Thursday Explanations

Whether it’s Thursday or Friday...always a good day to get a dose of Vitameatavegamin, “for health”.

On this week’s show, found here:

...we stayed on the quarterback topic—shocker. (We did, however, promise a “QB-FREE” episode next week.)

The idea of the show was about who, of the possible signal-callers that the Washington Football Team could sign, wouldn’t be flat-out terrible for us. We tried to cover as much ground that we haven’t covered before, in the Cam Newton and Ryan Fitzpatrick categories. What we hadn’t discussed in the past was specific choices you might make if you had to make a call between two quarterbacks. This also assumes that the WFT wants any of these guys and that these players want to play for the WFT.

Cam Newton of Ryan Fitzpatrick?

Gardner Minshew or Ryan Fitzpatrick?

Marcus Mariota or Derek Carr?

I started out sounding like I was warm to the idea of Carr coming to this club. I hope it became clear I am not. Which brings me to my explanation. It does not seem to me that the burgundy and gold is about to land our quarterback of the future. If that is true, then what we are adding is a player that we want to be able to count on as both a starter and a backup. He has to fit in not only in the quarterback room but also the locker room in general. While Derek Carr may very well be the most talented player that could be available, I simply don’t think Carr would come in and slot into our locker room and culture.

When Ron Rivera came here, job #1 was to change the culture. I believe he is succeeding. The job continues though, and who you sign at quarterback in an offseason like the one we have entered is a huge culture ingredient. For all the reasons stated on the show, I just don’t think Carr adds flavor to this recipe. In fact, I would worry that he would clash with other key ingredients. It’s more gut feeling than anything, but do what I did and go back and watch Carr mic’d up. Read the kind of vanilla statements teammates have made about him. I don’t think he is a cancer by any means. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that I’m past the point where I think Carr’s talent outweighs the...whatever else seems to be happening with him in his “role” as leader. I said that I don’t think players like Derek Carr. Let me be clear: I have not interviewed a single player about this, and I could very well be dead wrong. I think it’s important to say that because I’m not saying Carr is “unlikeable.” I’m just saying he doesn’t strike me as a kind of “player’s guy.”

If Ron Rivera is looking to put someone in that quarterback room with Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinecke via free agency, it is essential for that player to be able to help advance the culture. While Carr can spin it like few in the league, I just don’t feel like he would fit in to what Rivera is doing with the off the field effort. (I have never heard of Carr being a bad guy in the community or off the field—I am referring to the sense of team that exists off the field.)

Final note: I haven’t had a chance to talk a lot about Corey Davis on here lately. I have loved him since he got into the league, and he is hitting free agency after a career year with 65 receptions, 984 receiving yards and five touchdowns. This doesn’t scream $100 million contract to me, which is good for us. The Titans are over the cap and will have to make some tough choices. It also helps us that Davis’ success really stemmed from the presence of AJ Brown.

Corey Davis would be a great addition to the Washington Football Team and I would be aggressive in pursuing him. He is a physical blocker, has developed some veteran savvy in his route-running, and has good hands. He is exactly the kind of upgrade we could use, and I would work to sign him even if we were able to add a guy like Kenny Golladay. It’s obviously a pipe dream, but a Terry McLaurin, Corey Davis, Kenny Golladay wideout trio would have me think “Posse” all over again.

See you next week, and please hit the subscribe button on the show. It’s free and it helps us out.

QB-FREE on Tuesday...I don’t know how we’re going to do it.