Ricky Spanish

My hope is the Bears trade with the Texans and then trade out of #2 with us. Not only would the chaos be hilarious, but it would net the Bears 3 first round picks next year for sure, allow them to load the hell up, and would still allow us to take our pick between Stroud, Young, Levis, and Richardson, whoever wasn't chosen at #1. This would also be slightly cheaper for us.

Good for Carr, but I'm honestly not worried about the Saints. Their coach is ass, they have to cut some good players to even sign Carr, Kamara will be suspended for at least a few games next season, and they can't fill in the rest of the holes with actual good talent thanks to their kick the can down the road mantra. This fanbase and the NFL as a whole seem to be sleeping on the Falcons next season. Arthur Smith is a legitimately good coach, they took the hit last season to clean up their cap and are in a great position moving forward to fill out their roster with good talent. They also have the ammo to move up and get a QB if they don't believe in Ridder. If we land a starting caliber QB in the draft this year, it will be between us and Atlanta for the division moving forward.

Bummer. Voth was our best Beat reporter before the Team scooped him up. Met him at the Vikings game back in 2017. Cool guy, seemed a little weirded out that I knew who he was but then appreciated that I liked his stuff enough to talk to him. Wish him the best.

I think we only trade up pre draft if we are getting the #1 pick. If we get to the draft without trading to #1, then expect a trade to happen for either picks 3 or 5. If we end up signing Carr, scenario 1 doesn't happen. Scenario 2 might happen, and the 3rd scenario is we stay put at 9.

I'd be interested in seeing what the grades were with JR at the helm.

I have no ill will towards CMC whatsoever. Don't even blame him for the previous two seasons when he was injured. I feel like if we had a legitimate shot at the playoffs he would have suited up much more. I think it was a blessing for him in the long run because he didn't have to play a ton of useless football under Matt Rhule. Glad we got some good compensation for him in the trade, happy he went to a contender and a coach that knows how to utilize him as a piece of the pie and not the whole thing.

I don't think a lot of people watched it, but our old friend Kyle Allen and Jordan palmer have a podcast and had Sam on as a guest during the season. In it, he mentioned how much he liked the offense we were running because it was focusing on the run game and building the passing game off of it. This is why he looked different last year, he was actually comfortable running a scheme that fit his strengths instead of trying to shoehorn him into a scheme that he didn't fit. I don't think Sam is going to ever be Aaron Rodgers or Pat Mahomes leading high flying offenses down the field. Sam is a game manager QB who likes to meticulously move the chains through the run and PA passing. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and he can be a successful starter in the league doing that a la Ryan Tannehill and Alex Smith. That's probably his ceiling. Both those QBs have shown flashes here and there, but they are most consistent when they are playing point guard and getting the playmakers the ball and not trying to be playmakers themselves. That's the kind of guy you have running an offense while a play making rookie prospect gets up to speed.

I'll say this - Sam the past year was not the same as Sam his previous 3 seasons. He looked much better at the end of the year (minus the saints game) than he ever has before. He was actually playing really well. The picks he threw weren't the wrong reads, just not pinpoint throws. If, and this is a big IF, Frank Reich and co think that they can get the most out of Darnold WHILE STILL DRAFTING A QB, I'm all for brining Sam back as the vet bridge option until the rookie is ready. If nothing else, Sam's good people, and you always root for good people to succeed.

Welp, hopefully now that we have a legitimate offensive mind running the show this will change.

From the Article: So it's 45 minutes, it has a bunch of different sections and it has various different tests that measure many different things.

That thought process honestly doesn't sound healthy in the long run. Doesn't even sound human tbh.

Good article about a newer cognitive test developed by some guys at Vanderbilt. Details how some of the best QBs in the NFL score above the 90th percentile in it and how Brock Purdy killed it, helping to explain why he did so well last season. https://theathletic.com/4226466/2023/02/24/nfl-quarterbacks-s2-cognition-test/ excerpts below: And for those wondering about this year's QB class compared to last year's:

Looks like that Stanford Kid Tanner McKee is on the Radar then.

Welp. Daniel Jeremiah is an idiot.

I don't think the image you posted is what you think it is...

For the past 4 or so years I have not advocated we trade up to get a QB. It's time. I'd rather we swing for the fences than stay stuck in QB Purgatory. I trust the Staff more with a rookie QB than any other staff we have put together.

"You know, it's just an ideal situation for me"

I don't think people want to hear it but if we trade up to 1 my money is on us taking Levis.

The cap itself goes up each year (Minus the covid year), and with that so do salaries. Don't look at the total number, look at the percentage against the cap. Mahomes is the first QB since the salary cap has been implemented to win while taking up more than something like 13% of the team's cap or so. Also, we witnessed first hand a super bowl where a defense dragged the corpse of Peyton Manning to a championship. That was not the same Manning of years past, he was one of the worst QBs in the league that year.

