CRA

the hypothetical Watson that existed pre-scandal was worth selling the farm for. the actual Watson that exists now carries too much risk to acquire IMO I expect a payoff is coming for his current situation. But that won't actually close the door on that chapter. Could easily get re-opened after this group is paid off.

yep. and things have gotten super duper quiet in regards to the Watson saga. Which is odd given who the attorney involved is.

Do we really need Watson to back up Aaron Rodgers? I mean, we are totally getting Rodgers right?

Congrats! The miracle of life. Exciting and great times are ahead! The baby stage goes by super quick. So while you up late at night with a crying baby....don't wish that time away. I miss those days in reality.

If you look at the last 10 RBs that lead the NFL in touches…..they overwhelming have struggled the following year. Zeke and McCoy pulled it off. That’s about it. Bell an asterisk I guess since he sat out. Sure looks like a trend though. We got to dial back on CMCs workload IMO.

Well, Cam had a RB. But he had a bad OL, bad WRs, bad OC/QB coach, weak HC…..and went 15-1 and to the SuperBowl. And all the years before, even in his struggling early days…..the magic of Cam would always pop out no matter the circumstances. Special players always have a way of showing you. DJ Moore has had nothing but weak QB play for 2 straight seasons…..and yet found a way to show he is special.

I give Fields, Wilson, Trevor, Mac, Lance all various degrees of the same odds. It's a crap shoot. Trevor on the high end and probably Lance Mac on the lower end but all in the same ballpark. I give them all better odds than Sam. Sam isn't a comparable to them for me. He has been a starter in the NFL for 3 years. So his odds are lower than all of them at this stage. In terms of ability to reach upper QB tier status. It's not a fair comparison given we already have 3 years worth of goods on Sam. I don't care about the W/L record. He wasn't going to win in NY. But he looked bad his first two years. If he was going to have decent odds of becoming an elite QB he would have shown more promise individually IMO. You could put Patrick Mahomes in the worst spot in the NFL.....and he will still shine individually often. Special guys do shine in bad spots. I don't really factor Sam's 3rd year in heavily. NY at that point conceded going in that year that Sam wasn't the answer and tanked.

I think the correct answers to #4 and #5 are going to be at odds with each other. To keep CMC healthy, he doesn't need to be on his pace of touches per game. He lead the league in 2019 in touches per game. And even in his rarely seen appearances last year, he maintained the same pace of touches that lead the NFL the year prior. So Rhule's workload when he had him matched Ron's. But to build Sam's confidence...you likely will need it to be a CMC heavy offense as both runner and catcher. Our OL is still pretty weak and Chubba IMO has growth in pass protection before he can really spell CMC.

Could of kept Teddy + Horn and I would argue we would have decent odds of getting to 9-8 this year. That's posting a winning record. I don't dismiss that as possible with Darnold either. I actually expect us to hover around .500. Would have expected it if Teddy came back too. Too many close games last year... and CMC comes back for hopefully a full season with an improving D. my preferred goal is to build a team that can consistently compete to win it all. Which takes elite QB play IMO. NFL history pretty much proves that I think.

Sam has been a starting QB in the NFL for the last 3 years. People keep wanting to frame it like he can be viewed like a draft pick. Yes, his situation sucked. No doubt. But that can't be used to wipe everything out about Sam. Lot of QBs and players have found themselves in horrible spots....great ones still shine through IMO as individuals. Especially when given 3 years. Justin Fields was a better HS QB than Sam Darnold. Justin Fields was a better QB in college than Sam Darnold. I feel confident he will be better than Sam Darnold in the NFL too....especially given we already have the cheat of what Sam has looked like as a starting QB for years. I mean, nothing is certain but I'll definitely lean on the guy who has always been better remaining so. I'll pull for Sam because he is our QB. I wanted him on the roster when we signed him. But since we did nothing else at the QB spot.....I'm not going to change my view on what the add was. He was a Teddy replacement. And Teddy was basically here to serve as a functional body until we found a QB.

I mean, you have to have the QB play or nothing matters in the modern NFL. But you still have build around the QB once you land them. I'm certainly not arguing you can just find Cam Newton and then put your feet up. But great teams aren't going to win in today's NFL play without the QB. And a great QB can indeed lift up a team like no other position can come close to. See that season you referenced where Cam went 15-1. It wasn't a well built team. I'm pretty consistent on that. And I don't have a "guy" I wanted. I argued for Fields because he was there. So he was the guy in that sense. Just as I argued for Stafford or Watson. And basically will for any option that presents itself to solve the problem. To date we only know they offered Stafford and we don't know how aggressive that effort really was in reality. Brining in Teddy and Sam isn't really investing in a QB of the future. Could they hit? Sure. Anything is possible. But both had or have a real NFL resume in terms of being a starting QB. They really aren't unknowns in reality. Odds certainly favor slotting them as backup QBs ideally IMO. Starters ahead of someone you are grooming. And then he brought in PJ Walker. That's his QB resume 2 years in. Generally, new HCs with no QB......invest more in the spot 2 years in. Find a QB is hard. It takes investing in the spot to finally hit on one. What he is gambling on has had weak odds IMO in terms of solving the problem. But just for the record, I did argue we sign Sam Darnold before it was really cool and acceptable around here. We needed a warm body that could do bare bones QBing once Teddy was clearly done here.

He won at Baylor and Temple by building top defensive units in his conferences. And his offenses played complimentary football to that with meh QB play and ran the ball. NFL football lives and dies with QB play. Which isn't the case in college. Especially smaller conference football. Going by his two drafts and back to back years of bringing in meh FAs at QB..... Well, I think the argument could be made Rhule doesn't value QB play the way it needs to be valued in the NFL. Or maybe he believes Tepper will simply give him significantly more time than any other new NFL HC would be given. Finding a good QB is no easy feat. And Rhule IMO hasn't been investing enough effort into that 2 years in.

I think it will basically be last season. But some of those games were in late simply bounce our way. and then we can have a long discussion about how Matt Rhule teams have never had good QB play as HC.....college or pros. I don't dislike Rhule. Modern NFL is about QBs and offense. It just is what it is. Rhule will most likely still be searching for his QB in year 3. Which is just getting late too late in the hunt to be starting. You can't win in the NFL with the type teams Rhule created in college.

Worst case scenario IMO would be Wilson leading a game winning drive by throwing over the top on Horn.

Rhule is going to be in the crosshairs for any loss. Sam basically just has to not be the reason we lose and look better than Wilson.