Special Episode: An 'Orracle' Retrospective | The Weak-Side Podcast
Regular listeners of the Weak-Side Podcast agree that "The Orracle" is the show's must-listen segment every week. But how accurate is soothsayer Conor Orr? This week, thanks to some expert record-keeping by producer Shelby Royston, we hold Orr accountable with some of his best—and worst—predictions. Join us as we revisit nine of Orr's predictions this season on topics including:
- The coordinator he projected to be the hottest darkhorse candidate of this hiring cycle.
- The futures of the Giants' quarterback, general manager, midseason flier at running back and division race.
- How the NFC West would unfurl, including the team he thought would win a Week 11 showdown as well as his choice for a division champion.
- His mid-October pick for the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The prognosis of the eventual Super Bowl LV champions.
The following transcript is an excerpt from The Weak-Side Podcast. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.
Conor Orr: I think this off-season is going to be so weird, because we think it's going to be defined by a quarterback movement, and what if it doesn't? What if everything contracts? What if the music stops and everybody wants to just run back to their own chairs in musical chairs? I think what we're not talking enough about is that we assume that there's going to be a fit for every puzzle. I did just one random look at what could happen if certain people move to certain places, but if you keep looking through this thing, there could be a scenario where if you're the Bears, if you're the Colts, or even the Patriots, especially those three teams, there's a good chance that you might end up with nothing or a less than ideal situation. This is interesting when combined with what we've been talking about all off-season with the Patriots. Did Bill Belichick lose a little bit of his luster with the Tom Brady Super Bowl? Does he have the power to draw players when Tom Brady isn't there? All that kind of stuff is going to be a fascinating component of the QB carousels. Which of these GMs are sitting on their hands and not being proactive enough to go out and get the quarterbacks, and who are they going to land outside of the guys that we had talked about? Because I think it's going to be that secondary market below Wentz that defines this this next season. If Deshaun Watson doesn't go to the Forty-Niners, for example, if he ends up with the Jets or another five hundred or below team, I think they're going to stay relatively .500 or below until they get a chance to build something there. But otherwise, I think the Jimmy Garoppolo's, the Jacoby Brissett's, all these guys could end up really defining the off-season in a way that maybe we didn't think they would, and that's whether they're going to move somewhere or whether they're going to stay with their initial team.
Jenny Vrentas: Conor, you wrote a really great primer, and it was presented as one turn of the quarterback carousel, which I think was a great way to do it, because there are so many ways this could shake out. Although I will say a lot of the ones that you picked seemed really smart, and I could see it falling into place exactly as you gamed it out. But your point was there's so many different paths to go down. It's very much a choose your own adventure type of thing and one decision affects all these other ones that follow. So some people should check that out. But then also keep in mind that maybe it's not as exciting as planned. I like that take.
Conor Orr: I was curious as to your thoughts on this: we're talking about Deshaun Watson in particular, and everybody's saying that he wants to go to the Forty-Niners. That's the new Deshaun Watson rumor de jure. First it was the Jets, then it was the Dolphins, and now it's Forty-Niners. But you're wondering when these quarterbacks start moving around and things really start jarring loose, could there be a scenario where it's really these three or four offensive coaches that everybody reveres that really hold all the power in this thing? Sean McVay got Matt Stafford. Kyle Shanahan is now allegedly a front-runner for Deshaun Watson. And these guys want to go where the three or four best offenses are. All of a sudden, a lot of other teams seem to be at an extreme disadvantage there.
Jenny Vrentas: I do think it's interesting when the destinations for Deshaun Watson that were floated initially, the Jets and Miami, have defensive head coaches. And the risk of going to a team led by a defensive head coach are that the offensive coordinator has a good year, and they get a job somewhere else. There can be a lot of change there. Whereas if you go to play for the 49ers you know you're going to be in an offense led by Kyle Shanahan for your time there. So it was interesting to hear Miami. Obviously, Miami had a really good season last year; they are probably farther along than we thought in this rebuild of theirs. And so there are a lot of attractive reasons to go to Miami. But still, your head coach is a defensive head coach. Same with New York. So maybe you like the offensive coordinator or you think there are other reasons to go there. But that is something to keep in mind, too, when comparing destinations.
Conor Orr: If I was Deshaun Watson and I had a full no-trade, I would say that Miami's pretty high up there in terms of in terms of ideal destinations. I think I'd like to live there.
Jenny Vrentas: Yeah, I think it’s a good option. It seems like Brian Flores is really building something there that's special. And I could see why the 49ers would be high on the list, too. Obviously, they were in the Super Bowl two years ago. And Kyle Shanahan has a successful system that's being copied around the league.
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