2018 NFL off-season thread: Mr. Alex Smith goes to Washington

The Browns could be. Tyrod Taylor can be a free agent next year, at which point they either need to pay him starter money ($20 million that he's probably not worth) or find someone else anyway. It'd make sense to take a franchise QB if you think one of them is the guy.
But they also have two of the first four picks and four of the first 35. They're not taking two of those QBs, and if someone comes at them with a major offer for one of the picks you've got to think they'd listen.
They could also use their picks to build a good, young core, see if a viable starter like Taylor can make the leap to very good, and either re-sign him or push the QB decision to next year. That might be the smarter play for them.
Either way, you have to think that by draft day the Browns are not in possession of either the No. 1 or No. 4 picks. The Jets trading up to get inside that second pick removes some of the risk of getting scooped on a QB.

As for the Giants, it depends on how much longer they think Eli Manning has. He's got two more years left on his contract at a reasonable price (around $22-$23 million) and they might not be far away from getting back to respectability. Last year was one of those years where everything went wrong. If everybody comes back healthy, they could easily be a playoff team again in 2018. So I could see them trading the No. 2 pick, collecting a couple of other picks, and trying to fill holes rather than go for Eli's successor right now.

 

I don't get the mystery around why the Jets would do this. They need a QB. The Browns need a QB. The Giants need a QB. Now they are guaranteed a top 3 QB selection, with no fear that someone will trade up to screw up their choice.

The Giants benched Eli Manning last year. That tells you how much time they think he has left.

If the Jets get a franchise QB no one will ever care about how much they gave up. Or, they could take Josh Allen and I would never stop laughing.

 

Lost in all this is that the everyone had the Colts targeting edge rusher Bradley Chubb with the third pick. If the QBs and Barkley fly off the board, they may end up getting him anyways, and still have those additional second-rounders.

 

When will the Colts get Brissett's replacement?

 

My guess is Chubb would go to the Giants, Browns or Broncos before 6.

 

If the Colts were smart, they'd take Quenton Nelson if he's there.

 

That mostly makes sense, though the Giants' benching of Manning doesn't mean much given that the coach and GM who were in charge when that call was made have both been fired.

 

The Jets trade only makes sense if there are three QBs they think are worth the pick, because the Browns and Giants are both possible to likely to pick QBs themselves.

 

Not sure if they need pass rushers. Giants have Vernon and JPP, Browns have Garrett.

 

True. They've needed offensive linemen since the George W. Bush administration.

 

Can never have enough pass rushers.

 

Yeah, but the Browns and Giants have other holes too.