If the Lions had accepted the Panthers offer (#8 pick and a 3rd rounder) or Washington's offer (#19 pick and a 3rd rounder) who would have been their QB this year?
Seeing how the Panthers offer is better than Washington's let's follow that one thru.
The article suggests the the Lions could have packaged the #7 & #8 picks to move up and take a QB. It looks like they could get up to #2 with that, where they would have their choice of QBs not named Trevor Lawrence. Do the Jets even want to trade? Would they get a better offer from someone else? There is risk going down this path, but let's assume the Lions and Jets make this trade: Jets #2 overall (2,600 on the draft value chart) for Lions #7 & #8 overall (a total of 2,900 on the draft value chart).
Basically the Lions have the choice of these two bundles:
Zach Wilson (or whoever they decide to pick at #2)
the Panthers' third round pick this year
-or-
Jarod Goff
Ja'Marr Chase, LSU (or whoever the Lions end up taking at #7)
the Rams' third round pick this year
the Rams' 1st round pick in 2022
the Rams' 1st round pick in 2023
Maybe the first option is better but so far I'm not buying it. A rookie QB, even one taken high in the draft, is no slam dunk (See Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Mitch Trubisky).
Some might say that the rookie QB gives the Lions some extra cap room. Not as much as you might think!
Last year's #2 pick (Chase Young) signed for $34.6M, all guaranteed. That's going up this year just because that number goes up every year, might be a little extra boost if the guy is a QB rather than a DE. The #2 in 2019 (Nick Bosa) got $33.5M, all guaranteed. So just accounting for inflation lets say Wilson gets $35.8M, all guaranteed. Well, Goff is guaranteed $43M so add $7.2M in additional cap room to what the Lions get out of that Panther's deal.
The thing is, if Goff tanks in Detroit they can cut him after 2 years without taking on any dead money, and they would have 2 first rounders in the 2022 draft to take another shot at drafting a QB. So that's a bonus for the deal they actually made.
AlbaNY_Ram
