I think the deal would have been done by now if the Patriots would accept 12 and a second.
I don't see Garropolo's future salary as a concern if he ends up being a bonafide NFL starter. We'd end up paying anyone we could find who is worth a shit.
It could be a draft day decision depending on who drops to 12. Another factor is, how much pressure is Haslam exerting on the front office to find a FQB this year.
When you consider what kind of QB we'd end up if we used the #12 pick Grapes would be a definite upgrade who could start day one. If we were to go with a non-QB at 12 we should end up with somebody who could play day one but we all know we need a QB who can do that more than another position.
I don't see Garropolo's future salary as a concern if he ends up being a bonafide NFL starter. We'd end up paying anyone we could find who is worth a shit.
When it comes to starting NFL QBs it's a seller's market. The Pats do gain some benefit from just keeping him around in the form of security because Brady could always go down with a serious injury and that might carry weight versus getting maximum value in the form of draft picks.Not for someone under a first contract we wouldn't. That's a huge bonus for draft picks v. free agents in the salary-slotting era.
His expected salary certainly isn't a reason to not want him -- but it's a reason that should affect the price we're willing to pay. After all, don't you think what the Pats would have to pay to keep him in 2018 impacts their willingness to trade him?
When it comes to starting NFL QBs it's a seller's market. The Pats do gain some benefit from just keeping him around in the form of security because Brady could always go down with a serious injury and that might carry weight versus getting maximum value in the form of draft picks.
I can only look at it from the Browns perspective and in terms of leverage, and in this QB market it just seems that the Pats have most of the leverage.
And from the Browns POV if they think Garrapolo can be a top 15 QB for the next 7-8 years and end the laughing stock the team has become it would be well worth it versus taking a flier on an unproven draft pick in a weak draft for QBs.
More or less than what the Chiefs traded for Cassel in 2009, which was not much?
But teams still have limits in terms of what they're willing to pay starting quarterbacks, much less backups. If JG's contract situation was irrelevant, they'd really have no reason to trade him at all. In fact, the only reason a trade is even being discussed at all is because everyone knows his contract situation, and that the Pats don't want to be paying franchise level money to two QB's at the same time.
This is basically the flip side of the Kevin Love debate, right? Many people were saying that the T-Wolves had to trade him because of his contract situation so they wouldn't end up with nothing. And unless we assume that 1) the Pats are willing to franchise Garrapolo, or 2) Garrapolo is willing to stay there indefinitely making less money than he could elsewhere, "nothing" is exactly what the Pats are going to end up with at the end of the season.
"Can?" Or "will"?
I'd agree that if the Browns are sure that JG is going to be a top 7-8 QB, they should offer the 12 and 33. No doubt about that. I just think it is unlikely in the extreme that they've made that determination.
Not so sure about that.
Joe Thomas' and Josh McCowns' comments make me believe otherwise. They've watched film on Jimmy, and with the coaches to prep for Miami and both had very high praise.
I have one problem with this comparison:
Cassel was a seventh round project who was coached up, and ended up good enough to keep a team afloat, kind of a high end journeyman. All things considered, he is a success story of a nobody who was coached up.
Garoppalo was considered a low first round/high second round prospect and one of the top QBs of his draft class. He was drafted in the bottom half of the second round because he has more tools than Cassel ever had.
What I'm driving at is even full seasons of success by quarterbacks can be fool's gold. I want to know where are the success stories? I'm driving myself crazy trying to understand where "Franchise Quarterbacks" come from and I seriously cannot come up with anything more sophisticated than something along the lines of a "Franchise Quarterback Fairy".
*reason I went with 12 spots is because if you look 13 spots lower than Garoppolo, suddenly Russell Wilson appears, courtesy of.....i don't know, the Franchise Quarterback Fairy?
What about trading back from 12, getting 17-22 plus other assets and then flipping that 1st and maybe a future pick for Jimmy?