BrianS

Paradis was ok last year. Not great, not terrible. His contract is on the high end of average, but that isn't his fault. Similar to the situation with Shaq. The contract is the problem, not the player. Unfortunately, for both of those players, we're stuck. Cutting Paradis won't yield enough relief to bring in an equal replacement. We'll get a lesser player. Likewise Shaq. The focus should be 2022 for us. We actually are in a REALLY good spot for 2022. Let's not screw that up by rushing some sort of "win now" team out the door in 2021. Keep building. Let's shoot for 7 - 8 wins next year, and keep putting pieces in place for 2022.

The biggest hurdle here is that Teddy has to be part of the transaction. We can't keep him and make the cap work. Texans cap is already a mess, and taking Teddy actually makes their cap situation worse if you can believe that.

We can't afford to trade CMC. His entire $21 million signing bonus would get pushed forward into our cap.

The lesson he has to learn is that willingness to move on from a player isn't the same as ability to move on from a player in the NFL. Guaranteed money in contracts can tie your hands.

Go watch some tape. I've watched him fit balls into tight windows all season. It's on tape, you just gotta watch it. Trask and Jones will be gone on day one. Denver will jump on Trask in a heartbeat, and the New England Bellichecks will grab Jones . . . unless he's already gone.

If I'm Deshaun, I would 100% ask to go to the Colts. The team was 11-5 last year, have no veteran QB's under contract and get to play the Texans twice a year. Does it get any better than that? Again, it will never happen as the Texans would never agree to him moving within the division, just saying that if I was Deshaun that would be my choice. He's not stupid. He won't go Jets. Nobody with half a brain goes there and Deshaun seems pretty smart.

To be completely fair to Cam, when we got a lead under Rivera, we had absolutely ZERO killer instinct. We just shut it down and tried to kill the clock. I don't think we can blame Cam entirely for some of that type behavior when it was fairly clear that it was cultivated by the coach.

Didn't we do this thread yesterday? Jordan Love couldn't get on the BENCH for GB this year. I can't give up a first round pick for a player that can't even get on the bench. Over an undrafted free agent? Come on man.

I'm pretty sure I don't need Voth to tell me we haven't been very good since 2015. One winning record in five years is pretty crap. I think we all grasp that.

All props to Voth for digging that up, but trailing at the half is VERY different than being within one score, with the ball, in the fourth. This year we lost 8 games by one score or less. I'm pretty sure we had the ball in the fourth with a chance in all eight. Those 35 games Voth is talking about, we have no idea how those games played out in the fourth. Ok, we were trailing at the half. Did we ever get within one score or were they blowouts? We only had three not close losses this year. Two of them were to the guys currently waiting to play in the Super Bowl . . . the second of which was tied at the half. We also had a close loss to KC this year . . . a game we were leading at half time. Not sure exactly what Voth was trying to do there. Seems a little "spin-ish" to me.

Even the #3 pick is pretty much a no-go. The value of the QB class is so high this year that even the value chart isn't as accurate as it would be in a normal year. Basically, the best we can hope for in terms of trade up would be 5 or 6 without completely gutting our draft.

St Nick disagrees. If Jones was better, Jones would have started in 2019 without having to be handed the job due to injury. Agree. If you're going to take a chance, take a chance on a guy who played in close games with lesser talent and displayed more NFL traits. Trask led the only offense this year to end the game within a touchdown of Alabama. That includes the Kellen Mond led Aggies and the Justin Fields led Buckeyes.

We have to unload Bridgewater. We can't take ANY veteran QB without divesting TB at the same time. That's the issue. We have so many topics talking about "What about this veteran QB or this other one". Yea, there is going to be a HUGE musical chairs game at QB this offseason. The problem very few people seem to have come to grips with is that TB and another vet can't live on this roster together for sheer cap reasons alone.

Oh, I don't think it's LIKELY. Just as I don't think it's LIKELY that we bring in any veteran QB. We just can't afford it with Bridgewater here. Anything we do has to be with TB5 on his way out of town as well, which makes our situation even more difficult.

