kungfoodude

He spent 10 years of his career at between 10-15% cap utilization. He could have gotten more but he also wasn't exactly getting paid peanuts. For the bulk of his career he was the highest paid player on the Pats.

The maximum cap on Russell's contract is 17.6% of the salary cap. That is in line with most elite QB's in the league. I think the largest cap hit I can recall was Peyton Manning at 20.5%.

Okay, I was just going to point out that Trubisky is actually a free agent.

Are these trades you are suggesting or just offseason moves in general?

I am guessing he probably wanted to see if they could turn it around and then saw over the course of the year as the team fell apart. I think his ultimate decision to leave was him being resoundingly ignored when he offered the suggestions that he and some of his teammates had for the GM and coaching search. It appears he has been trying to be bought in most of the time but eventually all the BS just got to be too much. I can't say I blame him. Had it been me, I probably would have just not signed the deal and become a free agent.

My bad, you are talking about Tua. For some reason I was thinking the Cardinals and Rosen. Well.....TBD if that pans out. Admittedly, they are in a good position as a team so you can't call it a disaster.

I mean, it actually worked out pretty well for Miami in the long run. They pivoted from their mistake quickly. That's actually why some of these trades aren't a bad deal depending on what you give up. The pivot can be quick and potentially cheap.

I actually was talking to my buddy who is a Bears fan and this deal really makes a lot of sense if you are a Bears fan. On the one hand, you get a potentially elite QB. If that flames out next season, however, you cut ties with him and have no cap hit, you probably get a new GM and head coach(both on the hot seat). Biggest downside is probably a late first rounder that you jettisoned this season and might have easily been squandered by the current GM.

Texans-esque?

Well the receiving team also owes him almost no money on that contract. After next season he can be cut with basically zero cap hit.

I agree but then why not get in on the Stafford deal? That seems like a bigger no-brainer.

That would be pretty nuts.

TBD. He is an elite talent. If you whiff though.....OOF. IMO, Chicago fans should want this. You have to figure it is either a HR deal or you get to finally fire your head coach.

TBD. We have no idea what the market for RT's is going to be nor where teams value him. The cap dropping overall will hurt his market, I would suspect.

I personally believe he has decided that he won't play there any longer(TBD if this is the case, obviously). In that scenario, winning the staredown isn't the optimal solution, getting the best situation for your franchise is.

I think the bulk of the league will have a pretty big spread of their rankings. Some of them are going to be a lot more polarizing than others.

Maybe. We know Jacksonville is taking one. The Jets, Falcons and Lions could easily take a QB before us without changing anything about their QB situation at all. That is a hedged bet with an easy out. The Jets can move on from Darnold with no issue, the Falcons can move on from Matt Ryan in a year or two. The Lions can move on from Goff in a year or two. All with tradeable assets at QB.

Again, that depends on how long you wait. If Wentz, Darnold and Carr all get traded, those are teams that are now off the board due to trading away assets or having established QB positions. Let's say the rumor of Andrew Luck returning is true, that is another team off the board. If the draft happens, that is four more teams off the board that have established QB positions. So, again, that has lessened the amount of suitors to drive up the price. Not to mention you lose the ability to potentially cash in on one of the QB's in this draft class. That doesn't mean they won't still get a haul for Watson, but it could very well mean that they didn't maximize the value of that haul. I am not advocating they make a trade tomorrow but by God I'd start taking bids for him and figure it out from there.

Understandable. I am just glad to have a front office that seems proactive. TBD if they end up making great deals or not. I will say that I am very encouraged to see how close we apparently were to getting Matt Stafford at a very reasonable price.

I am happy we are in on those deals. What better way to test the market out? I'd rather call and find out they want some ridiculous price than find out on Twatter or TV that you could have improved for a much cheaper price than you ever thought.

To be determined. Like I said, the more suitors you have, the more likely you are to get an LA Rams type offer and not a Carolina Panthers type offer. Bidding wars are never bad for trades.

But that's the thing that they don't seem to be getting. Every single shred of any evidence indicates Watson wants to leave and badly. It's a franchise that let it's previous dipshit coach/GM trade away just about every thing of value in the draft. This is the opportunity to get the franchise back on track for rebuilding. If they fug this up, they will be in the cellar of the NFL for a long, long time.

I think you want to draft at least 3-4 OL in this draft, if possible. We need to start addressing not just the starters but the backups, as well. That entire unit is basically barren. It's time to make moves to fix it long term.

Well a deal hasn't happened yet so it is entirely possible that the sides are far apart on the numbers. Hence the statement about the condensed timeline. We'll see what happens fairly soon.

I think that is the reason I would focus on that draft right now while the other teams scramble around for QB trades.