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Quarterback roulette: Teams without sustainable QBs are in full panic mode
March 10, 2016 7:05 pm ET
By Pete Prisco
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ithout-sustainable-qbs-are-in-full-panic-mode
Colin Kaepernick is now a hot commodity, going from bench to maybe quarterbacking the Super Bowl champions.
Brock Osweiler is getting $18 million a season for seven career starts, and would be getting a fraction of that if not for the plantar fasciitis suffered by Peyton Manning last year. The Rams tendered Case Keenum with a first-round tender as a restricted free agent. Case Keenum? Even Johnny Manziel is being mentioned as a quarterback who could be wanted.
When does the Tim Tebow reclamation project begin?
What the hell is going on?
It's the annual spring-quarterback panic. If you don't have one, you try to do anything and everything to get one -- even if it means bringing in washed-up veterans and playing the Matt Flynn-speculation game with a guy like Osweiler.
Meanwhile, the teams like the Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Seahawks, Cardinals, Colts and those with the young, budding franchise passers like Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota and Teddy Bridgewater sit back and watch the misery unfold, their general managers glad it isn't them.
The quarterback roulette game is how you get fired. Fix the position, and you have job security.
Filling in the spot with the McCowns-Hoyers-Schaubs-Flynns of the world will lead to firings and the constant entry into the quarterback sweepstakes. Those quarterbacks might have an aberration season or two, where everything goes right and they get their teams to 9-7 and the playoffs, but it's not sustainable.
Without a sustainable quarterback, things go awry quickly.
Denver is in that position now. You would think John Elway, once one of the great sustainable quarterbacks of all-time, would understand this as much as anybody. Yet with Peyton Manning retiring, he let Osweiler get out the door. Now Osweiler didn't really want to stay, but the difference of $2 million a year might have helped change his mind. The Texans ponied up, and the Broncos didn't.
The Broncos are said to be eyeing a trade to get Kaepernick, who was benched last year for Blaine Gabbert of all people.
There is no guarantee that Osweiler is the sustainable quarterback the Texans have lacked in their entire existence. He might be, though, and the Broncos would have been better off with him.
Denver has no chance to have one now.
Their options: Trade for Kaepernick, sign Ryan Fitzpatrick, make a deal for a guy like Tampa Bay backup Mike Glennon or even Robert Griffin III. Oh, boy.
You see sustainable success with any of those? Me neither.
That's why the picking a quarterback in the first round, even with the potential of a bust, is the way the go when you don't have one. The Cleveland Browns, picking second overall, will take one. It might be Jared Goff or it might be Carson Wentz. It's their shot to get that guy. Even if it doesn't work out, or you might not see the next Andrew Luck in those two, it's the shot they have to take.
You have to keep trying.
I am to the point now that teams without the franchise passers would be wise to take a passer every year in the draft. It doesn't always have to be in the first round. Take the shots. You might get lucky like the Patriots did when they took Brady in the sixth round. Contrary to what they might say now, that was luck -- otherwise he gets drafted much higher.
As the quarterback panic continues around the league, the Packers, Steelers, Colts, Seahawks and others should take solace in knowing they have their guys, leaving the misery for others.
Three teams that did very little in the early part of free agency were the Packers, Steelers and Patriots. Why? They draft well and they have three of the elite passers in the game.
It's a shame there aren't enough of them to go around, leading to that dreaded sickness we see every spring:
Quarterback panic.
More Musings
Chicago Bears
One of the things I like about the Bears signing of Cardinals tackle Bobby Massie is that it allows Kyle Long to go back to guard. He did a nice job at right tackle last season, but he was kind of thrown into it. He is a dominant guard. Massie will play right tackle next to Long. They know each other well from working out together at OLine Academy in Arizona, the place run by former NFL player LeCharles Bentley. Long was thrown in at right tackle last year in camp, and made the most of it. But back at guard he should again become one of the best at his position.
Cincinnati Bengals
Mohamed Sanu was the third receiver for the Bengals, a good player but not much more than that. Yet the receiver-needy Falcons gave him a five-year, $32.5-million deal Thursday that will make him the No. 2 receiver opposite Julio Jones. Sanu can do a lot of things -- including throw it and run it on reverses -- but that's a lot of money to pay a third receiver with hopes he can be a No. 2. Keep an eye on Justin Hardy, who didn't do a lot as a rookie last season but has a lot of potential.
Oakland Raiders
The Raiders badly needed help at corner and signing Sean Smith gives them a nice player who can play press-man. Smith isn't a star, but the Raiders need a lead corner on their defense, and he will fill that role. I like the signing for Oakland, which is putting together a nice, young team. The Raiders are coming fast.
Kansas City Chiefs
The league slapping tampering penalties against the Chiefs is a joke. Every team does it. To single out one team is terrible. The Chiefs got caught tampering with receiver Jeremy Maclin last year, and will lose two draft picks because of it. One is a third this year. That's absurd in a league where every team tampers.
