Good QB play is what brings the NFL to the stratosphere

[JimmyinSD]

Like I said, hindsight is 20/20. Love didn't look particularly good the 2nd half of 2024, making his contract extension look like a mistake. But in 2023, the Packers gave Love a 1-year extension, which was a kind of cheaper franchise tag. They clearly wanted to see more since Love hadn't really played much yet. In the second half of that year, Love completed 70% of his passes for over 2,000 yards, 18 touchdowns and just 1 interception while the Packers finished 6-2 and made the playoffs.

How do you think Love's camp would have responded if, again, the Packers placed the franchise tag on him. I mean decisions are not without consequence.

they would take that big pay raise and show up and play,  they can always play their cards eventually, but I still wouldnt have offered up much for Love based on his body of work at that time.  1 season does not make a career, or like I said, instead of the franchise tag,  offer them a prove it deal with a lot of incentives that are hinged to future bigger money years.  There is a lot of room for creativity if people try and think outside the box, or I walk away... plenty of teams have nice seasons with retread QBs.  Personally I wouldnt have gotten to that point with Love,  either Rogers would have been shown the door sooner, or I would have taken another early round QB sooner, to have competing with Love.

[medaille]

In general, I agree with this theory; however, not so sure this time as KOC has proven that he can mold QBs and win with just about anyone. What he did with Darnold was just perfection, more KOC than Darnold, and the league took notice. I am sure teams wanted to see if they could get him seeing as what he does with QBs. 

Every team wants to get the QB position right, and it's the most coveted part of your team. It wouldn't surprise me if teams called on KOC with him having an expiring contract after 2025. Also, with us having little picks in this draft, why not try and bite when you see it a little blood in the water.

Why not just trade for Andy Reid instead?  He's getting old, but Mahomes became Mahomes under his tutelage.

[comet52]

I don’t think teams are fooled by QBs as much as they don’t have options.  The problem is that there’s a shortage of QBs capable of building around.  Teams that don’t have contingency plans at QB are either forced to overpay for a subpar option or waste a season.  This last draft was pretty egregious in my mind, as there was a fair number of teams that had a chance at drafting a QB and chose not to, and now are looking for a QB, but they’re not available.

I think the solution to this is to have the league mandate that teams carry more QBs on their roster (not practice squad).  I think if teams were forced to roster 4 or even 5 QBs, you’d start to see the floor level of quarterbacking rise up to the point where maybe you can find a cheaper but equally viable option as Jones and you don’t feel the need to overpay him and then cut him shortly into his extension.

That's an interesting idea. Objectively looking at Jones at the time, I couldn't justify the salary they gave him. But teams are reluctant to keep trying new guys every year. They get caught between a rock and a hard place. So the Giants made a bad gamble.

I guess if it was easy every team would have a superstar QB.