Teddy's contract is a barrier to ANY veteran QB coming in. It's gotta go away. That's why I'd give a second round pick. You take Teddy, our 2nd and we get Carr and the remaining two years on his contract. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the Raiders just plain cut Carr. I think that's a HUGE mistake. Would you really want to cut a QB with this 2020 season?

Derek Carr. Now THERE'S a contract we could take on. Carr has done nothing but get steadily better over the course of his career while playing in one of the most disfunctional franchises of the last 40 years. There's a player in Carr. Not sure I'd give up pick 8 for him, but I'd give our second rounder for a two year tryout on a guy who looks like he has all the tools.

It's actually a REALLY smart pick. Matt Ryan will be 36 when the next season starts. The contract has an out after 2021. It doesn't get any clearer. Take a rookie, let him learn behind Ryan. If Ryan continues to play at a high level and it looks like a quick turnaround for them, they stick with him until 2023. If not, they have their heir apparent from a great QB class sitting there. Too many fans (and people in general for that matter) get confused between what they want to happen and what is actually realistic to expect. For obvious reasons, all Panthers fans would like the Falcons and Lions to hold on to their picks and choose any player who is not a QB. That's what we want. The reality of the situation is that both of those teams need to replace an aging franchise QB. The QB class this year is considered incredibly strong. These teams have very high draft picks. There will be a good prospect available. The only way either team passes is if they dig up something on the players they have available when they are on the clock. I would be VERY wary at pick eight if any of the top QB's are still on the board. It could easily mean that someone found something that spooked them.

Big men with injury histories are a failed draft pick waiting to happen. There's another Tide player, O Lineman, similar excellent character, great when he is healthy, but terrible injury history. We can't afford that sort of risk. A winning organization doesn't take chances, they make calculated decisions.

This. This right here. This is exactly how teams convince themselves they can compete now. Instead of taking the time to build an organization like the Steelers or Patriots or . . . pick your consistent contender. Teams who convince themselves that can juggle things for a couple years to challenge inevitably wind up failing to become consistent. Terrible, terrible thinking. That's what creates the rollercoaster of good years / bad years. That has to stop if we want that consistent winner, consistent challenger. What do you want? Do you want to see us in with a chance EVERY year or push for "win this year, don't care about next". In the last 30 years, the Steelers have had four losing seasons. They've made the playoffs NINETEEN TIMES. They've been to four Super Bowls, winning two. That's the kind of team I want us to have.

All the Stafford talk is dumb. Bringing him here will not bring us sustained success. I say this as a fan of Stafford. The only way we bring in Stafford is by making TB5 part of that. And who in their right mind is taking TB5? Oh, and bringing in Stafford will likely cost us Moton. And Samuel. And a first round pick. Minimum.

It's this kind of thinking that has kept us on a rollercoaster for our entire existence. We as fans need to stop thinking this way. You don't build a championship organization in a year or two. Stafford is a great QB who I rate very highly. But getting him may give us one or two good years, and then we'll suffer for three or four as we clean up the mess we made by bringing him here and trying to replace him. Stop the madness. Build the team through the draft, develop the players with the coaches and begin creating an organization that wins consistently. We as fans need to stop seeking that instant gratification, because our mood can unfortunately influence the organization.

This offense doesn't value the TE spot. Our underneath / check down stuff all goes through CMC because he turns those into big plays. Brady / Rhule have a very clear preference to use the TE to move players out of lanes, to block a blitz or otherwise do the dirty work. You don't draft a guy at eight to do that.

Don't sleep on Trask's mobility. Watch his movement in the pocket, good ability to slide and climb. He's more Big Ben than Russell Wilson, but he has good feet, good awareness and enough mobility to extend a play.

That's even scarier. You've got a rookie first rounder who can't even get on the bench. It's exactly the sort of thing that terrifies me about Trey Lance.

This isn't a terrible idea . . . but the dude hasn't thrown a pass. I really would have liked to see him do some mop up duty this year. There have been many two score+ wins for the Pack where he could have gotten some snaps. Might be reading too much into it, but I really would have liked that.