dave mcbride

Dallas makes a lot of sense.

Yep, a guy that gets you to 2-2 in a 4-game stretch. Both Fitz and Siemien can do that. I'd take either. Both are significant upgrades over Peterman. The alternative is a Brett Hundley - a guy who gets to 1-3 at best (i.e., you get to play the Browns).

Thanks. I think Cousins would be a big upgrade over Bortles, although I do think that Bortles' mobility is an underrated aspect of his game. The other thing I'll say about Bortles is that while he looked like garbage throwing the ball against Buffalo, he played pretty well against Pitt and well against NE until the game was on the line. But if I'm Tom Coughlin, I take Cousins over Bortles 8 days a week. Coughlin is in it to win it at this point, and I think Cousins is a better vehicle for achieving that goal. There will be a lot of competition for him, though ...

Brandon Weeden. Brady Quinn. Rex Grossman. JP Losman. Stay the hell away from QB at 22!

This is both sophistry and straw man-ish. I never claimed that Cousins would or could have made the 2017 Jets squad a playoff team. This entire year for the Jets was cap-clearing salary dump that would put them in position for 2018. They now have excellent young talent on defense, a good draft slot, and a ton of cap space. This is the year to go after a player like Cousins and expect better results. I don't have any idea if they'll get him, but they're in the running. To wit: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22347565/kirk-cousins-2018-nfl-free-agency-sweepstakes-seven-offers-sign-quarterback-picking-best. This is a good piece that makes a logical case for him going to Jax.

??? What is your point about McKown? McKown's QB+ rating this year (as per PFR) was 109 and Cousins' was 108. In the years prior, Cousins' QB+ rating was way better than McKown's. McKown is also 39 years old. Cousins is 29. Come on. 39 is old. He was surprisingly solid this past season, but he's got one decent year left in him max.

You really need to do some research on the Chargers' injury situation since roughly 2010 or so. It is horrendous. You are also aware that his team lost two games this season because their awful kicker missed relatively easy kicks in the final seconds? Or that they had the game won against Jax with a minute to go but their RB fumbled? Look at the game logs and you'll see.

Re: Darnold being from USC. People are aware, right, that for decades, playing QB at Michigan was regarded as a scarlet letter among NFL fans? Let's look at it another way, accepting that Carson Palmer was a very good and legit NFL player (there's one for USC). Pat Haden was league average on a winning team for half a decade too (the Rams went 35-19 when he started). Other schools: Georgia: Who outside of Stafford? Ohio State: Anyone? ND: Who since Joe Montana? Purdue: Who besides Brees and Griese? Florida: Anyone? NC State: Who besides Rivers and Roman Gabriel? Alabama: Who since Joe Namath and Stabler? That was 50 years ago. Penn State: Kerry Collins (a real stretch) and then who? UCLA: Who besides Aikman? Texas: Anyone? LSU: Who besides Bert Jones? Ole Miss: Who besides Eli? Tennessee: Who beside Peyton? Pitt: Who besides Marino? Wisconsin: Who besides Russell Wilson? Cal: Rogers and Goff (good for them). But who else over decades and decades? Oregon: Who besides Fouts? (I am not sold on Mariota) Michigan State: Who besides Cousins? Stanford: Elway, Luck, Plunkett, and John Brodie. They're golden. Texas A & M: Anyone? Oklahoma: Assuming Bradford doesn't qualify, anyone? Nebraska: Anyone? Auburn: Who besides Newton? Florida State: Maybe Brad Johnson, and maybe Winston (who I am no sold on). Neither are great. BYU: Who besides Steve Young? (Jim McMahon was a very mediocre player blessed with playing alongside a great defense) Washington: Who besides Warren Moon and maybe Mark Brunell? Washington State: Who besides Bledsoe and maybe Mark Rypien? Miami: Who besides Kelly and maybe Vinnie Testaverde (a real stretch)? Delaware: Flacco and Gannon. Good showing for a nothing program. Northern Illinois: Garrapolo and Romo. Another good showing for a nothing program. UNC: Anyone? UVA: Anyone besides Matt Schaub? Va Tech: Anyone besides Vick and (cough) Tyrod? I could go on. Outside of the bay area, there is no such thing as a "QB factory" -- and even at Stanford/Cal, the successes are few and far between. The lesson here: judge the player, not the school he went to.

AZ isn't mentioned either, and they are a prime candidate that checks all of the boxes. https://cardswire.usatoday.com/2018/02/06/carson-palmer-now-officially-retired-cardinals-have-more-cap-space/

Who is this "most" that you refer to? Can you provide a link? More importantly, football is a team sport. Brees' team was 21-27 from 2014-2016, and he was an amazing player every one of those years. Same goes for Philip Rivers, one of the best QBs in the league this century. He has unfortunately been plagued with playing for a team that has been completely snakebitten by injuries over the past half decade, and which has been relatively poorly run to boot. It is the ultimate team game, and QB w-l records are even more meaningless than pitchers' w-l records. You really think Wentz, as good as we was, goes 11-2 without a top-5 DVOA defense? What about Arizona? They are a bona fide good team (#4 in defensive DVOA last season) that just needs a qb.

