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medaille · 4 hours ago

(5 hours ago)MaroonBells Wrote: Oh no doubt. It really sucks to be in this situation. And good luck to the front office trying to sort it out. You have a young QB on a rookie contract and you have no idea if he can be the guy or not. So you do have to hedge your bets. But how do you do that? With a cheap, but more qualified backup? Or does the fact that you can't waste the careers of Justin Jefferson and Jurdan Addison force you into the Kyler Murray sweepstakes? Fine, but there goes that whole a "QB on a rookie deal" advantage.

I think it kind of depends on the definition of "waste". Is a 9-8 season a waste? I don’t really think you can hedge your bets that much. The odds of the hedge QB are probably worse than the odds of the rookie contract QB at least in terms of taking you to a SB during JJ or Addison’s career.

Sure maybe you get a handful more wins and JJ/Addison can pad their stats by another 500 yards, but you aren’t making progress on winning a SB, unless a you need a couple wins while they sit and sort out some issue, which doesn’t really seem like a strategy many coaches have taken.

To get a SB caliber QB, you probably have to draft them and deal with the growing pains. There’s the rare chance that a Manning/Rodgers/Brady/Wilson who have a good track record become available, but we might be waiting a while for Burrows to force his way out of Cincinnati. The odds of a Kirk Cousins caliber QB or worse taking you to a SB are just so low.

I think you just have to roll with JJM or draft another potential option to get a SB trophy in the building. That said, I fully support drafting QBs frequently until you find a top 5 QB.

MaroonBells · 2 hours ago

(4 hours ago)medaille Wrote: I think it kind of depends on the definition of "waste". Is a 9-8 season a waste?

I don't think record has much to do with a successful season, or what one might call a wasted season. It's all about trajectory IMO. Let's take it to the extreme. If we end up 8-9 but JJ McCarthy really starts to get his shit together in these last 5 games, then everyone's nerves are calmed, we start to have some real hope for 2026 and despite missing the playoffs, the season will be seen as a painful, necessary step along the way. That would be considered a worthwhile season for fans and players alike. More worthwhile than a season where we go, say, 11-6 on the back of Carson Wentz. We may have made some noise and made the playoffs, but the future is murky at best.

But if that does not happen. If we see much of the same crap from JJ, then the trajectory is a whiskey-dick and we have to at least consider the possibility that JJ McCarthy is a bust and we have to make a bolder move to avoid another season where our $140M receiver is more spectator than participant. That might include signing an expensive starter. That might include a seasoned backup. That might include taking a shot on a middle round QB. But I'm fairly certain that won't involve taking a QB in the 1st round in 2026. Maybe 2027.