March 10, 2016 7:05 pm ET
By Pete Prisco
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ithout-sustainable-qbs-are-in-full-panic-mode
Colin Kaepernick is now a hot commodity, going from bench to maybe quarterbacking the Super Bowl champions.
Brock Osweiler is getting $18 million a season for seven career starts, and would be getting a fraction of that if not for the plantar fasciitis suffered by Peyton Manning last year. The Rams tendered Case Keenum with a first-round tender as a restricted free agent. Case Keenum? Even Johnny Manziel is being mentioned as a quarterback who could be wanted.
When does the Tim Tebow reclamation project begin?
What the hell is going on?
It's the annual spring-quarterback panic. If you don't have one, you try to do anything and everything to get one -- even if it means bringing in washed-up veterans and playing the Matt Flynn-speculation game with a guy like Osweiler.
Meanwhile, the teams like the Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Seahawks, Cardinals, Colts and those with the young, budding franchise passers like Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota and Teddy Bridgewater sit back and watch the misery unfold, their general managers glad it isn't them.
The quarterback roulette game is how you get fired. Fix the position, and you have job security.
Filling in the spot with the McCowns-Hoyers-Schaubs-Flynns of the world will lead to firings and the constant entry into the quarterback sweepstakes. Those quarterbacks might have an aberration season or two, where everything goes right and they get their teams to 9-7 and the playoffs, but it's not sustainable.
Without a sustainable quarterback, things go awry quickly.
Denver is in that position now. You would think John Elway, once one of the great sustainable quarterbacks of all-time, would understand this as much as anybody. Yet with Peyton Manning retiring, he let Osweiler get out the door. Now Osweiler didn't really want to stay, but the difference of $2 million a year might have helped change his mind. The Texans ponied up, and the Broncos didn't.
The Broncos are said to be eyeing a trade to get Kaepernick, who was benched last year for Blaine Gabbert of all people.
There is no guarantee that Osweiler is the sustainable quarterback the Texans have lacked in their entire existence. He might be, though, and the Broncos would have been better off with him.
Denver has no chance to have one now.
Their options: Trade for Kaepernick, sign Ryan Fitzpatrick, make a deal for a guy like Tampa Bay backup Mike Glennon or even Robert Griffin III. Oh, boy.
You see sustainable success with any of those? Me neither.
That's why the picking a quarterback in the first round, even with the potential of a bust, is the way the go when you don't have one. The Cleveland Browns, picking second overall, will take one. It might be Jared Goff or it might be Carson Wentz. It's their shot to get that guy. Even if it doesn't work out, or you might not see the next Andrew Luck in those two, it's the shot they have to take.
You have to keep trying.
I am to the point now that teams without the franchise passers would be wise to take a passer every year in the draft. It doesn't always have to be in the first round. Take the shots. You might get lucky like the Patriots did when they took Brady in the sixth round. Contrary to what they might say now, that was luck -- otherwise he gets drafted much higher.
As the quarterback panic continues around the league, the Packers, Steelers, Colts, Seahawks and others should take solace in knowing they have their guys, leaving the misery for others.
Three teams that did very little in the early part of free agency were the Packers, Steelers and Patriots. Why? They draft well and they have three of the elite passers in the game.
It's a shame there aren't enough of them to go around, leading to that dreaded sickness we see every spring:
Quarterback panic.
More Musings
Chicago Bears
One of the things I like about the Bears signing of Cardinals tackle Bobby Massie is that it allows Kyle Long to go back to guard. He did a nice job at right tackle last season, but he was kind of thrown into it. He is a dominant guard. Massie will play right tackle next to Long. They know each other well from working out together at OLine Academy in Arizona, the place run by former NFL player LeCharles Bentley. Long was thrown in at right tackle last year in camp, and made the most of it. But back at guard he should again become one of the best at his position.
Cincinnati Bengals
Mohamed Sanu was the third receiver for the Bengals, a good player but not much more than that. Yet the receiver-needy Falcons gave him a five-year, $32.5-million deal Thursday that will make him the No. 2 receiver opposite Julio Jones. Sanu can do a lot of things -- including throw it and run it on reverses -- but that's a lot of money to pay a third receiver with hopes he can be a No. 2. Keep an eye on Justin Hardy, who didn't do a lot as a rookie last season but has a lot of potential.
Oakland Raiders
The Raiders badly needed help at corner and signing Sean Smith gives them a nice player who can play press-man. Smith isn't a star, but the Raiders need a lead corner on their defense, and he will fill that role. I like the signing for Oakland, which is putting together a nice, young team. The Raiders are coming fast.
Kansas City Chiefs
The league slapping tampering penalties against the Chiefs is a joke. Every team does it. To single out one team is terrible. The Chiefs got caught tampering with receiver Jeremy Maclin last year, and will lose two draft picks because of it. One is a third this year. That's absurd in a league where every team tampers.
