What Are Saints Options If (Key Word: IF) Brees Leaves?
Rolling The Draft Dice
Apr 28, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Carson Wentz (North Dakota State) with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected by the Philadelphia Eagles as the number one overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft at Auditorium Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
What bigger “crap shoot” is there than the NFL Draft, and that goes for any position you draft for especially at quarterback.
Ryan Leaf has been the cautionary tale for any team, due to the hype that turns up being more hoopla and heartache in the end.
Contrast that with a player like Tom Brady; who was nabbed in the sixth round by the Patriots and four Super Bowl rings later, it’ll leave you scratching your head or pulling your hair out if you’re the owner of a team that passed on someone like that.
Quarterbacks with hopes of coming into NFL experience the most “rise and fall” of anyone during the draft process, and it becomes the biggest of gambles.
Take this year’s draft for example: for the Los Angeles Rams to select Jared Goff with the first overall selection, they traded their first round, two second round and third round picks for this year; as well as their first and third round selections in 2017 to the Tennessee Titans to get who they hope will be the guy who will save their franchise — and Jeff Fisher’s job.
The Philadelphia Eagles made a similar move to trade up to the #2 spot by giving the Cleveland Browns their first, third, and fourth round selections in 2016, plus their first and second round picks next year to grab Carson Wentz.
If the Saints are looking to the draft for a quarterback to supplement the loss of someone like Brees, then all of the money is on Garrett Grayson for right now —- because for all the fuss made about the “salary cap hell” the team puts themselves in, they can’t afford to be stuck in the bottomless pit of traded draft picks like the Rams or Eagles.
I understand it’s a different regime and different position, but I really don’t know if the franchise or more accurately the fan-base could survive another Ricky Williams-esque draft pick trade in an attempt to land a quarterback.
Going back to 2006 (and I’m leaving the 2015 and 2016 class out for “development” reasons), 24 quarterbacks have been selected in the first round; with roughly only about half of that number have been consistent starters and out of those 24 first round picks, there are only currently 15 that are even on an NFL roster right right now.
Those are odds that the Saints can’t afford to bet on in the coming years, now that they have finally started to settle their past draft pick credit rating as far as trades go.
Brees has answered the “So what do you think about the Saints drafting a quarterback?” from the media with a smile and that he’d be fine with it, showing little concern.
Wanna know why???
He doesn’t have to be concerned considering he’ll be getting a new contract, regardless from what team it’s from.
In reality, it’s the Saints who should be concerned —- considering the options they’d be facing in a life potentially without Brees after 2016…..