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Let’s see how much (if at all) the media actually starts pushing this narrative...
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I think, going forward, this will be said every season when a generational QB is coming out. It's just the nature of the #1OA pick. It goes to a bad team. And bad teams, with rare exception, are poorly run. There may be the occasional situation where a team just has a really bad shake and gets the #1OA pick out of happenstance, like Indy in 2012, but more often it's because the team is poorly run or poorly coached.
It's kind of annoying, but also not surprising. Let's look at the teams that, right now, you could reasonably say are poorly run and poorly managed:
NFC East:
Washington - between the cheerleader scandals, the name controversy, the constant calls for Snyder to sell the team and how he is too involved and makes awful decisions, this team falls into this category easily
New York Giants - Next to the Jets, they are widely considered the worst team in the NFL and are consistently the butt of many jokes except during Eli Manning's few good runs (which were surrounded by jokes and mockery)
NFC North:
Detroit Lions - Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson both retired young rather than play for this team any longer.
Chicago Bears - Haven't been relevant outside of one super bowl run since the 80s.
NFC South:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Not much to say here other than who gives a shit about the Buccaneers?
New Orleans Saints - The original joke franchise before Drew Brees came along. Now that Brees is getting older and likely won't last more than another season, they risk falling right back into that joke status
Atlanta Falcons - "28-3"
NFC West:
LA Rams - The team no one wants. They were a joke when Jared Goff went there. They've turned it around with McVay but within the last 5 years, they would have easily matched the profile for "stay in school rather than go to this team"
AFC East:
New York Jets - Obviously
Buffalo Bills - They literally donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Andy Dalton's foundation for beating the team that should have gone to the playoffs, breaking their streak which was approaching 20 years. And then they promptly lost.
AFC North:
Cincinnati - Obviously
Cleveland - Before like...2 seasons ago they were THE joke franchise. And then after woefully underachieving last year, no one was willing to get behind them this past off season. They are having a decent run of it, but who knows how long this house of cards will last before they collapse into a joke franchise again.
AFC South:
Houston Texans - They let BOB absolutely decimate their future prospects by trading away several first round picks to replace a guy who just wanted an extension (they traded Duane Brown, then had to trade for Tunsil to replace him at a massive net loss) and are now looking at handing Miami a top 5 pick in the 2021 draft. They also traded away one of the best WRs in the NFL for nothing and picked up an inflated contract for a has been RB in the process. They are the epitome of a joke franchise.
Indianapolis Colts - John Elway was the original "I refuse to play for you" guy and he did it to the Colts (granted, it was the Baltimore Colts, but still). Also, the Colts murdered Andrew Luck's career by refusing to protect him.
AFC West:
Las Vegas Raiders - Another team that apparently no one wants. They've moved around even more than the Rams. They are constantly hounded as the team that thinks speed is the only thing that's important and have made some comically bad choices in the past because of it.
San Diego Chargers - Eli Manning literally already did this exact thing they are saying Burrow (and Lawrence to an extent) should do to the Bengals and Jets in the past (with the exception that he just refused to play for them rather than staying in school).
Jacksonville Jaguars - Everyone who is anyone requested to be traded away from this team. If I recall correctly, former players have said stay away from this franchise.
So that means that of 32 franchises, 17 could reasonably be called joke franchises within the last decade or so...
This narrative is so stupid.
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Any top QB is going to go to a bad team. Really bad teams are the ones who draft 1st overall. While there are teams who will trade up in the 1st round, you don't really see teams trading up to 1st overall, so Lawrence is going to go to a bad team regardless.
Zac Taylor 2019-2020: 6 total wins
Zac Taylor 2021-2022: Double-digit wins each season, plus 5 postseason wins
Zac Taylor 2023: 9 wins despite losing Burrow half the season
Zac Taylor 2024: Started 1-4. If he can turn this into a playoff appearance, it will be impressive.
Sorry for Party Rocking!
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It really depends on who the coach is. If it's still Adam Gase, then you definitely try to find a way out of going there.