Walking away from a capable, quality quarterback isn’t easy to do in the NFL, especially when replacements aren’t easy to find. Yet, the reward can be huge, as Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid found out the past two seasons. In 2017, then-Chiefs starting quarterback Alex Smith completed 67.5 percent of his passes for
Chiefs went from pretty good to Super good because of head coach Andy Reid’s gutsy move
Don’t forget Harbaugh offloading Flacco in favor of Jackson. The key will be to really be sure of the pick. Remember, the draft experts were kind of all over the board with Mahomes and Jackson. Neither was a consensus pick or thought of as sure to succeed. Dallas got Dak in the fourth (?) round, so maybe the Raiders can find some luck there. I certainly would not trade or offload Carr until his replacement was ready and on the roster.
Also, I still am curious about Josh Rosen. He seems to be the type of QB that can understand Gruden’s scheme. If memory serves, Mayock was also high on him. He’s been in two tough situations, so maybe he is ready to take the next step (a la Tannehill, Cousins, Gannon, et al.). I would guess that there may be a question about whether he “loves football” which appears to be a requirement for Gruden. Was Rosen on Gruden’s QB camp show? Any sense from that what Gruden’s thoughts on him might be?
Because that is are only need is a QB just like KC. Oh yes they won the division not the same in more ways than one. Defense Defense and a # 1 WR may be a bigger need.
KCs defense finished this year fairly strong, but let’s not act like they’ve had some high level defense and Mahomes was the final piece. Mahomes gives their defense a lead and let’s them be front runners – our D needs to hold every drive, every game to even be in the game because our offense barely can get 20 on a perfect day. You’re right, we need defense, but we also need to move on from Captain Checkdowns Mediocre Ride. 6 full years have shown us what he is, or more importantly what he isn’t.
The Raiders give up 24 points a game or more since 2014 . That’s great if your KC most teams dont win at that rate. Andy has had alot of years to put this together and he has built a very good team. We will see if the Muppet of KC ( the real MVP) can last after his 43 million a year deal and cap numbers change personal. Running QBs dont last see Cam. Elway changed his game to win. Upgrade at QB would be good 1st let’s upgrade LB WR DT K S CB. I always like your take
The defense giving up 24 points a game may also be a byproduct of the offense being ineffective. If the offense is not keeping the ball and/or scoring, then the defense is on the field longer which means it will eventually get exposed. It’s sort of like a chicken and the egg thing. And, everyone knew that the offense needed to carry most of the load this season to help the defense out.
There’s much less risk for Andy Reid to trade Alex Smith after he’s seen enough to know what he has in Mahomes, than there is to trade Carr and picks to move up for an unknown…no matter how “certain” that unknown is believed to be.
Fair point, though Andy Reid had seen Mahomes play in only one regular-season game at the time he made the big move. That’s not much at all.
Looking at the two teams in the Super Bowl shows championship caliber teams are built in different ways. Look at the 49ers – their defense, running game and offensive playing calling got them to where they are . We have holes all over the place – seems mighty risky to bet too much on a quarterback other than likely sure things such as Elway, Luck and Manning when they came out.
Nice observations. There is something to be said for keeping a solid quarterback and bolstering the other areas of the team. Tough call for Gruden and Mayock.
It’s a QB driven league. You keep looking until you find your QB. Raiders need to do their due diligence on all the QBs, FAs and via the draft.
With Mahomes, Chiefs will own the AFC West for next decade until Raiders can find a QB that can also put points on the board and a defense that is competent.
Most comments presume Mahomes can’t be stopped and a high powered offense is needed to keep pace. This may be true, but remains to be seen. We’ll see how the 49er’s fast defense decides to handle him and whether they can be successful. If they do, then we’ve got our defensive blueprint and we’ll need to draft and sign accordingly to build a similar defensive profile. If they can’t, well…it’s going to be another long decade.