Why not keep Andy as a backup?

[Shake n Blake]

(02-04-2020, 01:32 PM)Stewy Wrote: Ok there seems to be an assumption that Burrow starts next year no matter what.  I haven't been following every thread, but a logical course of action would be:

Keep Andy as the starter in 2020, while...
...building up the lines and weapons, while...
...Burrow learns the system, giving...
...another year to improve the team before handing the Burrow the reigns.

I truly think last year was a purposeful tank, with everyone involved from Taylor up to MB in on it.  The play calling was bad, the offense vanilla, and critical decision making which was obvious usually ended up the opposite.  One could assume that Taylor is just useless and over his head, but he isn't dumb, thus I feel they tanked on purpose, which basically meant submarining Andy from the start.  I would point out the that last two games after the top pick had been locked up, all of the above got better, play calling got more logical, they ran the ball when it made sense, etc.

So my Pollyanna view is that all this was planned, and the most logical course would be rebuild with Andy for a year, where he gets an opportunity to show the rest of the NFL he didn't completely suck last year.  Andy gets another job in 2021 with Burrow taking the reigns here after a two year rebuild instead of being thrown straight into the fire.

Of course I could be completely wrong and Taylor is complete trash, then none of this matters anyway.  Burrow or not, it won't matter.

I'm open to the possibility that last season was a tank job, and it crossed my mind many times. That said, I strongly disagree that keeping Andy and redshirting Burrow is the logical move. Maybe when it comes to this team, but a normal franchise would trade or dump Andy, and use our massive cap space to shore up the line and other weak spots.

One strong free agency and a solid draft could easily have this team in contention, or at the very least serviceable around Burrow...without wasting a year of his affordable rookie deal. Besides, if we really were tanking last year, we may not be as far off as some think. A more creative offense, Jonah coming back, a solid free agency/draft and we're right in it.