Seeing a lot of discussion here (myself included), hoping that Richardson falls to us at 5. And if he doesn't, it practically guarantees that either Carter or Anderson will be available. Well, let's say it's Carter and John has serious character concerns. Do we then consider Will Levis at 5? Not seeing him brought up a lot as an option at 5, which surprises me given the JA comparisons and that John loved JA in the draft.
Short answer. Yes
NO. We have Geno under center. Maybe a QB at 20 or early 2nd round. But not at 5. This team is desperately in need of D and O line talent in the draft.
I don't, and never thought this would matter. I expected us to sign Geno as our hedge. Much in the same way we signed Flynn in 2012. Geno is a much better hedge though.
The contract details aren't out yet. But the verbiage of 'can make 52M in the first calendar year' is the red flag indicator. Clearly suggests there is a large guarantee to be paid out around Combine 2024 time. That means this contract is a 3 year deal with a cheap out before the league year starts. It's a one year hedge meant to flex to a longer term *IF* the draft doesn't allow for a QB in 2023.
I'm guessing that the first year cap hit is modest. With a fairly significant dead money hit should we release Smith before guarantees kick in early 2024
Also, I wouldn't disagree we need DL/OL talent. However you can't make a ribeye out of chuck steak. This is NOT a good class for top shelf DL or OL. Pretty much every prospect is pushed up nearly half a round because there are no blue chippers here. You're spending $50 bucks on a hamburger. There still is good hamburger on the menu at reasonable hamburger prices. And they will still be tasty burgers.
Additionally, I'm going to go further and say that JS not only really knows QB talent when he sees it. But also keenly feels the sting of they guys that got away. He's mentioned on more than one occasion that he has gotten 'too cute' and traded back too far and let prime targets get snatched up.
I actually am definitely in the minority, but I would actually expect that if JS has his sights on one, or even 3 different QB prospects, that we will actually do a trade up. Depending totally on just how many we covet. If it's 2 guys, I think we get aggressive. Maybe even all the way to Chicago as I don't think AZ trades with us although they should, and I don't know that Houston wants to drop that far.
Right now -- as I read the tea leaves, JS has set his floor with the Geno contract. He doesn't have to ridiculously overpay, but JS is a mover and definitely will pay top trade price to make stuff happen when he's chosen to move up. I read the current landscape as JS definitely wants a QB in this class and right here. And he's set the team up to do exactly that, with the kind of player and leader that we can incubate a QBOTF with a long term plan with an offense that is set up to coddle and grow with him in years 1 through 4.
If I'm building an offense -- that's what I do. Set up OL for 4-7 years. Good passing catching talent. Good run game. All check, check and check.
If we think we're one year away from being competitive for division titles, then yeah let's just whole hog on defense. Even trade back and get a massive bag of tasty burgers. But I don't think that's the case. If you think it's going to be a 2-3 year process, then this team is set up perfectly to get a signal caller now, with OT talent in place for years. And then just get defensive talent where one can over years. It's monumentally easier to get good defensive talent in the 15-50 range in 2-3 years worth of drafts. Whereas you likely won't have good luck spending ALL of your 15-50 overall picks in 2-3 years on QBs before you find one that hits.
Seattle isn't picking in the top 5 again for some time. Too much talent overall to stink that badly. It's a perfect match of high draft pick and Quality/Quantity of QBs on the board. And it helps that there aren't any real blue chip alternatives to take one's eye off the menu
I rather take Hooker in late rounds, he didn't quite have the arm of Levis, but should be adequate?
