With DJ going down for the year and us most certainly picking up a QB this draft it got me thinking Saquon originally wanted 16Mil/yr. Danny Dimes fought with the organization for a $40mil contract. Saquon and other RBs around the league didn’t get paid because of their injury concerns but looking around the NFL Deshaun Watson, Joe Burrow, Derrick Carr, Ryan Tannehill, Daniel Jones just to name a few, are all QBs with significant cap hits not playing up to or getting any value in their contract. I know hindsight is 20/20 and I even defended Jones contract when he signed it (not enthusiastically mind you) but now Barkley is getting run into the dirt while his QB rehabs in an already lost season. Next season now we gotta deal with Jones contract and it makes even LESS sense to give Saquon the money he’s looking for.
If you ask me, the only QBs that should be making 40Mil+ are Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
As others have said, it’s really the fact that the quarterback is both pivotal to team success and can be a cornerstone for ownership economically. Running backs are definitely undervalued currently, but that’s what happens when guys like Brady come along. The NFL has always been a copycat league and when guys like Brady, Brees, and Peyton light up the league and win rings for 2 decades, it creates a mental shift in the approach to the game. Owners, coaches, and GMs everywhere now NEEDED an elite quarterback to win, even though there are probably 3-5 actual ELITE guys that can take you to the promised land. The NFL front office becomes enamored with more points and enacts rules to make the game easier on passers. So QB contracts inflate, RB contracts slowly deteriorate, and here we are. If you’ve watched football long enough you know it all goes in waves though. Eventually a back will come into the league that is just unstoppable, and then everyone will NEED the elite running back.
As far as Saquon goes, we never put anything around him. The best weapons he ever played with was in his rookie year. And we all know the kind of oline we’ve fielded in his time here.