Inigo Montoya

His time at Michigan doesn’t really have anything to do with what he did at Iowa. Again, you criticized his production while downplaying the bottom tier offense he played in. That’s not a fair assessment and it doesn’t make him over drafted. His health is definitely fair game but that’s a risk you can take in the 4th round.

You could have stopped there. You mentioned a lack of production and clearly the offense itself was at least somewhat to blame. I’m far more concerned about his health/availability than his college numbers in what was clearly one of the worst offenses in the country.

Just a guess but the Iowa offense is probably to blame. The HC is notoriously resistant to change and had his son as OC until late last year. They finished 123rd and 132nd in total offense the past two seasons.

I wouldn’t say it’s smart or dumb to do what the Falcons did, but there’s a few examples of it working out in the NFL. The Niners stashed Steve Young for several years behind Montana and the Packers have also done it twice with Favre, Rodgers, and now Love. It all depends on how each guy plays and there’s no debate about the cost of doing things this way. It’s not just the guaranteed money paid to Cousins but also the lost opportunity cost of taking Penix to likely not play for a couple years. Rookie QB contracts can be extremely valuable and a top 10 pick at another position who actually sees the field also has major potential value. Given Cousins career to this point, he’s firmly in the above average category when healthy but he’s about to be 36 and coming off a serious injury. If he is ineffective or suffers injury again, this move definitely looks different. It’s also moot if Penix doesn’t perform whenever he gets his shot. Time will tell but there’s a decent chance the critics will be wrong in condemning this move.

Mims might not go as high as I originally thought. He’s a physical freak and his speed/agility at that size seems almost impossible. He’s also pretty raw with limited experience and he missed time with injuries, including a high ankle sprain that required surgery last year. There’s risk historically drafting a player with this kind of profile.

Exactly right. I guess repeating speculation enough times makes it true. Like George Constanza said, it’s not a lie if YOU believe it.

Reading today Stealers signed Patterson specifically to boost returns for new kickoff rules. Could be a sneaky good move.

You can thank the transfer portal for that. Anyone can play just about anywhere now and promising talent from the smaller conferences can be easily poached by the big names. You also see guys switching between top programs, which was much more rare previously.

The division is a concern. Lamar owns us (8-2 in his career). Pittsburgh continues to own us. Burrow hasn’t done well against Cleveland. They have to find a way to win more division games no doubt about it. I think improving the defense is the key, not only to the division but also overall. That side of the ball fell off a cliff last year.

I agree with this. Fields is a textbook example of how not to develop a QB. The organization failed him from the beginning by giving him no weapons and a coaching change between years 1-2. I don’t want him to succeed in Pittsburgh or anywhere in the AFC, but otherwise I hope he gets a chance.

Where we’re at is no different than the past 3 years. We still have a legitimate chance to win it all, but the division is the toughest in the league and the AFC is loaded. That’s reality, not an excuse. It may or may not end up how we want but there’s no games till September. The roster isn’t even close to being finished and it’s very reasonable to like what has happened to this point. Especially when guys like Mixon and Jonah are no longer here as many people wanted.

Why bother. Nuance would mean actually acknowledging the occasional thing the team does that you like. I know better than to think that will ever happen with you.

The games aren’t going to be played for months. Are you going to do nothing but be negative until then? They’ve done what you wanted. Jonah is gone and a veteran has been signed to replace him. We still have the draft to add more pieces. You should be happy but nope. I doubt anything, even winning a Super Bowl, would change it for you.

Yeah I’m not sure the league sees it that way. Browning played less than half a season and was above average overall. He was good in a few games (JAX, IND, MIN) and not so good in a few others (both PIT games, KC). Bengals fans didn’t expect much and he was a pleasant surprise. If anything, guys like Fields and Pickett are seen as more talented and that inflated their trade values, which ended up being late Day 3 picks.

That’s all hypothetical. What we do know is that all of the recent QB trades have been for very little return. I’m sure there will be more moves during or after the draft. Very unlikely Browning is moved or would get much in a trade. The market just isn’t there.