I don't think they'll take him, but my guess is that he is the sort of qb Daboll can work with.

Re: calling him elite: YPA, completion pct, td/int ratio, overall rating ... you know, the stats that actually matter the most. In 2015, Cousins had better numbers than Brees in these key categories (as well as qbr). He is a bona fide good player whose numbers slid a little this year partly because of a much worse receiving corps and a bad running game. Context matters. That's obviously a bit extreme, but i think it stems partly from the context-free analysis of Cousins' time in Washington that is so pervasive here. He is a good qb who will make a team like the jets, denver, or arizona a LOT better.

Darnold for me, and it's not really close. But I honestly think he's out of the picture because I think he goes #1 overall to Cleveland. I'd be fine with either Mayfield or Rosen, however.

Because they focused too much on his final-season stats at Pitt rather than focusing on projecting him to the NFL. I feel similarly about Darnold, who I think is the best QB talent in this draft. People need to remember that Darnold is 20 years old. He will get better. He has all of the talent in the world too.

His numbers are very comparable to Brees' elite numbers when the latter played for a bunch of 7-9 teams. Brees made a 3-13 team a 7-9 team with his elite play. Washington has been a bad team outside of their passing game, and the stats show it pretty clearly.

For all of the many Cousins critics here, I suggest looking at Washington's overall stats the past three years. If you do, it becomes abundantly clear that this is basically a 3-13 team that gets to .500 because of elite QB play. The defense is consistently awful in the main categories, and the run game has been execrable. He is a really good player whose passing numbers compare to Drew Brees. Cousins will make a team like the Jets, which has elite defensive talent, a LOT better. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/2017.htm https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/2016.htm https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/2015.htm

Great work. However, have you seen this? http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/74496/jets-poised-to-reboot-at-qb-with-kirk-cousins-their-focal-point I don’t know what will happen, but the Jets have the space to do it.

He was great in his first camp. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/24/sports/pro-football-after-4-straight-pops-bills-start-blowing-up-that-balloon-again.html?pagewanted=all ' On offense, quarterback Jim Kelly, at age 34 the oldest Bill, experienced tendinitis in his throwing shoulder during the off season but said he feels strong now. Kelly was not scheduled to throw during morning workouts Friday on the first day of field practice, but there he was tossing spirals anyway. Kelly said that if the shoulder feels as good during the season as it does now, he'll be fine. The rookie receiver Bucky Brooks looks sharp and exciting. He is outrunning defensive backs and -- sometimes even the football -- with ease.' Also: 'Quarterback Jim Kelly felt Brooks was never quite the same player he was before the injury. "It didn't seem like he picked up where he left off last year," Kelly said. "Bucky worked very hard. I think what hindered him more was his knee brace. I don't know any receiver in the National Football League that wears a knee brace. He definitely has the ability to do it, but I think his concentration level went down a little bit and he lost a lot of confidence. Bucky's a good friend. I just wish him the best."' http://buffalonews.com/1995/08/23/the-buck-stops-here-as-bills-release-brooks/

He never had the 40 time again that he had coming out of college. He DEFINITELY lost a step after the injury. I remember it well from the time.

Brooks was lights-out good as a receiver in his first training camp. Kelly went on and on at the time about how much better the offense was going to be because of his talent. He was no bust at all; he just happened to have a really bad acl tear at a point in time when the surgery wasn't as good as it is now. He never got his blazing speed back, and I remember it well. Players who suffer bad injuries aren't busts; they're just examples of bad luck.

I will be utterly shocked if the Browns don't take Darnold with the #1 pick. He is clearly the best QB prospect in the draft, in my humble opinion. The tea leaves certainly point to the Browns taking him.

Fundamentally disagree. Anyone who watched Shady this year could see that he had not lost a step AT ALL. He was as explosive as ever, but he was being hammered in the backfield constantly by multiple tacklers.

there's a huge difference between 43 percent and 17 percent. Plus his best season was 2013 - 1607 yards, 5.1 ypc, and 10.4 ypr. He had 2146 total yards that year.

He was *clearly* not on the line. It wasn't close. It was very much a cut and dry case. More importantly, though, Philly won. That's what matters in the end. It's not semantics; it's math. The referee was in error. Regardless, it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome, and it helped Philly win.

It's actually not really a judgment call. It's math-related, and there's a right and wrong answer. The fact that the WR checked with an official who gave him a categorically wrong answer doesn't mean that it was OK. It should have been a penalty, and it's pretty cut and dried. That said, Philly won, which is a very good thing.