kungfoodude

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).

I think the biggest loss was BC. He fills in at average to above average for so many roles. That one hurt. We need to find another guy like that in the draft. Cousins is on his last legs at 38. His physical abilities seem to be in clear decline. Cousins is, at very best, 4% better than Ghost of Dalton. Watch those games again, you will see the same general physical decline. They are both old as hell. It's not like everyone can be Brady/Rodgers. Cousins is a lateral movement from Dalton. I am not interested at all.

We went 7-3 in one score games. It's not very likely we will be able to be that lucky in those sort of matchups. Possible but not likely. It's impossible to make much of a prediction for next season at this juncture but it wouldn't be a shock to see a step backwards depending on the outcome of the offseason. Also, that schedule projection is tough. The "no better options" for a $26.5 mil price tag is wild to me. Even in 2027 that is likely to be top 20-25 money at QB. Why in the world would anyone want to pay that for a backup caliber QB???

It's not optimistic at all. He has an unquestionably higher ceiling than Bryce. He played better than Bryce in his EXTREMELY limited action. That doesn't mean he is will be signficantly better than Bryce nor does that mean he should be a guy you put all your eggs in his basket. But if you want a valid option to replace Bryce when he fails in 2026, he is a very, very valid option. The one thing you cam say for Willis in the limited action is that from his time in Tennessee until now, you see consistent improvement. That isn't something you see with Bryce. I made a QB Success Metric and one thing that stood out from the data was how many 6th and 7th round "shots in the dark" that teams took. That was very eye opening. I don't think we do that enough. Frankly, unless we are happy with our #2 and/or #3 QB, that should be something we do at LEAST once every other season. And all the depth that we lack almost across the entire roster. Now you see why I say the roster is so bad? So you think we should extend him? That's fine in theory but while we played whack a mole at QB, the entire roster kept getting worse and so did the QB. Just because the roster is bad doesn't mean you just give up with a bad QB. I would hope no one here is advocating for throwing a giant bag of money at Malik Willis or really a chunk of these options. That has no value at all.

It's still a bottom 5 roster. It was the worst in the NFL last season and it didn't make a massive leap to NFL average, despite how well the offseason went overall. The point being, it did get better. That and we answered some important questions about the core of the roster moving forward. Consistency is the goal. You want to be the Steelers/Ravens/49ers/Packers/etc. Smart, effective roster and contract management that avoids rebuilding and is constantly retooling so that your valleys are never very deep. You always want to fluctuate between a fringe SB contender to strong SB contender. Now we have been consistent under Tepper but it's been chaotic and losing(8 straight). That's our consistency. Hence why I would rather move on from Bryce. He is a lateral movement or backwards movement when it comes to building a consistent roster.

Money and draft capital are big factors. We shouldn't be spending wildly in either case unless we are making a long term commitment and the target is worthy of such. I would be nervous to see this coaching staff and FO do that because I question their competence. I will also say I don't think it even has to be about this idea of "competition" or a "camp competition." If you even go into 2026 with a new QB(or QB's) as depth, they need to be better than or potentially better than Bryce. That should be the case if for no other reason than when Bryce fails, we have some sort of viable options still available to try. What does Dalton accomplish? I would gladly take Willis.....details depending. It definitely isn't going to be on a long term, high value contract. That's crazy. His ceiling is astronomically higher than Bryce and in his limited action in GB this year, he was significantly more effective than Bryce. Smaaaaaall sample size, though. And 0-2 in that sample size, as well. Not someone that anyone should be hyping as a long term answer.

I am not here to say if he is or isn't an option. I would also say that we shouldn't be hyper focused on a long term QB. That contributed to how badly we fuged up the Bryce Young pick. We aren't in a position with this bad of a roster to be QB desperate. Just focus on getting BETTER and potentially better options. Bryce is clearly a bust so continuing this is just pointless. Build the roster, IMPROVE at QB and keep moving forward.

It's possible but I think if you look at the potential options available it's unlikely. He is going to be a FA that some teams love and some teams are highly skeptical of. Not trying to make a direct comparison(which is very unfair to Willis) but you didn't see a big market unfold for Kyle Allen after his "success" streak in Carolina. It's possible you get a team or two willing to pay a Justin Fields level contract($20 mil AAV), but I think a Mac Jones level deal is more likely. Shorter and for less money overall.

QB is our biggest need but even bringing in Pat Mahomes is not going to turn this team into a consistent contender. We are still at least a couple of very good offseasons away from even thinking about consistency. Make no mistake, this is still a bad roster. We have to keep plugging away at improving it and we need more 2025 offseasons than 2024 offseasons.

