Re: Lose him to Free Agency
First Round draft picks are locked up for five years if the team wants that.
In the sixth year, the drafting team can hit a QB with a Franchise Tag and still pay - for one season - less than a top QB would get in FA.
It will be interesting to see if the Ravens use the non-exclusive tag on Lamar Jackson tomorrow. Given his injury history, maybe let another team sign him and then they can either match or take two first round picks. If they would get a top ten pick this year, I’d be tempted to let Lamar go and draft a QB.
But still that’s a lot of money to dole out to have someone on the bench.
Teams used to be able to afford drafting a project, those days are gone.
And if you are going to have a “project”, do what the Bucs did with Kyle Trask, who had a chance to play behind Brady for a few seasons. He was taken in the second round, and they didn’t break the bank on him.