These Teams Are Punting on 2026 But Need A QB

Pittsburgh, obviously, it would be where I'd want to go if I was Kirk Cousins.

It's a high-level starting quarterback, you know, opportunity.

Beyond that.

I guess the Raiders would be my second choice, and I think that he's probably the Raiders' first choice, right?

I mean, Tom Brady has talked a lot about what Drew Bledsoe meant to him, um, how he helped him out in his career, how he wants that body, that person in there for when he eventually drafts a quarterback, and I think we all can agree that the Raiders are going to take a quarterback #1 overall.

So, I think that Kirk Cousins makes a lot of sense.

Arizona is the interesting team to me, and, and so I'll bring Jimmy Garoppolo to the stage here.

We all thought initially that that might be the landing spot for him.

Um, the Cardinals didn't go for Malik Willis even though the head coach's brother coached him last year.

OK.

Willis ends up going to Miami.

Um, Jimmy Garoppolo reportedly the negotiations hit a snag with Arizona.

Um, do you think that there's a chance that he goes back to the Cardinals, or do you think that that one's dead?

I, I don't think it's impossible.

Um, now you have Minho there.

You have Brissett there.

Um, you know, I think they're doing what, you know, the Dolphins and the Browns and the Jets are doing, which is.

Like there's not a quarterback past Fernando Mendoza that's well that's that's worth going all in on in this draft.

So how do we bridge ourselves to 2027 when there could be a million quarterbacks in the draft, right?

Um, I even think for like Pittsburgh, it's like, and I think we've talked about this, right, like where You know, if you're the Steelers and it wouldn't drafting Ty Simpson at the bottom of the first round be the same thing as, you know, what you went through with Kenny Pickett, uh, 4 years ago he fell back into a corner if Rodgers doesn't come back.

So, um, you know, I like, I, I think that the possibility that Garoppolo is a Cardinal is still out there.

Uh, I also wonder this, right, that Jimmy.

Jimmy definitely beats the, the, the, the sound of his own drum .

Jimmy marches to the beat of his own drummer, so.

Hang on, um, Jimmy B, so I, I would, I would just say, like in this case, um, Like What do you think about the idea for him of just staying in LA?

He really likes, I, I think it's the best thing that he should, I think that's what he should do.

Yeah.

Stafford might retire after this year, and then maybe he gets a chance to start for the Rams in 2027 at least as a bridge quarterback.

Is that better than going to Arizona?

Yeah, and, but that's the thing, I think anything's better than going to Arizona, and I know that you have a, a different opinion on.

Marvin Harrison Junior than many, but I think you're starting to be a, maybe a question as to whether some of this was not exclusively on Kyler for why Marvin Harrison Junior didn't ball out there, right?

Like that, that maybe, you know, this is a two-way street .

And so if you're looking at this Cardinals situation, I think it's similar to the way that we looked at the Giants situation last year where there were free agents that just didn't want to go there.

They looked at this as doomed.

To some degree from the start.

And while I think this Cardinals roster is better than the Giants' roster was last year, there is an inevitability to how good that division is and what your limitations are.

Like if the Cardinals were in the, if the Cardinals were in the NFC South, OK, you know, like that's interesting, right?

Like, let's talk about it, but they're not.

They're in the best division in football.

And while divisions can change rapidly, It's 3 of the, probably the 6 smartest coaches in the NFL that you're gonna have to be facing on a weekly basis.

I don't love it.

And so, I'm wondering if some of that is just like Jimmy Garoppolo being like, listen, I worked with Mike LaFleur.

He's great.

I don't know what he's gonna be like as a play caller.

I don't know what he's gonna be like as a head coach.

I don't think anybody knows what he's gonna be like as a head coach.

I would rather pick a known commodity.

I would rather wait out Matt Stafford, and I think that makes sense for a lot of these guys.

With the Cardinals in particular, do you think that is this it?

I mean, you know, maybe they'll add a high upside prospect in the draft.

I mean, it could be, it could be.

I mean, I, I, I wouldn't be surprised if they were a team that like, Took like Drew Aller in the 4th round, you know, or 5th round, with the idea that we're gonna take one next year.

And so like let's just roll the dice on somebody who might have some upside later in the draft.

I, I, I, I mean, and maybe they're Ty Simpson at the top of the 2nd round too.

I don't know.

I mean, I don't think quarterback's gonna be in play for them at the top of the draft, but Um, you know , I think the idea is gonna be like, how do we get to 2027.

Like I said, I think there are a few teams that are like that right now, um, because of the drop-off after Mendoza, um, at that position.