I am not in favor of "going all out." That is a bad plan. I have said repeatedly if we are going to keep Bryce for next season(I am not in favor of this either), that we should jettison Dalton and add both a FA/veteran QB capable of being better than Bryce(smaller bar than Bryce is) AND a DRAFTED rookie QB from Day 2/3. Let's get some darts on the board at QB to upgrade while the rest of the roster builds. If we can build a good roster, eventually we can either attract a good veteran QB FA or make another Bryce-like move up because one of our few remaining weaknesses is just QB.

Several of those guys you listed are upgrades over Bryce and several more are potential upgrades. There will be other starting(or former) QB's coming available too(Geno Smith, Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, etc). Or there are backups that can clearly be upgrades(Mac Jones, Jacoby Brissett, Davis Mills, etc). Now, how realistic any of these options are is questionable. For any of the acquisition options, price would be a big factor. For any of the older veterans their motivation for even wanting to come to a team like this is pretty questionable. That extends to several other FA candidates, as well. Are we operating in a therotical world where Bryce is still here and presumed to be the starter? That is going to eliminate some options. Are we operating in a theoretical world where it is a "competition" and Bryce is still here? Or is Bryce gone completely? Those are all factors that make various of these scenarios both more and less "realistic." But, if the question is can we upgrade over Bryce? There is no question we can do so through free agency or potentially the draft.

I would love to see how you think they are similar statistically. If you want to talk Mac Jones specifically, it's also likely to be expensive in terms of draft capital. Jones is on a $6 mil deal and performed very well in SF this year. SF has all the leverage they need to ask for more than even market value, because he had very high value as a very cheap, very capable backup. Mac Jones is UNQUESTIONABLY better than Bryce Young. There isn't even a decent argument to be made otherwise. I say that and I don't want Mac Jones as our future QB. He's a middling to lower end starter, at best. But he is very much an improvement over Bryce. So do you want me to lay out more potential and theoretical options or was Mac Jones enough?

Yeah, it would be insanely easy to replace his production. There are several backup QB's who could easily eclipse that. Hell, one did this past year in fewer games.

I am phrasing the question the way that I did because there are likely to be several options available that aren't projected to be free agents. I will give a single example(there are several) like Mac Jones. As for the draft, that's also going to be a little bit of a muddy discussion if you only limit it to what is "currently" available. Remember, we still haven't gone through the full cycle of who is declaring and who isn't. I am asking for clarifications so I don't get a bunch of complaining for making suggestions about guys that may or may not actually end up being available.

Yeah but it didn't have to get in via tiebreakers. That doesn't happen that often. That's why I am generally agreeing with @csx. We literally backed into the playoffs on a 2 game losing streak, one of those games being a "win and get in" scenario that ONLY applied to us. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, but it is ultimately....a little pathetic. Now, it's not as pathetic as missing out on getting into the playoffs to an 8-9 team that backed in. So take that, Taint, Cuc and Falcunt queefs.

So I get to pick, in god-like fashion whomever I want with no limits???? I am attempting to give realistic or potential options but if you just want me to start listing better QB's than Bryce, I can do that too.

Oh I am aware. He is a Forever Brycer. He was expecting I wouldn't even reply or give a wishy washy answer. The truth is, there will be ample options at least as good as Bryce with far, far higher ceilings and a smaller group of CLEARLY better than Bryce options available, as well. And that's not even touching the draft. It's a far shorter list to find QB's in the NFL that are demonstrably WORSE than Bryce. Although I do have that list available, as well.

Once you get demoted like this, there isn't much path upwards. They are better off trying to maximize any potential trade value for a bust WR with a high ceiling like they did with Mingo. If they wait until next season, that value will drop off a cliff.

That's not a realistic scenario of extrapolating outward nor would they be playing such an easy schedule. He played two teams with winning records during those eight games. The other three teams they played with above .500 records Penis Jr. played. I think you will see that although there will be ample QB opportunities available in free agency, he will not be getting signed as a starter. The Corbett complaint is massively overplayed. It's a significantly smaller issue than the playcalling, QB play and, as you said, our predictability.

It's inarguable. The people getting upset about this are being babies. If anyone here said they wanted to be an 8-9 playoff team as their ultimate goal prior to the Tampa game, they are nuts. That said, I did say that it would be my PREFERRED way to get in but only because it would inflict the maximum amount of pain on the Tampa fans.

I think they will likely shop him around.

I mean....you could have just won the game to actually get you in.

Do you want actual or potential options? The CURRENT free agent list is available but that will likely change quite a bit based on what we are seeing happen already.

I think Cousins is very clearly washed up. He's a lesser Andy Dalton. You can see how much the Falcons thought of him as they arranged a deal so he can be cut by March. I don't think there is any real reason to attach OL issues to the problem. Not overtly, anyway. We had at one point in the season(and may still) had the most OL combinations start in the NFL. We featured multiple trash heap players and PS call ups. I think the bulk of the blame was predictable playcalling and extremely poor QB play by us.