management makes me miss Ron Rivera and his awful roster management.

I don't think we don't call things aggressively, for a Canales offense, anyway. We don't have a QB who makes aggressive throws nor stresses defenses downfield. He is at a career low on 20+ attempts per game and his career 10-20 QB rating is abysmal. That will always be a limiting factor IF you are looking for a high flying, downfield offense. I am not even that concerned about it, I just want to see effective offense and we decidedly do not possess that. A large chunk of that is Bryce. I think the second biggest chunk is Canales. All the other components(XL included) are fairly minor in comparison to those two things. I am an advocate of attempting to improve at QB. I am not focused on finding "The QB." We failed at that with Bryce. So let's just get better. If that's a one year vet or a draftee or a cheap trade or some combination of any/all, we should do that. We have to get that QB better. Bryce will fail in 2026 and we need to have REALISTIC options to take over when that happens. That ain't Andy Dalton or Hendon Hooker or Jack Plummer or Mike White or....you get the picture. Be serious about hedging that Bryce bet and not just having to make do if he struggles or gets injured. My mind is definitely made up on Canales. It's year two and he hasn't improved much, nor do I think the bones of a good HC are there. Ron Rivera got to that point after two seasons and he was open about the changes he had to make and advice he got to make that leap in year 3. If we don't see the same after next year, how is he not just Brian Daboll?

You are making a lot of pretty big logical leaps to get where you are. What would you say about starting Jalen Coker, Brycen Tremayne and Jimmy Horn Jr. are you starting 3? And let's say Tremble as your primary receiving TE. Elite?

We definitely improved from 2024 to 2025, to me the results were less important than the roster in that regard. It's better. It's still a very bad roster but continuing to be better is the goal. The changes we are talking about at QB are about spending LESS resources. Not picking up Bryce's 5th is a big potential savings. Significantly better QB's have been had in recent years for half or less than what Bryce will get in 2026. To say nothing of an extension(the ridiculous subject of this thread) which would cripple roster building by saddling it with a bloated QB contract for an awful QB. The price for Bryce, I mean who is even making that argument anymore? I don't think you are seeing anyone in this thread discussing trading up to #1 for Mendoza. We are talking about cheap backup and FA QB's and Day 2 and 3 draft guys. That is literally tied to the idea of roster building. IMPROVE at QB while you build the roster so that we can actually potentially attract a franchise QB or when you make that big move up(SF for Lance) that your roster is so good that the impact is largely negated. After all, improving over Bryce is an extremely low bar to hit. Let's not assume that standing pat would have resulted in a sudden spurge in good decision making. Don't forget who was making all those roster calls at the time. Bryce or not, we would have fuged it up in some way because we had idiots at the helm. We may still yet. Also, it's easy to say we can't get in the habit of switching QB's like that but there are also plenty of situations where that flip was the correct decision. Richardson to Jones, Rosen to Murray, Fields to Williams, Lance to Purdy(technically some nuance to this), etc. There is no real danger of Bryce leaving and suddenly becoming an elite QB. We all do know this, no matter how big of a Bryce stan you may be. His ceiling is middling game manager. So there isn't some crazy risk of moving on.

Yes but I think he is relatively impervious to some level of improving after seeing that Gruden interview about his footwork. He can be a slightly below average starting QB, IMO. He has those abilities. But he is his own worst enemy. I think in the way Tebl0w was. He is pretty convinced that he has this figured out and he is doing all the right things, when that is clearly not the case. That's not an inordinate amount of one score games, it's in the fairly typical range. Also, we finished at -70. Even the Seahawks leading the NFL at +191 had 10 one score games. I don't think XL to Coker is going to suddenly turn us elite. We have way more issues than XL. Again, it's way too early to say we WILL take a step back but it's far from unlikely either.

Or Dillion Gabriel or Justin Fields or Shadur Sanders or Spencer Rattler or Carson Wentz or Brady Cook or....

$19 mil AAV would be the sub-franchise QB tier. That would be the 20th largest QB salary. The QB's in the category feature a LOT of better QB's than Bryce(not including rookie deals).

TMac has work to do but he is the first potentially elite WR we have had in a long time. I am not worried about his catch% for a rookie(not uncommon for it to be lower than elite the first couple of years). Coker is tracking well. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because he technically has had very, very modest overall production but if he is given the correct opportunities, I do think he could be one of the best UDFA's we have ever had. It's going to be about the coaching staff actually finally realizing it.

I do think this place suffers from being very myopic. I am lucky enough to usually get to watch most NFL games, hence why I constantly point out that there legitimately have been several QB's make starts this NFL season that are worse than Bryce. But it was also clear that Bryce is in the bottom 20% of that overall group.

The issue with that is that Coker and Tremayne are also good blockers. They also don't get bone headed penalties or make insanely critical erros. So that one thing he does well isn't unique on this specific WR Corps. I think XL is also not an NFL player, TBH. IMO, he will actually be worse next year, whether it will be here or elsewhere(hopefully).