So I'd say, you know, I, like, honestly, like I, I think that there's a decent chance that they go forward with the two guys they have, and then, you know, some sort of rookie, but probably not one drafted in the first couple of rounds.

Does Flacco come in here?

I mean, does David Carr, does Derek Carr, sorry, come in here and we'll make things interesting?

You know, what's funny is I kind of like, I thought about that some, you know, and I think about it with like Malik Willis, right, in Miami, and like, so there is that thought, and I'm not saying they're thinking this way, but it's like, does Malik Willis make you too good, you know what I mean, like where you're gonna be out of the High end of the 27 draft.

And so like some people, somebody asked me like, why, why wouldn't, would, would you have been better going off, going to go, just going with like Quinn Ewers.

And I think part of it for Miami and for Jeff Hafley is like, yeah, like we're looking at 27, but you also are trying to like establish a program.

And it's kind of hard to do that if the player, if it's obvious to the players what's going on, you know what I mean, like, and like, so it's pretty difficult.

I think Brian Flores ran into this in Miami in 2019 when all that stuff, when all the funny business was going on, you know, it's like, how hard is it to sell to your players, like buy in.

We wanna, like, like, like, like we want you to give everything and sell out for us, and we're really building something valuable here, but oh, yeah, like the most important position in the field, we're gonna neglect it completely, you know.

It's, and so I think that there's that like with the first-year coaches with Michael Fleur and with Jeff Halley, you know, in those two spots, um, You know, you, you have to give the players something that they can wrap their arms around and be like, yeah, like this guy's gonna give me a chance and not just give me a chance to win as a team, but give me a chance to perform individually because for 80, 90% of the players in the NFL, that's all that matters to them is the current year because they don't, they don't know if they're gonna be in the league the next year, you know.

That's why I think every team that needed a quarterback.

And, but also hoped to get in on the 2027 sweepstakes, absolutely blew it by not signing Malik Willis.

And here's why.

I just don't think he's good enough, Albert.

And, and, and this is not like, this is not a knock on him.

We don't know enough on Willis.

A, we don't have enough of a sample size.

B, I think even at his best, is he so good that he can overcome the shortcomings of any of the teams that need a quarterback at this point in time.

I would say no, right?

And what's great about him is like, just like the Jets got Justin Fields last year.

The contract is perfect for a high upside starter that eventually pivots into a bridge starter, and the optics of it right now are that, hey guys, we're trying like it, it hits literally every that's the way I felt about it too, you know what I mean?

And, and so with Miami.

It's, it's great because Halfley can say, look, we went out and we got the best guy, and it's a guy we knew and it's, he's the right type of guy because he is like Malik Wallace has worked his ass off to get better.

There's no doubt performed well at the end of the year and so yeah, I think, I , I think the best cliche to use is they thread the needle on that, you know what I mean?

Like it's perfectly the you know, you, you thread the needle on, it's still, it's the optics of it are good and it looks like we're making a real effort.

But deep down, we know this isn't gonna take us out of the running for anything.

Right.

Um, Is there any other, like, I mean, is there something we're missing on this quarterback front?

Like, is there something that you think could catastrophically surprise us?

I mean, do you anticipate any other movement?

I mean, I, I think this is kind of it, right?

I mean I think the Raiders, the Raiders situation is at least like somewhat interesting, right?

Um, do they have enough money to go get Cousins at this point because Max Crosby's back, you know.

Yeah, so there's that, like, there's the cousins thing, um, you know, and so, for them, you know, like, what are you looking to do and what are you looking to put in the room?

Because I think that's the main thing, like, what are you putting in the room with Fernando Mendoza?

Um, so that's number one, you know, and then, I think the other one, like, to me, Indianapolis is an interesting one for someone.

Uh, because here's the thing, like, I like Justin Fields in Kansas City because Justin Fields is gonna get a chance to get all the starter reps in the spring and summer, right, and learn under good people.

I like Tuatungavaloa in Atlanta.

Same thing.

He's gonna get all the starter reps in the spring and summer under good quarterbacks, guys, right?

Isn't Indianapolis the same thing?

Yeah, right .

Yeah.

I mean, it is.

Yeah.

And that's another one where, you know, maybe, I mean, maybe Flacco goes back there due to the familiarity of it, that he's been there before.

I don't know.

I mean, I think that that's something where, so let's take a look at this.

Uh, if, if you were to describe a situation is unsettled in any way, shape or form, what do we have left?

The Patriots are good, the Bills are good, the Dolphins are good.

