I admit I haven't watched a lot of Redskins games the last few years, but if Cousins is as good as everyone thinks he is why didn't Jay Gruden (who is a former QB and OC by trade) insist on keeping him? Also, while I agree signing Cousins doesn't prevent the Jags from keeping Jalen or Yannick long term, you do have to give up a few more assets (eg. Ivory and Hurns) that you can't replace and this offense definitely needs more weapons than it has right now.

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I admit I haven't watched a lot of Redskins games the last few years, but if Cousins is as good as everyone thinks he is why didn't Jay Gruden (who is a former QB and OC by trade) insist on keeping him?  Also, while I agree signing Cousins doesn't prevent the Jags from keeping Jalen or Yannick long term, you do have to give up a few more assets (eg. Ivory and Hurns) that you can't replace and this offense definitely needs more weapons than it has right now.

Did you really just say the team can’t replace Ivory? The guy who was a healthy scratch in 2 playoff games?

Ivory is gone next year no matter who the QB is.

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Yeah Ivory is for sure gone this offseason.

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No Fun

I admit I haven't watched a lot of Redskins games the last few years, but if Cousins is as good as everyone thinks he is why didn't Jay Gruden (who is a former QB and OC by trade) insist on keeping him?  Also, while I agree signing Cousins doesn't prevent the Jags from keeping Jalen or Yannick long term, you do have to give up a few more assets (eg. Ivory and Hurns) that you can't replace and this offense definitely needs more weapons than it has right now.

Cousins didn't want to be there, he asked to be traded last offseason.  They tagged him 2 years in a row and the franchise tag a 3rd year would have been $34.5 million to have a guy 1 more year, a guy that still didn't want to be there.  They were more likely going to transition tag him at $28.7 million, but it doesn't change the key fact that he didn't want to be there.  The Redskins decided to move on.  Their decision wasn't based on performance, it was based on it being an obvious waste of time and resources for them.

Also, I expect Ivory's replacement might be found in the draft.

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I admit I haven't watched a lot of Redskins games the last few years, but if Cousins is as good as everyone thinks he is why didn't Jay Gruden (who is a former QB and OC by trade) insist on keeping him?  Also, while I agree signing Cousins doesn't prevent the Jags from keeping Jalen or Yannick long term, you do have to give up a few more assets (eg. Ivory and Hurns) that you can't replace and this offense definitely needs more weapons than it has right now.

Did you really just say the team can’t replace Ivory? The guy who was a healthy scratch in 2 playoff games?

Ivory is gone next year no matter who the QB is.

No, I'd be surprised if Ivory or Hurns is back.  My point is to sign Cousins you're going to have to give up 2 guys of their caliber.  You can have Cousins OR Bortles plus a #2 receiver and a quality 3rd down back for the same money.

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I admit I haven't watched a lot of Redskins games the last few years, but if Cousins is as good as everyone thinks he is why didn't Jay Gruden (who is a former QB and OC by trade) insist on keeping him?  Also, while I agree signing Cousins doesn't prevent the Jags from keeping Jalen or Yannick long term, you do have to give up a few more assets (eg. Ivory and Hurns) that you can't replace and this offense definitely needs more weapons than it has right now.

Did you really just say the team can’t replace Ivory? The guy who was a healthy scratch in 2 playoff games?

Ivory is gone next year no matter who the QB is.

Yea I think it's safe to say Ivory is gone. If Yeldon wasn't scratched from the Bills game because of an illness, Ivory would have been a healthy scratch for all 3 of the playoff games.

Isn't he set to make like $7m next season also? No way in hell they're paying him that.

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Did you really just say the team can’t replace Ivory? The guy who was a healthy scratch in 2 playoff games?

Ivory is gone next year no matter who the QB is.

No, I'd be surprised if Ivory or Hurns is back.  My point is to sign Cousins you're going to have to give up 2 guys of their caliber.  You can have Cousins OR Bortles plus a #2 receiver and a quality 3rd down back for the same money.

The Jags can have Cousins, ARob, Cole, Westbrook, Andrews, Fournette and Grant.

That’s pretty good.

I still like Blake but the notion that Cousins will destroy the team is wrong.

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No, I'd be surprised if Ivory or Hurns is back.  My point is to sign Cousins you're going to have to give up 2 guys of their caliber.  You can have Cousins OR Bortles plus a #2 receiver and a quality 3rd down back for the same money.

The Jags can have Cousins, ARob, Cole, Westbrook, Andrews, Fournette and Grant.

That’s pretty good.

I still like Blake but the notion that Cousins will destroy the team is wrong.

