Be careful not to overpay

If I were them . . .

perhaps pull back a little on repeatedly saying they intend on bringing a veteran QB.

What if it doesn’t happen?

And you don’t want to force it to stand on ceremony.

You don’t need to tell everyone your plans. Just see where this goes.

My position on this is simple:

You absolutely make a run at Aaron Rodgers if the Packers make him available in a trade, but if you don’t get him, don’t overpay, vis-a-vis in a trade and then the player’s contract, for guys like Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo and Lamar Jackson.

Carr and Garoppolo are really no better than Andy Dalton (who has made the playoffs four teams), and Dalton made $3 million last year with the New Orleans Saints.

Carr is a 63-79 record in nine seasons and was benched this past year. The Raiders are coached by QB guru Josh McDaniels. If he’s moving on, what does that tell you?

Garopolo is injury prone and was buttressed by the 49ers running game and Kyle Shanahan’s brilliant play-calling. They picked Trey Lance in the draft because they wanted more out of the position. Kyle was tired of having to be perfect with his play calls all the time. In all of Jimmy G’s playoff wins, they hardly threw the ball.

If you are going to have to pay guys like Carr and Garopolo something like $30 million a year, it’s not worth it.

If you could get them cheaper, that is one thing, but don’t mess up your cap for players like this.

As for Jackson, it’s highly unlikely the Ravens will trade him. If contract negotiations continue to go poorly, they will tag him. And he’s being somewhat unreasonable with his contract demands. He wants the Ravens to duplicate that foolish deal that Cleveland gave Deshaun Watson – 5-years, $230 million totally guaranteed.

That was a frivolous deal. Smart teams don’t do fully guaranteed long-term QB contracts, and other owners were livid at desperate Browns owner Jimmy Haslam for what he did with Watson. Look, guys like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen don’t have fully guaranteed contracts, so why should Jackson? The Ravens have made Jackson some great offers, with a lot of guaranteed money, just not fully guaranteed.

So let’s say they get fed up and consider trading him, should the Jets give a QB, who gets banged up a lot, and has issues in the playoffs, a five-year, $230 million contract? Perhaps not.

If they can’t get Rodgers, they should go with Mike White starting, Zach Wilson backing up, and pick a QB in the third or fourth round to add to the mix. Also add a reasonably-priced veteran.

I agree with Richard Sherman about White.

“Mike White is a FRANCHISE QUARTERBACK,” Sherman tweeted. “I’m a production guy, Mike White has production. And then you hear about how his teammates talk about him, they talk about his work ethic, you hear about how happy they are for him and how much fun they’re having. That’s when you know you’ve got a special guy.”

So to me, it’s Rodgers or bust here.

These other guys aren’t worth the trade capital or big money you would need to pay them.

The Jets have a lot of needs, like a big-time run-stuffing defensive tackle to play next to Quinnen Williams. This is a huge need. They also need a safety, a linebacker with A+ instincts, and obviously some offensive line help.

Don’t waste money on a middling QB, just because you said you are going to get a veteran QB.

Hey, you could get a veteran QB, but don’t waste money and draft capital on average or above average.

February 8, 2023

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