(06-14-2021, 12:37 PM)rpr52121 Wrote:

(06-14-2021, 08:16 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: The question is trade value vs insurance. Does he provide more value as trade bait or as insurance if, God forbid, Lawrence goes down with an injury? Who would you rather have leading the team in that event, Minshew or Beathard? I'll take Minshew because for one, I can't think of a better available player as backup. And two, I don't think his trade value is worth more than his value as a backup QB.

I'm confused. Insurance for what?

For the the season, this teams' record is an unimportant bellwether. The most important thing for this team is T-Law's development, and secondly for the coaching staff to prove they have reasonable system and can develop players. Now if those things happen, of course they will win more games. But given their schedule, even a 4 or 5 win season could still have great signs of team improvement.

The best thing for the the back up QB is to help T-Law understand whatever system is being implemented, the reads that he needs to know, the defenses he will be facing, etc. Also for all the "but Bethard is a bad QB", well lots of bad or mediocre QB's and players become great coaches. If Minshew is that guy, great; but if not, then he is expendable.

If Lawrence (knock on wood) does get injured, having a QB who has the best chance to win a few meaningless games this season doesn't really matter.

(06-14-2021, 12:44 PM)Race Bannon Wrote: Yeah, it's not like they are shoring up for a championship run this season.  A wise veteran (who knows he's not going to be given a truly fair shot at winning the starting job), is a more common choice to back up a #1 overall.  Minshew could be too much of a perceived "up and comer" without too much experience anyway.

(06-14-2021, 01:48 PM)rpr52121 Wrote:

(06-14-2021, 12:44 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: So if Trevor Lawrence gets injured, all games afterward are meaningless?

For this season, winning the games just to say you won the games is essentially meaningless. The circumstances and factors for this year does not mean that would apply to any or all other situations. 

For example, Burrow got injured last year and missed the end of the season. Would the Bengals have benefited if they had kept Andy Dalton to win 3-4 of those games after Burrow was out?

(06-14-2021, 04:17 PM)CanDoBetter Wrote:

(06-14-2021, 03:49 PM)Jag88 Wrote: Yeah let's keep tanking every year until the teams is ready. BAD idea. It's time to compete now.

Is anyone talking about tanking? The reality is that if Lawrence goes down the season is screwed. This is true for virtually all teams that you can't lose your franchise QB for a long period of time and still expect to win a lot. 

I don't pretend to know about backup QB's what kind of people they are. I just know a bit about Minshew's public image and mostly nothing about Beathard. If either can be a good mentor/aspiring coach type I'm not too upset that he's a below average starter. We don't expect them to be anything else. 

It just goes to prove that priority 1, 2, 3 and on will be to protect Trevor. Don't risk him with playcalling, don't risk him by having the O-line being trash etc.

• Is building a WINNING culture here
  
• All he does is WIN
  
• Has surrounded himself with WINNING coaches and players 
  
• And he is, in fact, simply a WINNER