I was just making an example of replacing a receiver and a back with a receiver and a back.  Let me put it this way.  If you cut Ivory and Hurns you can have:

Cousins: $30M

OR

Bortles: $19M
Offensive asset (OG,OT,TE,WR, RB): $6M
Offensive asset (OG, OT, TE, WR, RB): $5M

It doesn't matter what you add, you can have $11M more in assets for the same money

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Did you really just say the team can’t replace Ivory? The guy who was a healthy scratch in 2 playoff games?

Ivory is gone next year no matter who the QB is.

Yea I think it's safe to say Ivory is gone. If Yeldon wasn't scratched from the Bills game because of an illness, Ivory would have been a healthy scratch for all 3 of the playoff games.

Isn't he set to make like $7m next season also? No way in hell they're paying him that.

The salary track site says we have some money as follows

Mercedes is 3.5 million
Nortman is 2.25 million
Ivory is 5.5 millions

Some dead money with Ivory though

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Birth of the Franchise - November 30, 1993
Death of the Franchise - November 29, 2011

Fans deserve better. Thanks for all the good times too many are in the past.

The Jags can have Cousins, ARob, Cole, Westbrook, Andrews, Fournette and Grant.

That’s pretty good.

I still like Blake but the notion that Cousins will destroy the team is wrong.

I was just making an example of replacing a receiver and a back with a receiver and a back.  Let me put it this way.  If you cut Ivory and Hurns you can have:

Cousins: $30M

OR

Bortles: $19M
Offensive asset (OG,OT,TE,WR, RB): $6M
Offensive asset (OG, OT, TE, WR, RB): $5M

It doesn't matter what you add, you can have $11M more in assets for the same money

That's a 1 year snapshot with a likely inflated view of what Cousins will actually end up getting.  Also, we're not having to cut anyone we absolutely need this year to make anything regarding a potential Cousins signing happen.  Carry that snapshot forward to next offseason.  If Bortles is locked in as the QB, take a wild guess what his salary is going to be.  If they decide to keep him on the tag, what do you think his salary is going to be.  If he's locked in for being cut, we better have hit the lotto in the upcoming draft at QB.

Truthfully, the best case scenario is for us to find an elite guy in the draft that's ready right away and be able to have him play well on a rookie deal for 4 years with this defense like the Seahawks did with Russell Wilson, but finding elite guys in the draft is no guarantee and is actually pretty difficult and rather unlikely.  A QB like Cousins almost never comes available in free agency.  Injury brought Manning to Denver and Brees to New Orleans.  I'm not even saying Cousins is those guys, but what other 29 year old, bona fide starting QB has ever gotten away from a team via free agency?  This is, in some ways, unprecedented.

Cousins may not wind up here due to Blake's physical or him wanting to specifically go somewhere else for whatever reason, but it should absolutely not be because the front office wasn't interested.

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Brees is a different story. He's an elite QB, Cousins isn't. If they can get Brees to come here for $28M then they need to go for it.

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Brees is a different story.  He's an elite QB, Cousins isn't.  If they can get Brees to come here for $28M then they need to go for it.

Brees has gaudy stats and 1 superbowl.  Of course that is more than us but still. He is a dome QB.

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Birth of the Franchise - November 30, 1993
Death of the Franchise - November 29, 2011

Fans deserve better. Thanks for all the good times too many are in the past.

You still don't get it do you?

They can sign Cousins AND STILL SIGN YANNICK AND JALEN DOWN THE ROAD.

Or that if Blake takes the leap forward they want/expect then HE'LL GET JUST AS MUCH MONEY AS COUSINS NEXT YEAR. There is no angle from which that argument makes sense.

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Except the angle of drafting a good QB, which everyone seems to think is impossible for some reason. 

We're talking about finding a guy in the late first or late second round potentially that just needs to be as good as, or better than Blake Bortles. This is not exactly the search for the Holy Grail. 

I have more confidence in Caldwell/Coughlin drafting a guy that doesn't suck than them drafting a string of inferior QBs than you do.  I also think the current coaching staff will analyze 2017 and then improve this offense a bit next year even with Bortles behind center. 

I don't see as much risk in this approach as many here apparently.

And a draft pick could actually sit and learn for a year. If Blake flames out, the kid would have had a year to get ready. If Blake takes another step in the right direction, we will hopefully have a nice insurance policy.

Right. 

Which is what I hoped they'd do last year with a guy like Webb in the mid-rounds. Now I hope they take a QB early.

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Or that if Blake takes the leap forward they want/expect then HE'LL GET JUST AS MUCH MONEY AS COUSINS NEXT YEAR. There is no angle from which that argument makes sense.

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Except the angle of drafting a good QB, which everyone seems to think is impossible for some reason. 

We're talking about finding a guy in the late first or late second round potentially that just needs to be as good as, or better than Blake Bortles. This is not exactly the search for the Holy Grail. 

