Conor has made the mad dash back from the NFL combine in Indianapolis, and he joins Gary to breathlessly recap all the most important things that he heard over the course of the week.
First, is the era of QB empowerment already over? A discussion of the Seahawks’ stance with Russell Wilson and whether it makes sense for player or team to run it back again. Also, why Aaron Rodgers is very, very, very likely to return to the Packers after all (and he did get some stuff along the way!).
Then, what in the world is going on in Arizona? The bewilderment over the Cardinals making long-term commitments to their head coach and GM after the utter collapse that ended last season.
And finally, Conor has found the man who will forever end the feud between football guys and analytics folks.
Have a comment, critique or question for a future mailbag? Email themmqb@gmail.com or tweet at @GGramling_SI or @ConorOrr.
The following is an automatically generated transcript from The MMQB NFL Podcast. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.
Gary Gramling: This is what the show is going to be; it’s going to be the most interesting things Conor heard at the combine. I think it’s literally going to be the episode title when we wrap up here. But let's get it going here. Conor, give us something.
Conor Orr: Well, I think, and I wrote this, you can read it on SI.com. But I'm getting the sense that the era of the superteam is momentarily dead. I was very surprised at how sort of flagrant Seahawks GM John Schneider was in terms of like, We’re not trading this guy. And he said that nothing that he has ever received has come close to registering as interesting. So think about what the Bears’ offer was last year: three first-round picks, a third-round pick and essentially their choice of veteran stars on the roster. If that didn’t come close to interesting, what registers as interesting to him for Russell Wilson? And I would have to believe next to nothing, right? That is basically probably what he's trying to say.
Gary Gramling: What’s your gut feel? Is this posturing?
Conor Orr: I get the sense that Russell wants to ... if he goes, he’s going to want to find a way to make it seem like he wasn’t the one who made the decision, right? Like he is ultimately going to want to leave Seattle somewhat oppressed, right? It’s like, Oh, well, you know, I would have loved to have stayed there for my entire career, but they just didn’t want me and now I feel welcome in, wherever I am. So I think that there is an element of that right now, where Seattle is just like, Nope, we’re not even going to create the opening; we’re not going to create the window. And if I’m Seattle, just from a common sense perspective, I’m not doing the deal right now. You have one year until Russell becomes imminently more tradable. Like his dead cap goes down to a certain point that I think is more manageable. And you’re basically buying time to minimize the remaining prime.
So next year, the dead cap goes down to $13 million; next year he turns 35. I think if you’re John Schneider, you could probably live with that. He’s always going to be one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL, by virtue of the style with which he plays. I think if you send him to a place where the offensive line isn't great, he’s still going to be good, but it’s going to take them a while to get off the ground. And at that point, he’s a 35-year-old guy who's getting sacked 50-plus times a season.
Everyone says, well Tom Brady played until he was 45. Tom Brady never got sacked. You know, Tom Brady never got hit. Russell Wilson gets hit. And so I think if I waited a year, I would feel way more comforted trading him. And that’s probably what I would do. I would probably try to squeeze one more year out of it. See if you reinvigorate his interest in the Seahawks, you give him some stake in the personnel this offseason. You say, What do you need? What do you think? Who do you like? And you go from there. But I wouldn’t trade him right now ... I’m sure there’s a market, but I don’t think I would get rid of him right now.
