Is he willing to do that for $16M/year, which is where Smith topped out? If so, sure. Otheriwse, the customary salary for a starting QB on his second contract will hamper the team from finding the very pieces Jones would need to make it worth it for the team.
Any one of those QBs on this Patriots team as currently constructed and we're looking at 2-0. An elite pass catcher doesn't matter if the ball can't get there.
You think Mac is that bad that Baker Mayfield is 2-0 but Mac would be 0-2? And you think that the Pats other than QB are so much better than the Bengals that Burrow would be 2-0 here despite being 0-2 with Chase, Higgins, Boyd, and Mixon? I’m not disagreeing, I just don’t understand the logic in this post
Not Goff, his resurgence has nothing to do with weapons (love me some Amon Ra, but he's a 4th round pick) and everything to do with an absolute monster O-line, he'd be 0-2 or 1-1 here and Mac would probably be 2-0.
Question 1 yes. Unfortunately anyway. I think they are essentially the same QB and Baker, this year, finds a way to win. Mac has completely lost that killer instinct. Question 2 yeah actually. The Pats are a good QB away from being a complete team. Mac Jones does not inspire confidence in anyone and it shows all over the offense and the opposing defense. Kid poops himself when rattled. Never going to win in this league if you can’t get that under wraps.
I don’t really buy this, his stats against the blitz are pretty good. I don’t think he is a good quarterback but he doesn’t play like a coward.
Mayfield sure.... Matt Stafford is a legit elite QB, very good chance we win last night's game with him, and that's not even a real knock on Mac, Stafford was a no doubt #1 pick and a perennial top QB for years. I mentioned him as an example of how you don't need great athleticsm to carry bad WRs and a subpar line, if you're smart and can make insane throws both deep and short. It wasn't meant to say "we need Stafford" but rather to note that guys with the traits to make tiny window throws anywhere on the field have incredible value, especially without top WR talent.
I wish the Pats just swung big for a player. The highest drafted offensive players in the BB era are Maroney and Graham at 21. You need elite talent to win in the NFL. Having a bunch of C+ players isn't going to get there.
Sadly even in these past five down years they’ve simply won too many games to be able to draft the kind of elite talent you need to win in the NFL
Not really, they just haven't picked the right groceries at the skill position, tonight notwithstanding they chose Michel over Chubb despite Chubb being the starter at GA. They chose Harry over Deebo and AJ Brown. The worst miss might be Thornton over Pickens who is exactly what Mac needs. If you hit on just one or two of those the offense is significantly better.
I agree with everything you wrote. Take another look at the post I was responding to again
How are we defining relatively cheap? Hills cap hits for 2024 and 2025 totals over 65mil. I agree he prob doesn't see the last year of that deal without a restructuring, but his and AJ Browns contracts guarantee they see big money because the dead cap hits are enormous. And both of those teams went and made those deals after using top 10 picks at WR the previous year. That is the definition of giving your young qb players around them.
Are we just ignoring that Mayfield played Minnesota and Chicago, while Mac played Philly and Miami? Let's see how Baker looks this week when Philly comes to town before penciling him in for a successful season.
Chubb worked best in zone but he was also great at running gap/power concepts. No. Pickens was a much more highly regarded prospect coming out. Thornton was a reach by 2 rounds going against the big board. They can develop guys. Meyers was a QB convert who had a year or two of WR experience, was a UDFA, and they developed him. It’s not like the WRs or TEs they don’t develop are going to success with other teams. Berrios as a role player is the exception.
IMHO, Mapu was drafted to replace Dugger next season, as there's going to be a solid market for him as a free agent. Dugger's play is puts him on the Minkah Fitzpatrick level, AAV nearing $20M for 4 years. The Pats could definitely pay him, but I think they'll try to splurge on Tee Higgins and Devin White in 2024 instead.
His draft status is irrelevant to how well he is performing. He's had 912 yards in year 1 and 1,161 yards last year. That was 10th best of all the WRs. He is really good. Once you prove you can play it doesn't matter where you were picked. He also made the pro bowl last year. You might want to reevaluate your stance on him. And Goff also is benefiting from Ben Johnson's scheme who easily could have been a HC if he had wanted last year.
Dugger is going to have to make a lot more plays to get that contract. There's will be a market but I don't think it's near that level of $ right now.
