By: Lucas Kochevar
#9 QB Bryce Young, Alabama. 6’0’’, 194 lbs.
Bryce Young is a no-brainer top five pick in this year’s draft. I won’t say he’s the perfect prospect, but he does a lot of really good things for a college quarterback. His short throws and medium throws are typically on target. The deep ball doesn’t always hit the target, but he does have a handful of perfectly placed deep throws. His arm strength doesn’t jump off the screen, but he can flash it a couple throws per game. When it comes to outside the pocket, he can hit his target well. He’s not a runner that wows you, but he has the mobility to be a threat. Young has all the makings of an NFL quarterback with a high ceiling, but I would love to see him get bigger and stronger in order to stick in the league as a franchise guy. Photo via Getty Images
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By: Lucas Kochevar
It's been a couple of weeks since the bombshell Adam Schefter dropped on Draft day. The dust has settled between the Packers and Aaron Rodgers. I think both sides are digging their heels in and not budging. The Packers have no true incentive in trading Rodgers and it wouldn't be in their best interest from a football perspective. Rodgers, if he held out, would forfeit ridiculous amounts of money and he isn't a spring chicken, so he would waste his own time. Sadly for Rodgers, the Packers hold all the cards here. Rodgers is a stubborn guy so I wouldn't put it past him but, if he looks around there are not many options that provide a smooth transition. First off, if you look at the Packers, they lost the best center in the league to the Chargers and haven't added any weapons opposite of Davante Adams. They still have one of the best tackles in football, decent weapons, and a very solid defense with one of the leagues best cornerbacks. They were a couple of bad decisions away from the Super Bowl. They made plenty of plays to win that game, but crucial mistakes led to them losing. CB Kevin King forgetting how to cover anyone, an idiotic defensive call at the end of the half, and an ill-advised field goal doomed them. Besides that, they are capable of making that same run. This seems like Rodgers' best option, quite easily. Just come to a compromise and lead this team to the Super Bowl. A big deal has been made about Rodgers not liking GM Brian Gutekunst. The issue is that Rodgers doesn't own the Packers and no QB has ever made the decisions. He should be talked to about certain preferences, but it isn't the GMs job to kneel to the QB. Both sides should come together, have a lengthy convo, and bury the hatchet. His other options are not better than that. The Denver Broncos would be the most likely candidate. They have a much better defensive mind running the show in HC Vic Fangio, so it would be a lot of what Rodgers wants to run on offense if he goes there. They have a solid core on offense with WRs Jerry Jeudy, Cortland Sutton, and Tim Patrick. The defense is underrated with Bradley Chubb, Justin Simmons, and Kyle Fuller. Don't get me wrong, the Broncos are solid. The issue I have is Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid twice a year along with Justin Herbert twice a year. The division is levels above a weak NFC North right now. The Raiders are just a worse version of the Broncos. I don't see the Raiders competing for anything and with Rodgers they would be fighting for a wild card spot. A dark horse team would be the Panthers. At this point it seems like they are locked into the Sam Darnold plan, but remember, they were hungry for a QB before Darnold. They were heavily invested into the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes. Something that stands out is one report that states the Niners, before the draft, offered up the third pick and some change for Rodgers. There have been connections between Rodgers and the Niners for years since that was originally where Rodgers wanted to go during his draft in 2005. With growing up on the West Coast, it makes sense that he would want to go to San Fran. This definitely seems like a move that his agent might've pushed for with the Niners. Obviously, the Packers did not accept and have held firm on keeping the reigning MVP. In the end, the best move is for both sides to come together and ride out the remaining years of Rodgers. A move that makes sense to mend the bridge between the two would be a massive extension to give him more money and lock him into Green Bay until his retirement. By: Lucas Kochevar
