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After listening to all the pundits say why we will re-sign Darnold on a Franchise tag, sign him to a 4-year deal, blah blah ad nauseum, and why we will trade JJM and nobody knows what to do with Daniel Jones...I think I can reasonably forecast what will actually happen in the end.
It's going to be a business decision (just like letting Cousins walk, which worked out pretty well for us). After trying to make it complicated, I realized it's not that complicated.
You're going to tie up around $41 million to secure Darnold for one year on a franchise tag, or between $35-$40 million/year on a 3-4 year deal.
You have maybe $50-70 million (depending on who is calculating what) in salary cap room.
Do you tie up $40mm on one person? Or do you use that as capital to re-sign the FA's we badly want to keep, and go on the hunt for more help on both interior lines?
JJM's cap hit is team friendly this year and for a couple more years.
If they are serious about building a Championship calibre TEAM, it makes more sense to spread that salary cap around, not hamstring us into oblivion in future years by deferring cap hits (thanks Spielman). You've theoretically got say $35mm to spend on improving the roster, and that includes keeping JJM and signing Daniel Jones to a one year backup extension for say $5mm/year (while he attends QB Whisperer School with KOC).
One variation on that them would be the tag & trade option for Darnold. Franchise tag him and trade him to some QB desperate team. There are very few proven options out there and I'm certain that some teams would think they died and went to heaven if they could get Darnold for a bargain $41mm with the option of a long-term deal.
I'm impressed with some of the moves Kwesi has done to build this roster and get us out of cap hell that he inherited. It doesn't happen all at once. I think he learned from blowing the draft his first year, and he's a smart, shrewd guy. We are sitting with an embarrassment of riches in our QB room, and that give us leverage. Not one person thought we'd be in this situation 365 days ago.
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