Originally Posted by RealSNR
If you've got a super stud QB like a Mahomes in your division, the one thing you SHOULDN'T do is lose your goddamn mind like Denver did.
Here's the way I see it. Denver had two options:
A. Be patient and build a sustainable roster as best as you can. It's hard to keep a nucleus together, but with creative drafting, you can dip in and out of a "down" year pretty quickly if you're smart about what's available to you. You might not be able to win the division, but you can string together a couple wild card appearances in a row like KC did during the early part of Reid's tenure, and after that, you're just a lucky season away from coming out on top every now and then. Maybe the super stud QB team has just one too many injuries that year, or they're up against the cap and do a soft rebuild. Denver was doing this to a point, but they were struggling to find decent depth and the occasional home run gem outside of the top 10 of the 1st round. But they got impatient and refused to give any of their placeholder veterans more than a season to stabilize the QB position. I know the Alex Smith sandwich is a shitty one to eat, but if you choose that strategy, it does you no good to abandon it each offseason.
B. Draft a super stud QB of your own. Emphasis on DRAFT one. The truly excellent super studs simply aren't going to be traded away, and if they are, there's something wrong with them that's known or unknown. Drew Brees was traded to New Orleans coming off a bad injury. Matt Stafford had no record of being able to actually carry an actual great team all the way. Denver's problem is they got scared off by Paxton Lynch, and from that point on, they stopped trying. They tried to get lucky, thinking Drew Lock had untapped potential for a 2nd round price. That's fine to take stabs at lottery tickets like that, but you gotta keep trying.
The Chargers, in spite of all the funny Chargers things they do, stayed calm with Mahomes in the division and took Herbert. They hired an idiot savant head coach and employ a butcher as their team doctor or something weird like that, but in spite of all those challenges, they HAVE eeked out a win or two against Mahomes. And one year, if good luck finally falls their way and KC is graced with just enough bad luck, they might be able to come out on top.
Basically, accept that you won't have a stud as good as Mahomes, accept that there will be several years where you don't win the division, and move past it. And whatever you do, you have to stick to the plan. It might be painful for a few years, and it might not work, but it beats abandoning something too early so you can waste a crap ton of draft picks and money to acquire a ****ing meme at QB.
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