Saints New QB The Saints are in a dangerous area right now. Legendary QB Drew Brees finally called it a career after 20 seasons that were split between the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints. Brees won the Super Bowl with the Saints in 2009 and had a couple 5,000 yard seasons throughout the 2010's. Brees and Tom Brady have swapped spots multiple times on the all-time TD and passing yards records. With all that being said, the Saints have a decision to make. What is the future at QB? New Orleans currently employs two different QBs between Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. Both guys were on the roster last year and Hill started at QB for the Saints while Brees was out with broken ribs. The Saints stated that they are looking at a QB competition for camp between Winston and Hill. Winston was a starter for the Buccaneers before Tom Brady and was reckless throughout his time there. He was throwing for a ton of yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. Hill has been a gadget player for Sean Payton and before his starts this year, played a total of 15 snaps at QB. Hill is also older and will turn 31 as the season approaches this year. The next question is, do you take a QB in one of the early rounds this year? They were recently linked to Florida QB Kyle Trask. Trask was a two year starter and had a huge year, but really slowed down in the last couple games. It is hard to think any of these guys will be long term solutions at QB, but with the New Orleans voodoo magic, anything is possible. The Saints will look to not be in QB purgatory looking for the next guy. Shaky QB Situations The demand for strong QB play is HIGH. It's part of the reason that the draft might see five(!!) QBs taken in the first 8 picks. During free agency, some teams addressed the QB position for the immediate future. The Patriots signed back Cam Newton to a 1-year deal. The Steelers heavily re-structured Ben Roethlisberger's contract to match his play. Famous journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick makes his next stop in Washington. Lastly, the Bears signed Andy Dalton to be there next starting QB. Yea, they seriously did that. These moves all look like putting a band aid on a wound that needs stitches. None of these guys are good QBs anymore and they need everything to line-up perfectly. Next, there are the number of teams that don't seem to be sold on their QBs. In this range you have the Dolphins with Tua Tagovailoa. The Giants have to make a decision on Daniel Jones now that he has a cast of weapons. Derek Carr and Jon Gruden have been strange together since Gruden came back. Drew Lock plays like a bat out of hell in Denver. Jalen Hurts has to prove he is the guy in Philly. Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff are average QBs and don't elevate their talent around them. Lastly, the Niners have Garropolo, who just doesn't scream out franchise QB, which is why they traded to the third pick. The NFL has a wealth of talent at the QB position, but there are many teams that are hunting for their superstar QB to lead them to the promise land. Look to see a ton of movement on the QB frontier in these next couple of years. By: Lucas Kochevar
The Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles have completed a trade and it is a doozy. The Eagles are sending starting QB Carson Wentz to the Colts in exchange for a second round pick and another pick TBD at a later date with certain conditions tied to the pick. This trade sets forward the rebuild process for the Eagles, meanwhile, the Colts hope to rejuvenate Wentz's career with former Eagles OC Frank Reich as his new HC. Lets look at how it can shake out for both teams. Indianapolis Colts The Colts were a really solid playoff team last season and they pushed Buffalo to a tough game on the road. All year long they had a strong defense led by DT DeForest Buckner. The Colts offense was led by QB Phillip Rivers, who just recently retired. He had a solid year, but it was well known that he was cooked. It was time for him to step away and he knew that. He leaves an offense that features a primary RB in, now sophomore, Johnathan Taylor and an elite offensive line led by OG Quentin Nelson. Carson Wentz played horribly over the past year and had some of the worst metrics recorded by a QB. He was often caught in trouble and he had many off target throws. A handful of passes were interceptions. According to @QBDataMine on Twitter, 5.3% of Carson Wentz's passes should have been picks. This rate was only better than Nick Mullens, Sam Darnold, and Tua Tagovailoa. Stats like these are why the Eagles only got a couple day two draft picks. The film doesn't help him either as he was one of the least accurate QBs in the league as well. The good news for the Colts is that they have all the makings of a team that can build around Wentz properly and bring out the Wentz that showed MVP flashes in his 2017 season. The other good news was that this Carson Wentz performed at his best under Reich. Wentz had 3296 yards, 33TDs, 7INTs all in 13 games before he tore his ACL. He had a career low in accuracy this year, but he elevated all his players on offense that year and was a big reason why they had a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl. I am excited to see if Wentz can make the Colts a contender in the competitive AFC. Philadelphia Eagles The Eagles have hit the restart button on their entire franchise. They will have a brutal road ahead of them and now they have quite the decision in the draft. They sit at the 6th pick and will likely have a chance at the four stellar QBs at the top of this draft. They also have QB Jalen Hurts, who took over for Wentz in the last couple of weeks. They are also in cap hell sitting at around -47 million. Along with this they took on around 30 million in dead cap from trading Wentz. They are full of aging players and injury prone guys. They are gonna be set back now for a couple years, whether they like it or not. The shame of it is that they just won the Super Bowl and looked like they could have maintained this type of dominance. The NFL turns over quickly and leaves you wondering what happened in a blink of an eye. Eagles fans will be mad for years to come, but at least they can claim that Super Bowl from 2017. They will be a bottom feeder in the league now for some time moving forward. By: Lucas Kochevar
