This could make for an interesting free agency period.
The 2019 NFL Combine comes to a close on Monday, and with it comes the last intense rumor session before the free agency tampering period. We’ll hear plenty between now and Monday, March 11th, but the Combine provided an opportunity for teams to talk with agents, chat with other teams, and shop some of their own players.
Three notable rumors circulated this week involving quarterbacks. We heard on Saturday that Washington is interested in Josh Rosen if the Arizona Cardinals decide to trade him. Additionally, the Oakland Raiders have been shopping quarterback Derek Carr this week, per Master Tesfatsion. Finally, soon-to-be free agent quarterback Nick Foles is expected to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars when the new league year opens in a week and a half, per Philadelphia Eagles reporter Les Bowen.
The Raiders news is not shocking, but it will be interesting to see how it develops these next two weeks. They hold the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, so they better have a plan in mind if they want to do this. There is talk that Jon Gruden loves Carr, but at this point, I don’t think we can take anything off the table when it comes to this kind of rebuilding project. If the Raiders do deal Carr, it would potentially shake up the top of the draft board in a big way. Maybe the Raiders would be prepared to spend the No. 4 pick on a QB. Maybe they would roll the dice for a player with one of their other two firsts. They’d be the team who could really shake up the draft.
The Foles news is not remotely surprising. There are few teams that are in a position to invest in a quarterback like Foles, even in the short term. Given the QB market, he’s looking at more than $20 million per year in a deal. He’s not a long-term answer, and frankly, it’s fair to question how much of a short-term option he is. He won some big games for the Eagles, but I’m skeptical there is a whole lot there that would be worth over $20 million a year. That being said, at least he’s not Blake Bortles.
Washington and Jacksonville face big questions at quarterback, while Oakland could if they decided Derek Carr is not their guy. Oakland sits at No. 4 in the 2019 NFL Draft, followed by Jacksonville at No. 7, and Washington at No. 15. They could make all sorts of noise depending on how they approach the quarterback position in the next couple weeks. Add in the Cardinals, Giants, Dolphins, and maybe Broncos, and the quarterback position could result in all sorts of movement in the top half of the draft board.
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