A TON of Pressure on Zac Taylor

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(05-22-2020, 12:04 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: To be fair to 2019, putting Finley in was the most blatant tank job I've seen in a long, long, long time across the league.

You aren't trying to win if you're replacing your well established vet with a rookie 4th round pick.

As far as pressure goes, I think much more pressure was on him coming into this off season. He was coming off a 2019 draft class that, to that point, had only produced a disaster at QB, a weak starting LG and a decent LB prospect with a long way to go.

Our 2nd round pick, widely criticized when he was drafted for being a huge reach, did not do anything to dispel that belief about him, as he was widely worthless. Our first round pick was injured and the outside free agents we had signed, Miller, Wynn and Webb, were all disasters, as were a few of the extensions such as Brown and Hart (I know he wasn't as bad as people think, but his contract was still too high).

So he had a lot to prove in terms of how to actually execute a successful off season. I think most would agree that he passed that test with flying colors.

I think his exponentially improved 2020 off season (compared to his 2019 off season) gives him a lot of slack heading into the 2020 season. He has proven he knows how to draft for value and pick high quality free agents. So I think if he stumbles in the actual season, he will get a 3rd year regardless. Plus there's the inherent challenges of Covid and rookie Qbs to fall back on for any lack of success.

Not really, as it was a win-win situation:

- if Finley balls out, you have your QB of the future.
- If Finley plays like crap (which he did), hello 1st round pick.

It was a smart decision, no matter how you slice it, but to call it an out-and-out tank job...