Hypothetical 2021 #1 pick

[Nicomo Cosca]

(08-04-2020, 11:34 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: To me that is exactly why you have to draft Lawrence.

Everyone said over and over, you can't trade the #1 pick if you have a chance to take a franchise changing QB. 

Well, no season means we don't know if Burrow is or isn't that guy. Is he the guy from his Senior year (sensational but hard to reproduce)? The guy from his Junior year (decent but not a top pick)? Or the guy that couldn't beat out J.T. Barrett or Dwayne Haskins for a starting gig at OSU? (Note, Barrett isn't in the NFL and Haskins is probably the worst starting QB in the league. Did OSU just totally wiff on Burrow or did he just have the stars align for a magical season and will fall back to middle of the pack. Solid, not super?)

None of those questions can be answered without a season. In Lawrence you have a guy that has lost 1 game in his college career. He wins when he plays bad, that is important in the NFL. How many teams play down to their opponent or have off weeks, the great QBs still find a way to win that ugly game.

Cards had Rosen, and never even hesitated to draft Kyler Murray, and it clearly was the right call.

The Bengals if given the chance should absolutely do the same. You are going to get atleast one elite QB from the two of them and the competition should make them both better. Whoever fits your style best and performs best you keep. 

As long as neither looks like Josh Rosen (lost and confused) you will get a good return upon trading them. 

Long story short, if the league gives you a chance at Lawrence, even with Burrow on the team, you pull the damn trigger. Hell, keep them both if you want, with the rookie contracts, and trade one for a ransom of picks when a team loses a starter at some point which always happens.

I just can’t get on board with this. You’re never getting the full value by trading the player vs trading the pick. If there was any doubt at all whether Burrow is the guy they would have just taken Chase Young and hoped to land Lawrence or Fields next year.