The first big domino in the QB carousel has fallen as the Detroit Lions have traded QB Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Jared Goff, two 1st round picks, and a 3rd round pick. This trade means many things for both teams. For the Lions, this signifies a new era will happen in Detroit as they will finally turn the page and go into a full-scale rebuild. The Rams will go into this year with the expectations of contending for a Super Bowl with a roster that is in win-now mode. Jared Goff and the Lions The Lions new GM, Brad Holmes, worked under Les Snead in LA for several seasons before landing this gig in Detroit. His first big move was to hit the reset button with a new QB for his new HC, Dan Campbell. As stated earlier, the Lions are now likely in rebuild mode and the question is: Weren't they already in rebuild mode? Technically no, with Matthew Stafford at QB, the Lions could have competed every year and they made their intentions well-known that they wanted to at least compete in the division as Matt Patricia's tenure kept going. Patricia was not the man for the job, he was fired and the Lions were on a street to nowhere, once again. The significance of this move is that Stafford was the last big barrier in them embracing a full-on rebuild. Whether you like him or not, Stafford is one of the best players the Lions have ever seen. With him gone, there is no need to play this act of "We want to compete with Matt as our QB," It hits the restart button for a bad franchise. Jared Goff is no bum coming into this situation and he has had some runs in his career where he has looked very solid. He has also had times where he has looked like a deer in headlight. Look at this past season with the Dolphins game. He looked like a bad D3 quarterback. The concerning part for him now is that he is without offensive mastermind, Sean McVay, and his supporting cast is bad. Comparing the Rams and Lions is like comparing a beat-up 1997 Toyota Camry and a 2020 Lamborghini. The Lions could lose both starting WRs, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones. Their defense is all sorts of terrible, outside of a few decent players. The only redeeming qualities in my eyes are young studs, RB D'Andre Swift and TE T.J. Hockenson. Goff has to really prove that he is a starting caliber QB and can lead an offense. If he can't help this Lions team win some games, then he can officially be labeled a system QB. Will be very interesting to see the moves that the Lions make. Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams The angle for the Rams now is that there is no excuse to not be in Super Bowl contention. It was reported a couple weeks ago that Sean McVay and Jared Goff had a fractured relationship and this it would take some counseling for them to reconcile. I think we see how that turned out. It was evident during the end of this season that McVay had little trust in Goff. This ultimately fractured their relationship and once you go down that road, there is no going back. The way that Goff didn't start that playoff game in Seattle, despite looking fine once he came in, told you everything you needed to know. The big headline grabber for this trade is that the Rams will be without a first round pick for seven straight seasons. This is incredibly unusual for a team to go through. The Rams obviously view first round picks as just another player to develop. This is fair as they trade their picks for high quality, established veterans. There is no one more excited for this move more than Matthew Stafford. After countless years in dead end Detroit, Stafford gets to move to the beautiful weather of sunny Los Angeles. There is no bigger winner in this trade than him. He finally gets moved to a team that will utilize his talents properly. Matthew Stafford is one of the most hot and cold quarterbacks when it comes to public opinion. His career arc is fairly similar to his friend and fellow QB, Matt Ryan. He is one of the last, true pocket passers that has a cannon for an arm. Part of the reason why I thought San Francisco would be great for him was that Stafford and Shanahan would work very similarly to the Ryan-Shanahan partnership that led to one of the best offense in league history. I will always take the chance to mention that 2016 Falcons offense. McVay is right there with Shanahan when it comes to offensive genius' and this should prove to let Stafford shine. This should be a very fun team to watch and a deep playoff run is definitely in the cards now. |
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