The Pats can afford big weapons for Mac next year if they want to. I’m guessing I wasn’t clear on Hill and Brown having cheap contracts now-Hill and Brown both have contracts that are cheap in the early years and very expensive-like starting QB expensive-in later years so figuring out if those deals are good deals for the time requires thinking about how good those deals are going to look in 24 and 25 when they do constrain the teams a lot.
Watch him in big situations. He’s like a squirrel. There’s no calm in this kid and it affects his decision making under pressure. I think the NFL got too fast too quick for him. Can’t play under center because he can’t process. He doesn’t come across as resilient or someone that behaves well when things are down. He behaves kind of like an entitled brat and, for me anyway, it’s a big reason why I can’t get behind him.
This is part of the problem with Mac. I tried to overlook the arm but it’s bad. All of his throws over 25 yards have enough hang time for half the secondary to make a play.
some and also some maturity stuff although who knows exactly what that means.
I sat in the last row of Gillette for Brady's last home game. It was against the Dolphins. The offense looked much the same as it does now. They kept throwing short screens and using quick routes to try and get something going. Edelman who at that time had lost a step was constantly double-covered. Brady was under constant pressure. And he threw an incredibly boneheaded pick 6 that cost them the game.
In the AFCCG following the 2015 season, the Pats were in Denver. Brady was besieged and even though he had prime Gronk and Edelman (and had Amendola and a great receiving RB in James White), he completed only 48% of his passes, had 2 int (to just 1 TD), and averaged 5.5 y/a. Now, to be fair, I've never, ever seen a QB under THAT much pressure in a game, but still. He had a good OL, top skill guys, and the pressure just ate his lunch.
A huge part of the problem is that Bill's notable failures in the draft, particularly at the WR and TE positions, forced him to spend substantial money on free agents to address those holes. Needless to say, that then hamstrings him from spending more on other areas of need, like OL.
I agree it's been a struggle. Every team has misses - here's the WR/TE that KC has picked since 2017:
Curious as to how many starting QBs you'd prefer Mac over? Not Z Wilson or Minshew ... the QBs who started in Week 1. And not factoring in contract status. Maybe 6-7?
Elandon Roberts had 38 yards receiving that game. This offense lacks top tier talent, it's been a consistent failure in roster building, it's also miles better than what they had to end the year in 2019. Mike Gesicki is their 5th option in the passing game now, he'd be number 2 with a bullet on that team.
Oh I like Brown a lot, wanted him in that draft, my point was more, he isn't the no doubt stud draftee or FA people are calling for. We invested more in WRs than him and got nothing.
I think this was the game where the Denver D line or coaches picked up a "tell" on the Patriot center who was bobbing his head just before the snap so that the Denver DL actually was getting off the ball before the OL. Brady is lucky he didn't get killed that game.
Stork.
In addition to Brown and Deebo, the guy below was also in that draft. Also in the draft was Marquise Brown, Terry MacLaurin, Dawson Knox (after we just lost Gronk), Tony Pollard, Miles Sanders, etc. We wouldn't have even had to reach to get one of those guys. Fuck, Foster Moreau, Scotty Miller, Ty Johnson, Slayton, Hardman, Parris Campbell, Irv Smith Jr. All of them have literally had more production in the NFL than fucking N'Keal Harry.
Some guys can't adjust to the speed of the NFL. Look at Justin Fields, who I wanted over Mac in that draft. He can't process the game quickly enough.
Kind of impossible to not factor in contract status, but I'd take Mac over the following:
Long term? Mahomes, Herbert, Lawrence, Burrow, Lamar, Allen, Richardson, Stroud, Hurts?, Dak?, Young?. So 9-11 guys. The guys I don't want are either aging or will be a lot pricier than Mac for the next two years. Short term though? Like if I got to pick a QB for just this year: Stafford, Rodgers if he was healthy, Tannehill maybe. That puts Mac around the middle of the pack. Cost of QB should be a factor. Mac would be in a group of a bunch of guys who start at QB15 and end somewhere around QB 22.
That is interesting. I pushed back on KB last year, I liked the Juju pick-up because I thought he was a different guy with explosiveness and RAC ability. I was skeptical about Gesicki. I was skeptical along with Super Nomario on what they would be good at this year. I was hoping it would be pass and run blocking.
I've said this more than a few times.
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