After last week’s trade for the no. 1 pick, we now know how the Rams are getting their quarterback. While we still don’t know who that’ll be, the monster deal created plenty of other questions near the top of the draft.
Does this change Cleveland’s thought process?
The Browns’ strategy should be “quarterback, no matter what” only if they view Jared Goff and Carson Wentz as the two best players in the draft. There’s no sense in taking a QB just to take one.
Provided the Browns don’t want the other quarterback, the second pick becomes super valuable to whatever team does. Whether that’s Philadelphia, San Francisco, or someone else, Cleveland gains a bit more leverage. It would be typical Browns luck if the Rams jumped them to snag the guy Cleveland really wanted, but negotiating power over the rest of the NFL isn’t a bad alternative.
Who spent the weekend celebrating?
Coachella was only the second-biggest party in Southern California last weekend. It had nothing on what must’ve gone down in Tom Telesco’s office. Quarterbacks going first and second would leave the Chargers GM with his pick (Jalen Ramsey? Myles Jack?) of the non-signal-caller lot.
Really, any team that wasn’t planning on taking a quarterback is thrilled. With the Rams moving up and the Titans moving down, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and Miami now have one less team threatening to take whoever their man is.
Who spent the weekend seething with rage?
Goff visited with San Francisco on Monday, and if Chip Kelly was hoping the Cal quarterback would fall to no. 7, I can’t imagine he had a fun couple of days. The same goes for Dallas if it was eying Goff or Wentz.
A supply-and-demand issue with quarterbacks could also mean increased volatility (read: stupidity), as teams try to deal up for guys like Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook. The Jets, who’ve already worked out Lynch, may have been hoping he’d fall to them at 20. Now, it feels like another version of the 2011 Blaine Gabbert–Christian Ponder nightmare might be upon us.
How far will Laremy Tunsil fall?
Thanks to an already-stacked Cowboys line, Doug Free’s contract containing guaranteed money for 2017, and 2015 third-round pick Chaz Green waiting on the bench, my Tunsil-to-Dallas fan fiction likely won’t become a reality. But I can’t imagine that he’ll drop much further.
Neither of Jacksonville’s left tackles has financial guarantees after this season, and selecting Tunsil could rectify the Luke Joeckel mistake from 2013. Baltimore is a possibility if the Ravens think pending free agent Ricky Wagner might be too costly next offseason. If the Niners do want to trade the soon-to-be-unretired Anthony Davis, as Peter Kingreported, Tunsil would help them fix their disastrous situation at right tackle. The absolute floor is probably the Bucs at no. 9. They could use an upgrade on the edge and could easily slide 2015 second-rounder Donovan Smith to the right side.
Of course, the Cowboys could make this easy and just do the right thing at no. 4.
This piece originally appeared in the April 20, 2016, edition of the Ringer newsletter.