strato

His arm isn’t gonna magically get better either and fixing his footwork seems to be a non issue for him, so all I reasonably see is more of the same. I mean he has shown that with the proper form he can throw .. okay, NFL speaking. Much better than when doesn’t use it. But he doesn’t seem to focus on it. What significant strides do the people saying this expect to see? This year for me was about raising his floor and he has nowhere near done that. He has improved on his ceiling somewhat. But I think he is bumping up against that.

It is a little incongruent to see ‘not in place to make demands’ next to the sentiment of extension candidate. Yeah no one disputes that he has played well in places. Very well in a couple. But a whole lot of it is not what you want your NFL team to be putting on the field.

He got the wake-up call. We’ll see if he can answer. I fear that he won’t but we need depth and backups too. He can do that. He can have a good game we have seen it.

Yeah he is sunk cost. No point in not seeing if he can be of help. I think he can be. If he wasn’t aware of his weak hold on the starting spot, he is now Competition for snaps is what we need to have in all the rooms.

He missed a lot of time. Was slow getting back up to speed. And we have an offense that is not exactly WR friendly so his targets were low. How many targets does anyone get when you have 120 yards passing, 54 yards passing, 160 yards, most of the time? It probably took the time it needed to take.

His agent will likely not see it that way and I am afraid the team won’t want to rock the boat. Like I said somewhere else, if he really rises to the playoff occasion I am okay with giving him the job next year and if he really kills it I would begrudgingly accept the 5th year. But that is what this whole year has been about and it has been up and down and a couple of excellent games and then poverty again. Purgatory where you don’t have certainty. It is no secret that I have never had any faith in him, it is a very tough sell.

Agree totally. We have fuged ourselves post Rivera on continuity. Continuity is a highly regard pillar of sustained success IMO. Lack of it, very detrimental to the same. But a short term QB change to hold the line while you find another guy is not doing that. This thing with Bryce, now, is moving into the territory of the ultimatum the long time girlfriends give. To me Bryce is the girl sitting around the house in sweats and going to bed with face cream and a hair net. The one you thought was hot and you move in together and it ain’t what you thought it would be. And now she wants that ring. It’s on you if you do it.

My impression obviously is we could do better for the money and if that means a one and done vet for 2026 and something else the next year, I am fine with that. And I know your mind is made up but some people feel like we need to be able to see what Canales can do with a more conventional guy to scheme and play call for. Because we think the playbook is cut down. If you keep Bruce you keep the leash on the offense too and we won’t get any chance to see. We need to know about him too. And doing the Reich thing with one season at a time protects us from Canales drafting a guy and then getting fired and that being a mess.

Having a ceiling on what the offense can generate is for sure why we end up only one score ahead in some of these games. But I am thinking the QB play needs to be better as a larger factor than the WRs having more experience, to make a leap.

FTR I would agree, though with little enthusiasm, to Young being here for his fourth year as an audition for an extension. Or to enter the ‘27 FA market, without that 5th year. But people say that can’t happen. He is under contract, so I disagree, but I am overruled by the consensus opinion. He gets 12 mil for ‘26. If you pick up that 5th and 26.5 is accurate, you are looking at 19 plus mil per season for two years. What could we get for two years for that money should be a bigger question.

If you want to take it that way, feel free. Just kidding you, you know what I think of it.

This is where I am. Pretty much. I want an alternative to that 5th year money. And two year commitment that leads us down the multi year extension path. We could do what Reich did in Indy after Luck deserted for that matter, until we find a guy, without losing anything on the field. And find a guy… to develop. Find two guys. Just reset this thing and let’s not double down on a mediocre low floor future. I think signing Bryce to an extension would be no better than that and far more expensive.

Yeah, it reads as if you could be the author.

Did you write that? Nice job.

I feel the same way Loomis does. He would take the playoff game though if he had it, and say something different.