TL;DW Pros: He showed improvement as the season went on and made a lot of anticipation throws that he missed early in the year. Smart and decisive and can make multiple reads (Compares him to Fields who made those kinds of reads 5 times all year at OSU, whereas Stroud did them 5 times a game. Also mentions Stroud's time to throw was significantly lower than Fields' at 2.80 compared to 3.14). Throws a pretty and accurate ball, very Russell Wilson-esque the way it drops in on a dime. Cons: Lacks elite Pocket presence and does not manipulate the pocket well even though he senses pressure well (Compares him to Dak Prescott and Derek Carr in that regard). This leads to him scrambling sometimes unnecessarily and making erratic throws without structure. Decision making ability takes a massive hit when he needs to ad-lib. Conclusion: Calls him a certified passer by Bruce Arian's definition of a QB and Jared Goff who can run, which is a high floor guy that 20+ Franchises would gladly take under a rookie deal. Not a knock on him as an evaluation at all. Says he ended up being much more impressed than he originally was after looking at the tape. Worth a top 5 pick.

Someone on Reddit did the research: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/117dhky/qb_hype_in_february_vs_results_in_april/ 2010: Sam Bradford was mocked at 26th overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Source: Bucky Brooks Mock 2.0 (Feb 10') 2011: Blaine Gabbert was mocked at 7th overall in February.... Went 10th overall in April Jake Locker was mocked at 10th overall in February.... Went 8th overall in April Cam Newton was mocked at 12th overall in February... Went 1st overall in April Source: Bleacher Report Mock (Feb 11') 2012: Andrew Luck was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Rober Griffin was mocked at 3rd overall in February.... Went 2nd overall in April Ryan Tannehill was mocked at 4th overall in February... Went 8th overall in April Brandon Weeden was not mocked in the 1st round in February.... Went 22nd overall in April Source: sb nation mock (Feb 12') 2013: Geno Smith was mocked at 8th overall in February.... Went 39th overall in April Source: USA Today mock (Feb 13') 2014: Teddy Bridgewater was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 32nd overall in April Johnny Manziel was mocked at 4th overall in February.... Went 22nd overall in April Blake Bortles was mocked at 8th overall in February.... Went 3rd overall in April Source: SI mock 5.0 (Feb 14') 2015: Marcus Mariota was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 2nd overall in April Jameis Winston was mocked at 6th overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Source: SI mock 4.0 (Feb 15') 2016: Paxton Lynch was mocked at 2nd overall in February.... Went 26th overall in April Jared Goff was mocked at 7th overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Carson Wentz was mocked at 15th overall in February.... Went 2nd overall in April Source: SI mock (Feb 16') 2017: Deshaun Watson was mocked at 2nd overall in February.... Went 12th overall in April DeShone Kizer was mocked at 6th overall in February.... Went 52nd overall in April Mitch Trubisky was mocked at 10th overall in February.... Went 2nd overall in April Patrick Mahomes was mocked at 25th overall in February.... Went 10th overall in April Source: USA Today mock (Feb 17') 2018: Sam Darnold was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 3rd overall in April Josh Rosen was mocked at 2nd overall in February.... Went 10th overall in April Baker Mayfield was mocked at 5th overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Josh Allen was mocked at 11th overall in February..... Went 7th overall in April Lamar Jackson was mocked at 22nd overall in February.... Went 32nd overall in April Source: CBS Sports mock (Feb 18') 2019: Dwayne Haskins was mocked at 6th overall in February.... Went 15th overall in April Kyler Murray was mocked at 7th overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Drew Lock was mocked at 13th overall in February.... Went 42nd overall in April Daniel Jones was mocked at 15th overall in February.... Went 6th overall in April Source: NFL mock 2.0 (Feb 19') 2020: Joe Burrow was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Tua Tagovailoa was mocked at 3rd overall in February.... Went 5th overall in April Justin Herbert was mocked at 4th overall in February.... Went 6th overall in April Jacob Eason was mocked at 13th overall in February.... Went 122nd overall in April Jordan Love was mocked at 23rd overall in February.... Went 26th overall in April Source: NFL Mock 2.0 (Feb 20') 2021: Trevor Lawrence was mocked at 1st overall in February.... Went 1st overall in April Zach Wilson was mocked at 2nd overall in February.... Went 2nd overall in April Justin Fields was mocked at 4th overall in February.... Went 11th overall in April Trey Lance was mocked at 8th overall in February.... Went 3rd overall in April Mac Jones was mocked at 28th overall in February.... Went 15th overall in April Source: NFL Mock 2.0 (Feb 21') 2022: Malik Willis was mocked at 6th overall in February.... Went 86th overall in April Kenny Pickett was mocked at 11th overall in February.... Went 20th overall in April Matt Corral was mocked at 18th overall in February.... Went 94th overall in April Source: USA Today Mock (Feb 22') __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2023: Bryce Young is mocked at 2nd overall in February.... CJ Stroud is mocked at 4th overall in February.... Will Levis is mocked at 7th overall in February.... Anthony Richardson is mocked at 9th overall in February.... Source: CBS Mock (Feb 23') Cool post with some good research. Really shows how much of a crapshoot the draft predicting is at this point in time. Don't be surprised to see Levis or Stroud taken #1 overall.

Immediately where my head went. They did NOT get along.

He also doesn't have an agent so it's apparently been a headache to negotiate with him which is why they are so far apart. Browns really screwed the market up with Watson.

that sounds like he's talking about 11-12, not 14 when he was released. I remember rumors that we were potentially trading him back around then.