Uh, we would assume that the Jets are good, uh, having brought in Geno Smith.

Um, the Steelers are a big question mark.

The Ravens are good.

The Bengals are good.

The Browns, I mean, we just to, to, to believe that this is some sort of a potpourri of Shado Sanders, Deshaun Watson, you know, like just kind of whoever's left in there, and, and they're going to kind of roll with their guys.

They've been kind of quiet on the market as well.

Browns, yeah, I mean, I just sort of feel like it's.

I don't know, um, the Browns, like the Browns are like, but I put the Browns in that category too of like.

Punting the 27, sort of, you know, and like I don't, I, I, I, I still think like, if you're them, Getting rid of Deshaun Watson now, especially with the first-year head coach who doesn't have all the history with him.

It would be kind of foolish, cause like if he goes and he's great somewhere else, for whatever reason.

Like, he's doing it on your dime.

God, does that look bad.

So you got a new coach in there.

It's like just give one, get like, like, and, and you've got like kind of like this like one year grace period anyway.

Just give it another run for a year and see where it goes, you know .

It would be so funny.

I mean, if like what if he looks great under Todd Monken like seriously, like I, I don't know.

I mean, but if it does happen, like then.

You've at least like, like the worst thing would be for them to have accumulated all this cap debt and spent all this money, and you're still paying him.

And like that would be the most Browns thing ever, right?

If he goes and like crushes it on the minimum somewhere else.

So I actually don't mind them.

They're, they're paying for him anyway, you know, this year.

So I don't mind them just having him back for the year.

The Shado thing, I don't think is going anywhere.

So you see what happens there, then maybe you do what I talked about the Cardinals doing, which is like you take a high upside guy, a quarterback later in the draft, and you punt till 27.

And I think, like for them, They're sort of on the front end of an active rebuild anyway.

And I think the Travis Hunter trade last year was the first step in that direction .

Um, and I, to their credit, like they had a pretty good draft class, right?

Like with Mason Graham and Carson Swassinger and Quinshaw Judkins, and Harold Fannon, and Dylan Sampson, and so, You know, I think they've got a chance now to, to restock with two first-round picks and put themselves in a position to have some decent infrastructure around a young quarterback in 27.

I just, my parting thought on the 2027 thing, because now we've been talking about it ad nauseam, and I think that there probably will be at least close to the number of draftable first-round quarterbacks as we had the year with Caleb, with Bo Nix, with Jaden Daniels, with Michael Pennox.

Now, are all these guys going to be good?

No, obviously .

I mean, that's what we saw, um, with that draft class, right?

That some of these guys are just overdrafted and they get lumped into the hype.

But what is interesting is that I think that there are so many teams that are going to be dependent on replenishing that quarterback room in 2027.

That they're gonna get left out of that game of musical chairs, you know, Arch Manning can go back to school again, you know what I mean?

Like, and, you know, CJ Carr can go back to school again, and he might, you know, Notre Dame could win the national championship, probably will, um, and then, um, he could say, he's got eligibility.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like, hey baby, let's run it back, you know, so I'm just, you know, let's, let's, there's a lot of variables, and like that's, that's the thing about next year's draft class too is like I feel like there's like a dozen guys who have a shot.

But you don't have like the what Caleb Williams or Drake May were at this point in 23, which was we knew or what Trevor Lawrence was at this point in 20, we knew what Justin Herbert was, you know, in, in, in 19, we knew he was going in the top five, you know, with, um, you know, with these guys, it's more.

It's the, it's the massive number of them, right?

Like Dante Moore is probably the closest, I would say to like, yeah, he's gonna be a top 5 pick, but I'm not even sure you can talk about him with the same sort of certainty we were talking about, you know, we were talking about with, you know, Caleb Williams or Drake May 3 years ago.

And so like that's the other piece of it is that, I mean, you have a high probability because it's just a massive number of guys.

So, like 12 or 13 or 14 of them have a shot, so there's a good chance 4 or 5 hits.

But like there's no, it's not a sure, it's not a sure thing.

Um, so we'll see what happens there, but that's the risk that a lot of teams are taking , and I don't blame them for taking that risk cause I would rather do that than overdraft some quarterback that, you know, doesn't have high-end traits.

And now, for the next 2 or 3 years, you're off the quarterback market.

You know, and this is sort of what happened with Kenny Pickett, sort of what happened with Mac Jones, you know, um, you find yourself, you take yourself off the market for quarterbacks, the guy isn't quite good enough, and then, you know, you're back 3 years later, drafting another one.