WFT Quarterback Thread - Post SEASON 2021

[Scalper]

Originally Posted by jamf

I would like to avoid another short term, overpriced vet QB.
Let Heinike/Allen/Rookie QB battle it out.
There are too many holes to fill on this team to overpay a QB.

Amen. Let's be realistic about where we're at. We are NOWHERE close to being a contender. We have a solid foundation, but are not close enough to contending that you make short-term decisions that harm long term to exploit your "window."

We went 7-9. We beat ONE winning team, Pittsburgh, who folded in playoffs and was trounced by most everyone last third of season. We beat up on a Dallas team without Dak for two gravy wins. That makes everyone all the sudden think we just need a QB and we're a perennial playoff team? We were soundly beaten by every winning team we played except one, even with all-world QB play by Heinicke.

A first and a second or third, or two firsts, is two long term starters. A LT, a CB, a WR, a MLB. That is the LONG term view. You don't trade all that draft capital for a QB who is 33 and may play 3-4 years most. You draft and develop a QB. Every year, there are players rated high and bust, and history suggests about half the 1st round QBs do. Every year there are players that slip under the radar, drafted later who turn out studs.

Let's assume top-4 QBs off board when we draft. You draft BPA with 1st round pick a LT a CB a WR, one of the expensive positions so get 5 years on the cheap at high leverage position, you perhaps reach with 2nd or 3rd to get a QB you like in draft, and maybe spend a later round pick on another QB. You cut everyone but Heinicke, the only QB on roster who has ever looked like a franchise QB. Love Smith, but he's damaged goods, and never won anything even in his prime. Not that I think Hein is surefire, but you bring him in at least as 3rd QB with a fair chance to compete. Not absurd to think he becomes our serviceable bridge starter while we draft or develop other QBs. Or maybe he becomes next Brees. He's earned chance to compete, for sure.

You don't trade up high into 1st round. You maybe trade up into lower first or high second if QB you like is there. Smith certainly had QBs year we drafted Haskins he liked better, what if we drafted them? Think he doesn't see at least one QB in 2nd or 3rd round this year? Or next year? Or year after? If we are spending draft capital, it should be for a 10+ year starter, even if it takes several drafts, not a stopgap. We aren't in a SB window, and the delusion that we are will prevent us from ever getting to one if we squander our picks. Enough of the Koolaid, Homers.

A FA QB would be acceptable, but teams generally don't let good ones go, and Smith can almost certainly find someone in early rounds outside first as good as most FA QBs, for a tenth the price, with the money instead used to lock up homegrown talent. That being said, nothing wrong with a FA QB, Heinicke, Allen, drafted QB, compete, hopefully Allen cut keep 3.

All this talk of multiple 1st round picks for one guy on the backend of his career is crazy. Right now the backbone of our team, for years to come, is our studs picked with 1st round picks. And people want to hand those away for some retread QB? No way. What we want is to look up in 2 more years and see a MLB, LT, WR, CB, FS, all doing well on rookie deals. THEN it is realistic to talk about as contenders. Look how stacked KC and BUCs are. Talent everywhere, Bucs especially. We have one area of our team as talented as theirs, DL, and nothing else even in the ballpark.

I completely think Smith could find a franchise QB outside of top-4. Mahomes was rated a 2nd or 3rd round pick by many. Rodgers, Jackson, Bridgewater, Watson, Carr, Brees, Wilson, Roethlisraper, and of course Brady were all drafted outside top 10 and often late in draft. Yeah its easier with a top-5 pick, but a great GM can find a franchise QB without one.

We traded 2 seconds to get Montez, late in 1st round. You want to talk about SANE trade-ups, giving up next years second and this years to move up early in first round for a QB we like to be sure we get him, while also getting 5th year on rookie deal, is at least sensible. Better to have potential franchise QB with draft capital then a retread. It is entirely possible the guy Smith likes will easily be available in 2nd round. Imagine a draft where where our top 4 picks, in order, are: franchise LT, QB, #2 WR, CB. Filling all the most expensive and high-leverage positions. Not easy to do, but Smith could. I think they may spend one of those picks on MLB, but MLB so much cheaper than WR, CB, LT, could be good FA acquisition. We are DYING for a true thumper MLB and roving FS. No idea where Foster best fit, him coming back could be pipe dream, but man. . .

In the final analysis, virtually every major QB decision made last decade+ was made by THE DAN, not the scouting professionals. McNabb was. RGIII was. Smith was. Only remotely successful QB decision was made by non-DAN, Cousins. Our scouts can find a franchise QB if you just let them, even if it takes a couple drafts of rolling the dice. You find your guy, more of a pocket QB, you protect him, and then you flourish next 10-20 years. Completely different than squandering draft capital on a guy that might retire in 2-3 years in Stafford. It may take 2-3 years of drafting to find the guy. So be it. You have to take the hard road, and again find a 2-decade starter. Let's suppose it takes us a 1st, a 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th over 3 years of drafting but we eventually find our franchise QB through 2038. That is WAY better than spending the same amount of capital on a retread. And to those who say it is possible to draft and draft and draft and never find your QB, BS. A great GM can find a franchise QB. That's his job. If he can't, he shouldn't be GM. Which is why scuttling Smith for the retread GMs may be atrociously costly. I remember in HS basketball, coach said, if you can't get open, someone on the bench can. Same thing GMs, you can't scout and find a franchise QB, there are replacements for you that can. A bright shining example of why GM should be above coach in hierarchy, by the way, as coaches will often want to take the quick and easy route and trade for QB.