The emergence of the LA Rams as a playoff team and the Philadelphia Eagles as Super Bowl champions has placed an increased emphasis on Quarterback play in the NFL. The Rams, behind Jason Goff and the Eagles, behind Carson Wentz, demonstrate the need to get excellent play from the position. A quarterback in the NFL has been called the most important position in all of pro-sports. NFL GMs seem to have bought into that theory.
Once upon a time, the Bears had the third overall draft pick
Think back to last year's NFL draft. Bears GM, Ryan Pace, traded a third and fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft, and a third-round in 2018 to move up one slot in the draft.
That move meant the Bears had the second overall pick in the draft and used it to pick Mitch Trubisky. At the time, that seemed like an overpayment to move up one slot in the draft. Of course, the Bears also signed free agent quarterback, Mike Glennon to an $18 million dollar contract. That was a serious overpayment. The poor play of Glennon actually meant Trubisky got to start earlier than expected so his development was accelerated. The Bears, however, weren't the only team frantically shopping for a QB.
Browns go for Brock
The Houston Texans also moved up from 26th in the 2017 draft to 12th by swapping picks in 2017 with the Cleveland Browns and also sending the Browns their first-round pick in 2018.
When the smoke had cleared, the Texans had DeShaun Watson at QB and the Browns had DeShone Kiser and Brock Osweiler at the position. And that's why the Browns are the Browns.
More guys spend the wheel
The Kansas City Chiefs also got involved in Quarterback Roulette. They drafted swapped draft picks with the Buffalo Bills and sent the Bills their first-round draft choice in 2018 to pick Texas Tech QB, Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes will be the Chiefs starter in 2018.
One other quarterback move of note from last season, the 49ers gave up a second-round choice to the New England Patriots for Jimmy Garappolo in a mid-season move. In six games with the 49ers, Garappolo looked like the real deal. Those moves set up more quarterback jockeying this year.
And the beat goes on
CBS Sports Mock Draft shows this year's NFL draft could have four or five quarterbacks picked in the first ten picks of the draft. The Jets and Broncos have already moved up in the draft, probably poised to pick a quarterback. In the meantime, Free Agency and trades have already changed the NFL quarterbacking landscape. The Chiefs have traded Alex Smith, who was coming off a career year, to the Redskins for outstanding cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round draft pick. Frankly, I think Smith is an upgrade over the departed Kirk Cousins.
The odd case of Keenum
Speaking of Cousins, he signed a free agent deal with the Minnesota Vikings worth $90 million dollars for three years.
The Vikings have seen two quarterbacks that have had success in the NFL go elsewhere. Case Keenum, who led the team to the NFC Championship game has signed a two year deal with the Denver Broncos. As was mentioned before, the Broncos still very well may draft a quarterback in the first round of the draft. Case is probably wondering what he has to do to get some respect.
The oft-injured Sam Bradford has also seen time with the Vikings. He will now be cashing checks from the Arizona Cardinals. He will also play quarterback for them if he can stay in one piece long enough.
Going full circle
And somewhere, the guy who started the merry-go-round, Bears GM, Ryan Pace, is smiling.
