WS Chronicle

There has always been a premium on good starting quarterbacks in the NFL. With all of the quality young arm talent the league has seen in the last few years, those teams without a good quarterback are doing everything they can to upgrade at the position.

The Los Angeles Rams just won the Super Bowl after trading for Matthew Stafford last offseason. The Rams were a good team but felt they needed an upgrade over Jared Goff. Goff had previously led the Rams to a Super Bowl a few years earlier, but he was never able to get them over the hump.

Los Angeles traded Goff, two first-round picks, and a third-round pick to the Detroit Lions for Stafford. That was a large haul for an aging quarterback and a very uncommon trade in the NFL. Very rarely do you see teams trading starting quarterbacks as they are the most valuable position in the league.  

That trade worked out very well for the Rams, obviously. It also was a good trade for the Lions as they are a rebuilding team that needs the added draft picks to upgrade their roster. Other teams saw the success that Los Angeles enjoyed and wanted to duplicate that.

The Denver Broncos were in a similar situation as the Rams were a year ago. They have a good team with a great defense but were lacking at the quarterback position. They have good skill position players like Jerry Jeudy, Javonte Williams, Tim Patrick, Albert Okwuegbunam and others, and their previous signal caller Drew Lock was not the answer.

The Broncos threw caution to the wind and traded for former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in a blockbuster trade last week. The teams had been negotiating for weeks and finally came to an agreement in one of the biggest trades in NFL history.

Denver agreed to trade quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, tight end Noah Fant, two first-round picks (No. 9 overall in 2022 and 2023), two second-round picks (No. 40 overall in 2022 and 2023), and a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Seahawks for Wilson and a fourth-round pick, according to sources.

This trade gives the Broncos the franchise quarterback they have been searching for since Peyton Manning retired. It also gives the Seahawks a solid base of picks to begin rebuilding their roster.  

This trade just goes to show you that a team with a good roster will do pretty much anything to find the quarterback to make them serious Super Bowl contenders and I can’t blame them. Denver has tried to find their franchise QB through the draft and none of their selections have worked out.

I guess the Broncos saw what the Rams did as the blueprint and figured their best shot at winning it all with this group of players was to pull the trigger on the trade. With the draft being such a crapshoot, I honestly think they did the right thing by trading for Wilson. This is a win-now league and teams are getting tired of waiting for talent to develop to become competitive.

Wilson is only 33 years old and seemingly has at least five to seven more years of quality quarterback play left in him. His trade comes a little over a year after he voiced his frustrations with the franchise. Now he gets his wish of moving on to another organization and attempting to win another Super Bowl there.

Green Bay has brought back quarterback Aaron Rodgers on a reported four-year $200 million contract. There were rumblings before, during, and after the season that this may have been Rodgers’ last in a Packer uniform. I was skeptical because he is arguably the best in the game right now and you have to do all you can to try and squeeze one more championship out of that marriage.  

The Packers did exactly what I thought they would do, which is to make Rodgers the highest paid player in NFL history. As much as he may have been upset with the organization, as my grandfather used to say, “money talks.” Green Bay would have been crazy to let Rodgers walk or even trade him at this point. They did the right thing in my opinion.

The Packers have won 13 games in the regular season three years in a row. I see no reason they can’t duplicate that success once again with Rodgers and company.

Now on to Washington. The Commanders finished last year with a 7-10 record. Taylor Heinicke was the starting quarterback last season and Washington was desperately looking for an upgrade at the position. Unlike the Rams last year or the Broncos this season, Washington is not in a position to challenge for a championship, even with a top tier quarterback.

For some odd reason, the Washington Commanders traded a 2022 third-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick that escalates to a second-round pick if Wentz plays 70% of snaps, and a 2022 second round pick for Carson Wentz and a 2022 second-round pick. Yeah, that’s right; they traded for Wentz.

This trade reeks of desperation from the Commanders. Maybe they have a plan that I am unaware of, but trading that much draft capital for Wentz does not seem to make too much sense right about now. The team has needs in other areas, including quarterback, but I am not sure that Wentz was the answer. I honestly feel better options would be to draft a quarterback, pick up a cheaper option in free agency, or let Heinicke run it back for another year to see how he progresses.

I am not saying that Wentz is a horrible quarterback or is even the worst option out there; however, I just think this move was premature and that they spent too much for him.  

This is not the end of the quarterback carousel in the NFL. There are a couple of free agent quarterbacks that have not found a home and I would not be surprised if another elite quarterback gets traded before or soon after the draft. Deshaun Watson has been cleared of all charges in his criminal case, so I’m sure there will be several teams calling the Texans about his availability. 

This should be an interesting offseason for quarterbacks.