2026 Off-Season Thread

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

So you think handing him the starting job from the get go and bringing in a veteran QB in year 2 who had no intention whatsoever in helping AR out were the right moves?

Hindsight's 20/20, but IMO it's pretty obvious AR should have sat either a good portion of if not all of his rookie year, and keeping Matt Ryan around to try to ingrain what it takes work ethic wise to be a successful NFL QB into AR would have been worth its weight in gold.

Maybe, but you're right, it's hindsight. Basically any hypothetical you throw out will look better and we don't have the luxury of seeing the outcome. Some people think Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes wouldn't be what they are if they didn't sit. I don't particularly agree, but that's also a separate topic.

Steichen’s track record with QBs belies the claim that AR failed due to a lack of mentorship. Between Herbert, Hurts, Minshew, Jones... Seems AR is the outlier, not Steichen's mentorship.

I think there's a huge tendency for people to act like these players are simply chess pieces controlled by their masters. Jalen Hurts had plenty of issues and concerns, but he was also showing up to the building for 12-15 hour days.

All that said, I don't hate on AR like it may sound. I think the injuries definitely derailed progress and he has worked to fix things. But damage was already done and I don't begrudge them if they try to salvage something in a trade.