Saturday’s 6-pack
— Friday, someone bet $2.3M on Tampa Bay (+3.5) in Super Bowl. Seriously.
— Apparently Nolan Arenado is getting traded from Colorado to St Louis.
— Green Bay Packers fired defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.
— Illinois 80, Iowa 75— Illini outscored Iowa 14-3 on foul line.
— Daniel Murphy retired Friday, after a 12-year career; he was a .296 career hitter.
— RIP to former Temple coach John Chaney (741-312); he was at Temple for 24 years, after he had won a D-II national title at Cheyney State. Coach Chaney was 89; RIP, sir.
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 433,195
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.
Quote of the Day
“Organizationally, just want to reiterate our commitment to Deshaun Watson. He’s had a great impact on this organization, a great impact on a lot of people, great impact on this team. We look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with him here this spring once we get started. We have zero interest in trading the player.”
Texans’ GM Nick Caserio
Saturday’s quiz
When the Washington Redskins drafted Kirk Cousins in the 4th round of the 2012 draft, what other QB did they take in the first round that year?
Friday’s quiz
Craig Morton (Dallas/Denver) was the first quarterback to start a Super Bowl for two different teams.
Thursday’s quiz
Long time ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were the Buffalo Braves.
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Saturday’s List of 13: NFL teams with big QB questions for next season
13) Dallas— Dak Prescott and the Cowboys couldn’t come to an agreement on a deal last year, and had to resort to a franchise tag for 2020; if Prescott plays in 2021 under a franchise tag, he is likely to play somewhere else in 2022- would they trade him now, to avoid that scenario? If he leaves as a free agent, Dallas gets nothing in return.
In five years, Prescott is 42-27 in regular season games, 1-2 in playoff games.
— Jerry Jones is 78; he probably doesn’t want a rookie QB playing, who will take years to develop.
— Matthew Stafford went to Highland Park HS in Dallas
12) Miami— Dolphins have two QBs now; will either one be their QB in 2021?
— Player A was 4-3 as a starter LY, threw for 2,091 yards, with 13 TD’s, 8 INTs
— Player B was 6-3 as a skater LY, threw for 1,814 yards, with 11 TD’s, 5 TD’s.
Player A is Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is 38, the only player EVER to throw a pass for eight different NFL teams. Player B is Tua Tagovailoa, who was a rookie last year, but has shown an inability to stay healthy, in both college and the NFL.
Will either guy be the starter for Miami next fall?
11) Carolina— Panthers have the wealthiest owner in the NFL; he is worth $13B, that’s billion, with a B. Really rich people aren’t patient; Carolina is 17-31 the last three years; their QB right now is Teddy Bridgewater, who at age 28 has already started for three NFL teams (26-24).
As far as the really rich owner being impatient, Carolina is rumored to be aggressively trying to trade for Deshaun Watson, who played college ball in the ACC, at Clemson.
10) New Orleans— Saints go into the offseason expecting to be $100M over the salary cap, so they ain’t trading for any of the big name QB’s. Will they go into 2021 with Taysom Hill/Jameis Winston as their QB’s? Will they draft a QB and depend on Sean Payton to develop his skills?
Would New Orleans trade for Sam Darnold, if the Jets trade for Watson?
9) New England— Patriots went 7-9 this season, their first losing season in 20 years, and with Tom Brady playing in the Super Bowl, you figure New England will be aggressive in trying to move back up the standings in an improving AFC East.
Cam Newton ain’t the answer; he looked look his arm was shot this past season, and if he was playing ahead of Jarrett Stidham, what does that say about Stidham? Brian Hoyer figures to hang around as a backup, but who will he be backing up?
There are rumors about a trade for Marcus Mariota, who is 30-33 as an NFL starter.
8) San Francisco— Last four years, 49ers are 24-9 with Jimmy Garoppolo under center, 7-27 with anyone else. As a wise man once said, the greatest ability is “avail-ability”; if you don’t play, what good are you? Will the 49ers move on from Garoppolo?
7) Philadelphia— With the hiring of QB guru Nick Sirianni as head coach, it appears that Carson Wentz will be staying in Philly; Wentz signed a 4-year, $128M contract, which would be really cumbersome to unload. Cumbersome, but not impossible.
Problem is, they drafted Jaylen Hurts in the 2nd round last year; Hurts threw for 1,061 yards in losing three of four starts as a rookie. Coach Sirianni has his work cut out for him.
6) NJ Jets— When a team goes 2-14, there are a lot of problems, not just the QB; Sam Darnold had mono at the start of last season, and things got worse from there. Darnold is 13-25 as an NFL starter, but was 7-6 in 2019. If the Jets want to add draft picks and draft a rookie QB, trading Darnold would net them several draft picks.
Or they could keep Darnold, use the #2 pick on other positions, and keep building. Their new coach is a defensive guru; the owner is back from his stint as ambassador to Ireland, so 2021 figures to be an interesting year for the Jets.
5) Washington— They went 5-1 with Alex Smith at QB this past year, but Smith’s leg is held together with nuts/bolts, and he will be 37 in May. Highly unlikely he is ever playing 16 games in a season again, and remember, the regular season will likely increase to 17 games sometime soon. Washington needs to develop a young quarterback.
Where does Washington look for a QB? Deshaun Watson is the first domino in all of this. If Carolina gets Watson, Teddy Bridgewater could wind up playing for Washington.
Taylor Heinicke/Kyle Allen will battle for the backup job, but who will they be backing up?
4) Jacksonville— Jaguars hired Urban Meyer as their new coach, which will be interesting, seeing how he has zero NFL experience. How will he deal with losing? If the Jaguars go 9-7 next year, fans will want to throw Meyer a parade, but Meyer might have a nervous breakdown if he loses seven games in a season— he went 187-32 as a college coach.
Jaguars will likely draft Trevor Lawrence in April, then the question becomes how long before he becomes the starting QB? Teams aren’t as patient with QB’s as they used to be.
3) Indianapolis— Philip Rivers has retired to become a high school coach, where he will coach his two sons eventually (he also has 7 daughters!!!). Jacoby Brissett is the Colts’ QB right now, but Jim Irsay spoke out this week about the Colts needing a veteran presence at QB.
Speculation has centered on Matthew Stafford or Carson Wentz. Brissett is 12-20 as a starter in the NFL, for Patriots/Colts. Doesn’t sound like he’ll be starting in Indianapolis next season.
2) Detroit— Matthew Stafford will turn 33 on Super Bowl Sunday; he is 74-90-1 as a starter, has played 16 games in nine of last ten seasons. Problem is, Stafford has played 12 years in the NFL, but is 0-3 in playoff games. Detroit’s last playoff win was in 1991.
Stafford has thrown for 45,109 yards and 282 TDs, with 144 INTs; he and the Lions mutually agreed to a separation last week.
1) Houston— Wonder what it is like to turn on the TV every day and hear all the sports channels speculating about where you’ll be living next year?
If Deshaun Watson really wants to be traded, he needs to lay low for a while, so the Texans will have a little more leverage in making a deal- they’re not just going to give him away. Watson is the first domino in whaat could be a wild winter of quarterback movement in the NFL.
Watson is 28-25 in 3+ years as a starter; his job in Houston would’ve bit a lot easier last year if they hadn’t traded their best receiver, DeAndre Hopkins. He has a 4-year, $140M contract that he signed last September.
