5 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

Listed are the top 15 QB in order of cap hit for the given season.  After that is the offensive ranks in YPG and PPG for that year:

 

 

 

2013:

 

Eli-  28th/28th

Stafford-  6th /13th

Peyton-   1st /1st

Brees-    4th/10th

Brady-    7th/3rd

Rivers-    5th/12th

Big Ben-    20th/16th

Sanchez-  25th /29th

Bradford-    30th/21st

Vick-     2nd/4th

Romo-   16th /5th

ARod-    3rd/8th

Schaub-    11th/31st

Cutler-    8th/2nd

Ryan-     14th/20th

A Smith-    21st/6th

 

2014:

 

Eli-    10th/13th

Ben-    2nd/7th  

Cutler-    21st/23rd

Brees-    1st/9th

Bradford-   28th/21st

ARod-     6th/1st

Peyton-    4th/2nd

Ryan-    8th/12th

Rivers-   18th/17th

Stafford-    19th/22nd

Flacco-    12th/8th

Brady-     11th/4th

Palmer-    24th/24th

Romo-     7th/5th

Dalton-    15th /15th

 

2015:

 

Brees-   2nd/8th

Rivers-   9th /26th

Ryan-    7th/21st

ARod-   23rd/15th

Stafford-    20th/18th

Peyton-   16th/19th

Ben-    3rd/4th

Cutler-    21st/23rd

A Smith-    27th/9th

Kaep-     31st/32nd

Romo-    22nd/31st

Flacco-   14th /25th

Eli-    8th/6th

Brady-    6th/3rd

Cam-    11th/1st

 

2016:

 

Eli-   25th/26th

Ben-   7th /10th

Ryan-   2nd/1st

Flacco-  17th /21st

Stafford-    21st/20th

Romo-   5th/5th

Cousins-   3rd/12th

Newton-   19th/15th

ARod-    8th/4th

Wilson-   12th /18th

Luck-    10th/8th

Palmer-    9th /6th

Smith-   20th /13th

Brees-    1st/2nd

Cutler-    15th/28th

 

2017:

 

Flacco-    30th/19th

Palmer-   17th /27th

Cousins-    13th/12th

Ryan-    8th/16th

Tannehill-    31st/32nd

AROd-    23rd/14th

Newton-    16th/18th

Eli-     25th/28th

Luck-    27th/25th

Brees-   2nd /3rd

Ben-    10th/13th

Bradford-    9th/10th

Rivers-    18th/23rd

Smith-    5th/5th

Stafford-    15th/6th

 

 

I have been meaning to do this.  Last week on the Ravens board, Flacco was (of course) a big topic and we were discussing his cap hit.  Ricker brought up that we can't have a successful team (or offense?) with a QB making this much money unless they were really playing at a high level.  The quick analysis I did for this season said Ricker was right.

 

So, i wanted to go back 5 years and see if that held up.  I know using YPG and PPG has flaws but generally speaking, I think we can at least get some idea about things using those stats.

 

This era has been dominated by Brady, Peyton, ARod, Ben and Brees.  Those are 5 sure fire HOF QBs that have all won titles and been great in their careers.  Of the 56 times the above QB's teams finished in the top 10 in either points or YPG, 32 of those times were by those 5 QBs.  That is 57% of the time.  Romo appears on the list 5 times but last year he didn't really play and of course, you had Dak and Zeke making no money.  Romo is a borderline HOFer IMO.  Matt Ryan appears 5 times and he could be on his way to a HOF career.  So, that's up to 42 of the 56. 

 

So, what do we learn with this?  Again, this has flaws but I think what you see is that when you pay a guy who isn't a top QB big money, your teams tend to struggle.  I know some of these teams may have had great defenses and won a lot of games but overall, their teams were not able to build successful offenses and the cap hits these QBs had were a big part of that.

 

The question is always asked, if you aren't going to sign your guy, who do you replace him with?  Maybe the better question is, does that really matter?  Maybe the answer is, you replace him with a better all around team.  I get that you can't win without a QB but you also can't win WITH a QB if he is paid stupid money and you don't get top production from him.  So, instead of being locked into a bad contract for several years, maybe you just give them the second deal and make sure you can walk away from it around age 30 without a big cap hit.

 

 

[Mackus]

Compare high paid middle-tier QBs to teams without any QBs.

 

I don't think any team recent NFL history has chosen to let a proven middle-tier QB walk (or be traded) rather than pay them unless they have had an in-house option already groomed.  Some legit guys have been allowed to leave...Bledsoe, Warner (twice), Brees, Favre, McNair, Palmer, Smith...but in each example their former team had found a QB they wanted to turn to for the future.

 

The Redskins may become the first team to let a legit starting QB walk in his prime without any succession plan in place.  That will be interesting to see if it happens, and if it does, how it goes.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Not letting him walk hasn't gone well for us at all. Are people really STILL satisfied because of the SB? It's been half a decade since, and this team is exceptionally mediocre.

[SportsGuy]

Not letting him walk hasn't gone well for us at all. Are people really STILL satisfied because of the SB? It's been half a decade since, and this team is exceptionally mediocre.

This isn’t just about Joe. This is about all of them.

Stafford is going to be a guy highly scrutinized imo.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Agreed, but I'm saying that not retaining Cousins probably won't go well for Washington, just as retaining Joe hasn't gone well for the Ravens. Bottom line is, the QB position gets all the fame and has the league by the balls. QBs not playing on their rookie deals are accounting for anywhere from 12-15% of the entire cap with what, another 50 players to pay? It's insanity. Appreciate the work you put into this Rob.

[SportsGuy]

I think DC is making the smart decision.

They won’t continue to sustain being a playoff level team with Cousins making that money. He isn’t/won’t be good enough.