And a draft pick could actually sit and learn for a year. If Blake flames out, the kid would have had a year to get ready. If Blake takes another step in the right direction, we will hopefully have a nice insurance policy.

Right. 

Which is what I hoped they'd do last year with a guy like Webb in the mid-rounds. Now I hope they take a QB early.

Exactly. Rodgers, Flacco and Bridgewater were taken at the bottom of round 1, Dalton, Garapolo and Carr round 2, Wilson round three, Kirk Cousins was a 4th rounder. Even McCarron, who all of us would have taken at the start of the season was round 5. We aren’t looking for Tom Brady (although it’s time for this franchise to have that kind of luck) but a guy who can offer what Blake does or better on a cheaper contract wouldn’t be so hard to find, in my opinion.

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Except the angle of drafting a good QB, which everyone seems to think is impossible for some reason. 

We're talking about finding a guy in the late first or late second round potentially that just needs to be as good as, or better than Blake Bortles. This is not exactly the search for the Holy Grail. 
Right. 

Which is what I hoped they'd do last year with a guy like Webb in the mid-rounds. Now I hope they take a QB early.

Exactly. Rodgers, Flacco and Bridgewater were taken at the bottom of round 1, Dalton, Garapolo and Carr round 2, Wilson round three, Kirk Cousins was a 4th rounder. Even McCarron, who all of us would have taken at the start of the season was round 5. We aren’t looking for Tom Brady (although it’s time for this franchise to have that kind of luck) but a guy who can offer what Blake does or better on a cheaper contract wouldn’t be so hard to find, in my opinion.

We are talking about using a pick (or maneuvering in the draft) to take one of Rudolph, Jackson, Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, Allen, White, Falk, Lauletta, Rosen etc...

Is it so inconceivable that the Jaguars could identify one or more of these players as a lateral move or upgrade from Blake Bortles?  

Am I crazy to think that a couple of those guys probably turn into good NFL quarterbacks? 
 I disagree with this narrative of we have to either pay Cousins 30 million now or pay Bortles 25 million in 2019. 

Those are not the only options.

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Question:

Would you give up a 2 year window with Brees and certain run in the playoffs for 6 years of sucking and not making the playoffs?

There are franchises that the answer would be far more certain than ours.

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Except the angle of drafting a good QB, which everyone seems to think is impossible for some reason. 

We're talking about finding a guy in the late first or late second round potentially that just needs to be as good as, or better than Blake Bortles. This is not exactly the search for the Holy Grail. 

What odds would you put it on not only picking the right QB, but having him developed enough to lead a super bowl push by year 2? I'm just doing ballpark research but in the last decade or so worth of drafts it looks like there are about 8 or 9 QBs drafted a year in the late 1st and after, and a little less than 1 franchise QB per draft. Some of the stronger ones like Jimmy G and Cousins didn't start until year 3 or later as well.

I think giving it a 10% chance is being awfully optimistic.

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2 players in history have won a super bowl under the age of 25. Tom Brady (24) and Ben Roethlisberger (23 and 340 days). Neither were rookies. Expecting a rookie QB to come in and take this team further than they went this year is basically impossible. Doing it in the first 3 years is also a real long shot. Projecting college QBs to the NFL is very hit or miss. I don’t understand why you turn away from a QB who is improving to reset the clock by 4 years at the position.

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Except the angle of drafting a good QB, which everyone seems to think is impossible for some reason. 

We're talking about finding a guy in the late first or late second round potentially that just needs to be as good as, or better than Blake Bortles. This is not exactly the search for the Holy Grail. 

What odds would you put it on not only picking the right QB, but having him developed enough to lead a super bowl push by year 2? I'm just doing ballpark research but in the last decade or so worth of drafts it looks like there are about 8 or 9 QBs drafted a year in the late 1st and after, and a little less than 1 franchise QB per draft. Some of the stronger ones like Jimmy G and Cousins didn't start until year 3 or later as well.

I think giving it a 10% chance is being awfully optimistic.

The problem with your logic is that you are stating that this second year QB has to "lead a super bowl push." 

Did Blake Bortles "lead the Jags" to the AFC championship game?

No.  He didn't.  The defense did the heavy lifting. Blake had about six good games, some middling performances and 3 or 4 bad games.  This team doesn't need to find the next Montana to supplant him. 

This team is currently built to win with a good quarterback. A great one is not required.

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Yeah, didn't figure I'd get a straight answer. You know I am not talking about finding the next Joe Montana, but you also know the odds are slim and don't want to admit it is the longshot option of the ones that I supplied...that everyone also conveniently ignored.

The truth is simple, the best way way to maximize our window is signing Cousins. No combination of gambling on a Bortles step forward or a draftee comes close.

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