Matt Mascona Nails It Again!

Wheelo said
He wasn't given high-mid starter money. It's just not $4MM like Baker and for some reason that matters to us? It's not poor value. He was either going to be our franchise QB or he's just a guy; hence the average QB money for 3 years. Tampa has a backup plan in Trask, we do not. We're not in the same situation as Tampa. Baker is irrelevant to this conversation. That's like me saying Carr is the best deal we could've possibly done this offseason because we're not the Browns with Deshaun Watson... Doesn't even make sense to compare the two.

The deal made sense in January because we didn't have a QB... and we got one. The idea was we just need an average offense to win with our defense. And guess what? We have an above average offense that's statistically better than last year. Carr's deal doesn't make sense for the future? So, who's the magical QB that's going to take the reigns? Jameis? lul. The front office that's kept our club competitive for 20 years just forgot football because we're not 10-0. Give me a break.

His current-year salary is tied for 13th in a league of 32 starters; that's high-mid. The Tampa situation is relevant because they're a division foe and they executed a plan at the most important position in football that has yielded more production at a fraction of the cost while setting themselves up better for the future. Depending on how their season goes, they can either re-up on Baker long-term, re-up on Baker short-term and draft a guy, or roll with Trask (not likely). They have flexibility with what they can do at that position going into next year --- and they accomplished all this having the same damn options we did, only they made a prudent choice going with Baker (whom we could've had) while we decided to swing for the fences with Deshaun and Derek under the misguided impression that either of those guys would be the difference-maker.

See, it's not just that Carr's contract is poor value on its face; it's the opportunity cost of being tied to him for another couple years with the kinds of middling results we're getting. And that defense that supposedly just needed an average offense to win (I'm not sure how you figure ranking 18th in scoring is average much less "above average") is clearly aging at key positions, which only increases the urgency of getting more out of the offense since our cap is a mess.

The mistake wasn't paying high-mid money for a QB; the mistake was paying high-mid money to a guy who's not giving you high-mid production.