Underhill article: “Saints moves are telling us what they felt the real problem with the team was last season”

sainthood said

The difference is the Andy Dalton Bengals versus the Joe Burrow Bengals (i.e. the Dalton Bengals were one and done in the playoffs for years, respectable and mediocre). The Bengals finally bottomed out and drafted high enough to get Burrow and Chase and reinvigorated their franchise. The Carr Saints are the Dalton Bengals at their best and they haven't even managed that in a mediocre to bad division. My hope was to tank for Arch Manning.

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That sounds great in theory, but you are just as likely to have a year where you get Zach Wilson as you are to get Joe Burrow. And there is no guarantee that Arch is going to be that good when he comes out in 2 or 3 years. For all we know he gets hurt or just doesn't prove to be a great QB.

And even with the Bengals, they had one great year (where they went 10-7 in the regular season - a record that many hate the idea of), one year in the conf championship and have now had mediocre 9-8 season two years in a row. So, it's not as simple as tank to get a young franchise QB and then profit. Even if you get the franchise QB after tanking, it's no guarantee of a Super Bowl win, and at least half of the time you get Zach Wilson, Josh Rosen, Mitch Trubisky, Trevor Lawrence, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, etc.