Is it having a slightly above average QB that you need to pay an unjust contract just because the market is so thin? Cam Newton is the latest QB to sign an insane contract. 5 years $103 million deal. Joining other borderline guys like Cutler , Dalton , Kaepernick , Matt Ryan..and to a lesser extent Eli and Joe Flacco (I think Superbowl winning QB's deserve a larger contract just because of the financial gain that the franchise gets when they win one). Now I admit Im not that good when it comes to salary cap room or how contracts break down from year to year..but a contract this large on the books has to make it difficult for a team to remain competitive year after year. Especially when its a team that needs pieces around a QB to remain above average. The Panthers arent exactly a guaranteed playoff team next season. And Cam hasnt been the model of consistency either with his play or his ability to stay healthy. Yet he gets this type of deal? Why do teams continue to do this? Are they scared that a guy they let go would go somewhere else and become better than what they are with them? Wouldnt Carolina be better off letting Cam leave , drafting a young QB who might be better than Newton , use the $$ in different areas to improve the team , and worry about dishing out a $100+ million contract to someone who actually deserves it? I mean out of that list of QB's who exactly has a legit shot of winning a Superbowl in their current situation?
Boils down to supply and demand at this point. The rule changes put in place make this a QB's game. I get the feeling the NFL took a page out of MLB's playbook to make the game more exciting for the casual fan. In any case the problem in my opinion is that there just aren't enough guys that can QB at that level; and honestly I doubt there ever was. So now you need, NEED, to have a QB who can run the modern offense to have a real shot at playoff time. Cam isn't bad but when the other choice is to reshuffle deck chairs on the Titanic you end up with the Kaep, Dalton, Cam contracts.
I agree with everything you said, except putting Matt Ryan on that list. He's elite, and deserves the payday. If we had Ryan, we go deep into the playoffs.
He's a very good QB. Better overall than Flacco IMO. But he has some serious flaws in his game. I also wonder how he would fare playing outside more often than he does. Seems like everytime he plays in cold weather he is just alright. Which is weird for a guy that went to BC. Even still his salary limits the Falcons from doing things to improve their team. And Ryan at this stage of his career is pretty much a finished product. He isnt all of the sudden going to turn into Brady or Rodgers. But Atlanta is going to pay him like he is and most likely not win much during the rest of his tenure cause of other holes that they can only fix so much.
Makes me think that if Geno somehow someway put together 2-3 above average seasons and got us to the playoffs he would be wanting that type of deal. Seems like that's really the only benchmark for it these days. Cam made the playoffs twice. Neither time it had a lot to do with him. But he benefits the most from it? Not right.
as high as that contract seems to be, its better that teams are retaining the slightly above average qbs. imagine what the contracts would look like if cam was to hit the open market
Well all it takes is one dumb team but I really don't think it would be much more than what he just got. It would be interesting to see if one of these guys ever hit the open market what the interest level would be. Sure a guy like Cam would be a major upgrade on a lot of teams but I don't know how many would be willing to make that type of financial commitment. For some reason hometown teams seem more loyal to QBs than another team would.
It's hard to find franchise qb's so when you have one you lock him down. You don't want to be in a situation like certain teams that have question marks at the position.
The problem with these contracts is that these players are supposed to supplement for the rest of the team and hide deficiencies throughout the offense themselves because in theory they're supposed to be good enough to win without as much talent around them. It doesn't work with these guys like Dalton. It almost seems like it makes more sense to dump them and keep drafting guys rather than committing to these guys who won't win Superbowls with subpar casts.
Ryan is a very good QB, but not "elite" IMO. Elite QBs don't cost ther teams wins and I've seen Ryan do that more than once just last year. The game in London comes to mind right away.
It beats getting bottom of the barrel qb play like we've gotten since 2009. Where do I sign up for above average qb play? I'll even take average.
Thats not really my point though. If we had a 100 million dollar average QB right now the rest of our roster wouldn't look the same. Chances are this last offseason doesnt happen as we would probably only be able to afford either 1 of Cro or Skrine. No chance at Revis. Marshall's contract would've been difficult to acquire. And we would all be worried (more worried) about our ability to resign Wilk and eventually Sheldon. Would you take Cam over all of those guys combined?
It's not an outrageous contract because the price to replace Cam in almost incalculable. If they didn't have Cam they'd have to suck in the perfect year to suck and suck enough (not picking 6th) and hope a Luck type guy is sitting there for them (which only happens once a decade) or hope to strike gold with a Wilson (supported by a beast RB and even beastlier defense) or take a shot on a Winston (and hope he doesn't implode) or a Mariota (and wait out his development years and hope he becomes better than Cam) or muddle through years with a Geno or a Tanneyhill or Dalton or the like. Cam isn't a superstar QB but he's a damn good one and replacing him isn't easy. We might have won a SB if we'd had a Cam over the past decade. _
No because I'm not a fan of Cam Newton's game same with Kaepergimmick. That said I do understand why Carolina did it they had no choice. Average-above average QB play allows the team to stay competitive better to know you have that than the unknown at QB. Stay competitive = the people in charge stay employed, live to pick the players in another NFL Draft, another year to get things right hopefully build a championship team. QBs like Sanchez & Geno get GMs, coaches, entire regimes fired.
Oh I understand why they did it too. Its become the only logical choice for teams these days. If you find a QB of even some skill, that guy, barring injury, is your guy for the next 10 years. On one hand that is great. Because then the most important position in the game is never an issue for you come draft time or free agency. But with QB's like Cam there is a limit to how much success they can bring you IMO. If a team is going to hand out a Superbowl winning QB calibur contract, I think the QB should atleast have a shot to win a Superbowl during the time of that contract. To me , Cam has zero shot to win one in the next 5 years.
In reality there are only like 5 elite QBs in the league today. 1 - Br*dy 2 - P. Manning 3 - Rodgers 4 - Luck 5 - Brees I don't consider Big Ben elite, he doesn't make those around him better IMO like the other QBs.
See the Jets are doing things the smart way. Always have shitty QBs so you don't have to pay anything for them. Who needs to drop inflated contracts on average QBs when you can shop at the five and dime store and get guys like Geno Smith & Ryan Fitzpatrick. They'll even throw in higher draft picks for free! What a deal!
I'll have to disagree with you there. There's a reason they only draft receivers in the 3rd round and later combined with a middle of the road run game most years since 2009 and horrible pass protection in those same years. Not to mention he's very clutch and nearly impossible to tackle in the pocket. Look at the receivers that leave the Steelers and go on to play like the more average players they are when paired with average quarterbacks. The only knock I guess you could say is that he does benefit from a normally elite defense. These past two years have been pretty bad situational Steelers defenses especially against the pass. He most likely won't have another elite defense in his career if not at the tail end and I pretty much guarantee they'll stay competitive because of him.
If this was a post about the Jets I would've put it in the Jets forum. But since you brought it up, we saw what happened the last time the Jets gave a big contract to a QB. How'd that work out for us? Like I said before , just cause a guy is getting paid like an elite QB doesnt mean he is one. Shame that teams are scared to let average guys go these days.
