LK's League Notes Vol. 1

By: Lucas Kochevar

​The QB Market Settles
        The off-season last year saw one massive QB trade with Matthew Stafford going to the Rams and it could really be deemed a success. Stafford and the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl and the former Lions QB went on to sign a massive $140 million for the next four years. Something tells me that teams saw this move and decided the Rams were on to something when it comes to trading multiple first round picks for a franchise changing QB. This off-season teams jumped at any opportunity to upgrade the QB position i.e., Broncos, Colts, and Browns. 

           The Colts got lucky and managed to steal Matt Ryan for a third-round pick, but other than that, the Browns and Broncos mortgaged their futures for guys' that can be considered top ten quarterbacks. Outside of these trades, there was the odd Carson Wentz trade that the Commanders did to replace Taylor Heinicke and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Couple other teams also settled for guys in the free agency pool as the Falcons signed Marcus Mariota and the Steelers signed Mitchell Trubisky so both number two picks find themselves in situations to try and redeem their careers. There was a ton of movement so far and right now, I'm not quite sure what else could happen. 

             Two relatively major names that are still out there and a couple teams that are still looking for guys. Since the Browns traded for the nasty man, Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield is sitting there in Cleveland waiting to go somewhere else. San Francisco is still holding on to Jimmy Garoppolo, despite looking to move on with sophomore QB Trey Lance as the starter. The Browns are in a super interesting spot as the nasty man is looking at a four to six game suspension and they'll need someone to fill in for that time. The issue is that the relationship seems to be way beyond repair so Baker is just waiting for someone/anyone to trade for him. The former number one overall pick is not getting any interest at all, which I find strange because it seems first round picks will always get at least one more shot. Especially top overall picks. I mentioned two guys earlier that are looking likely to start and they were widely considered busts. In San Francisco, the 49ers seem to be holding out hope that Jimmy G can fetch them a high draft pick. They may be waiting for the market to heat up as the draft nears or the market is waiting on more clarity on Garoppolo's surgery he had this off-season. Either way, they would like to move on from Garoppolo so they don't keep Lance waiting forever and they can see what they drafted from last year. 

             These are two guys that need to find new homes at some point, but where can they go? To throw out a couple of teams off the top of my head, the Seahawks can't put all their eggs in the Drew Lock basket and the Panthers coach Matt Rhule needs to find a quarterback soon or he's going to be packing his office. The issue for the two guys I've mentioned, they still have to wait for the draft with a whole new crop of guys coming into the league. With Carolina at sixth and Seattle at ninth overall, they can both go after a quarterback in this year's draft. Besides those two teams, I don't know where these guys can start and Jimmy G should definitely be a starter next year. Mayfield is a little different case as he looked like a surefire backup last season, which you could attribute to a shoulder injury that he played through, for rather dumb reasons. If there were a couple teams unsure about their starters, I would say the Giants and Texans could be spots for Mayfield to try and find a shot to overtake the starters in Daniel Jones and Davis Mills. There is also the possibility of someone's starter going out with an injury. 

         The quarterback position in the NFL is quite easily the most important and most scrutinized position in all of sports. There are at least 64 guys that play at the highest level in the world when you count the starters and backups in the NFL. Jimmy Garoppolo and Baker Mayfield are absolutely in that group of players. I am very curious to see how their situations play out over the following months.  

Next LK volume: The Wide Receiver Market Reset