(02-01-2018, 09:19 PM)TheSchmidt Wrote: These are the options the team has at the QB position going forward

1. Keep Bortles and draft a QB.

a. Bortles has reached his peak and either regresses or stays the same next year. So we have to sign him to a deal likely worth 21-24m a year. With no viable QBs in free agency he will have all the leverage and I can't imagine he will actually take a paycut than the $19 he will make next year. So you will have to be make the same roster decisions in 2020 that you would have to take if you sign Cousins this year.

b. Bortles is terrible. With a terrible QB FA class, they are forced to bring him back or pray the QB that they have drafted is able to take the reigns next year. Eh.

2. Cut Bortles and sign Cousins

For two years, the only meaningful player that needs to be cut is Allen Hurns. So for two years we get a quarterback who can make all the throws and this elite defense. There will be roster decisions going into the 2020 offseason, but with the rising salary cap and three drafts, it should play itself out where keeping Yannick, Ramsey, and Jack will be no problem. A combo of Church, Gipson, Dareus, Campbell, and Malik may have to be cut, but while the defense may suffer a little, we will actually have a quarterback who can go out an win games with his arm.

There is a lot of risk in the first option, and with this defense, the time to go for it all is now. We have a lot of really, really good talent on rookie contracts for the next few years. That won't always be the case. Can't wait for a QB that we draft to hopefully develop or that Blake all of a sudden can lead this team with his arm and not rely on the defense. His numbers in the fourth quarter with the game within a touchdown speak for themselves. He can't go out there and put the ball in tight windows. I keep seeing Flacco, Dilfer, and Manning listed. Flacco may have had a pedestrian career, but he went all Brady that postseason and was the reason they won. Dilfer and Manning are exceptions to the rule.