Which Quarterback Will Go Where... Rodgers, Jackson, Garoppolo
Thought for today...
We don't change God's message. His message changes us!
We have already had Derek Carr decide to go to New Orleans, so where are the other big name quarterbacks going? Let's check on Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Aaron Rodgers - It seems the Packers finally have enough confidence in Jordan Love to let him be their starting quarterback. He looked pretty awful during his time the first couple of years, but to be fair, he looked pretty good in the parts of four games in which he played during the 2022 season. He had 14 completions out of 21 attempts for 195 yards with 1 TD and no interceptions. Is that really enough to trade Rodgers? I'm not completely sold on that, but here's what needs to happen next. Aaron Rodgers needs to tell the Packers what he is willing to do. He can retire, tell them he is willing to play for another team, or tell them he wants to play only for the Packers. If he retires, that's the end of a great career. He underachieved relative to his talent in making it to only one Super Bowl, but his stats are undeniably great. If he says he will play for another team, only one team has shown much interest at all. That's the Jets. I thought the Raiders would be very interested, but they SAY they are not. The Jets' brass flew out to California to meet with Rodgers a few days ago, and the meeting went well. If Rodgers says he only wants to play for the Packers, the team has a big decision to make. They can kick the can down the road on Jordan Love one more year and let Rodgers play. Nearly everyone has ruled that out. I have not, but I think the odds of it are less than 20%. I think Rodgers wants to play other couple of years, so if the Jets and Packers can agree to terms of a trade, I think that's what will happen.
Lamar Jackson - Baltimore loves Lamar Jackson and wants him to be their quarterback. They have offered him a very reasonable contract if you ask me. However, Jackson has always been in competition with Deshaun Watson going back to their days at Louisville and Clemson. Watson is the only player to ever get a fully guaranteed contract in the NFL, and Jackson has apparently decided that he will not be outdone by Watson and will take nothing less than a fully guaranteed worth at least a dollar more than Watson got. Baltimore has decided that the Watson contract was an outlier, and they do not want to be the team that cements a precedent by giving Jackson a fully guaranteed contract. One fully guaranteed contract is an outlier, but two or more is a trend in my opinion. I think they would consider giving Jackson the amount of money Watson got but not fully guaranteed. Baltimore placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson which means other teams can offer him a contract, but Baltimore can match it and keep him. If some team offers Jackson a fully guaranteed contract, Baltimore would be free to match it because they would not have been the team that cemented the precedent; the team that offered it would be. However, I think Jackson has misjudged the market. I think every owner in the NFL, other than Cleveland's owner which gave Watson the contract, does not want to give a fully guaranteed contract. I think some team will offer him a contract, whether it's Carolina, Atlanta or the Jets if they don't get Rodgers, but not fully guaranteed, and I think Baltimore will match it, so I expect Jackson to stay in Baltimore.
Jimmy Garoppolo - Garoppolo is a good quarterback, not a great one. He can be great except for end of game situations when teams know he has to throw. He has shown over and over again that he will fail against good teams in end of game situations. Garoppolo is good enough to get a decent team to the playoffs, and that might be good enough for some teams. I think the Raiders are at the top of the list. The only thing that bothers me about that option is this... Do the Raiders want to go from one almost good enough quarterback (Derek Carr) to another almost good enough quarterback (Garoppolo)? I'm just not completely sold on that. Washington has Sam Howell. Atlanta has Desmond Ridder. I think those two teams like their young guys well enough to not be counted among the desperate. Here are the teams who need a quarterback and don't really have a very good option on their team... Houston, Indianapolis, Carolina, Las Vegas, Baltimore, New York Jets and Tampa Bay. We have four quarterbacks in the draft who have first round grades, plus Rodgers, Jackson and Garoppolo. If we assume Rodgers goes to the Jets and Jackson stays with Baltimore, that leaves five desperate teams with four draftable quarterbacks. Tampa Bay is drafting lower than the four remaining teams. So, I'll take a guess that they end up with Garoppolo if the Raiders don't get him first.
May God always be your number 1 draft pick!
Draftman Rick