They dropped their new unis yesterday afternoon…including the return of their “Orange Crush” throwbacks…you can let me know in the youtube chat what you think of those…
And then a few hours later…
They made the trade to land Zach Wilson in a late round pick swap with the Jets. He joins Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci as the only QBs on Denver’s roster right now.
And I have a couple of thoughts here...one - I don’t think this changes much as far as their draft strategy. If there’s a QB they love that makes it past that #2 overall pick…I think we see them try to move up. But it makes them a little less desperate and gives them an option in that room that does have upside.
And listen, it was a disastrous stint for Zach in New York…but whatever else you want to say…he has talent - it’s what made him the 2nd overall pick…and we saw flashes of it like that Sunday Night game where he went toe-to-toe with Mahomes. If anyone is going to squeeze that ability out of him consistently - it’s going to be Sean Payton. And guess what? Zach is still only 24…that’s the same age as guys like Bo Nix and Michael Penix. There is still room to grow and I’m not going to completely write his career off…I’m happy for him that he’ll get a chance to go somewhere and write that 2nd act for himself.
That being said…it’s an uphill battle to climb. I’ve said this before, but I’ll reiterate - Kerry Collins, Ryan Tannehill, and Baker Mayfield are the *ONLY* 1st round QBs to come back and lead another team to a playoff appearance after the team that drafted them decided to move on. That is the entire list. So the odds are still against Zach…but if there is a situation that makes it possible, it’s what he has in Denver.
Even the “draft a guy and let him sit a year to develop” strategy is being phased out even though it worked for literally the most successful QB in the sport right now.
It’s become all about instant results…and I get it to an extent…but it’s going to do a disservice to some of these young quarterbacks. And while I know I just pointed out that there have only been 3 former 1st round picks to have successful 2nd acts…I think it is going to start becoming more of a thing going forward because teams are moving on so quickly - before we’ve seen guys like a Trey Lance or Fields even have a chance to reach their full potential. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we just saw a successful example with Baker and I would not be shocked if we see one of these 2021 QBs resurface in a major way here over the next few years.
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