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Alex Smith's deal means the Skins will not have cap space to sign even a mediocre placeholder QB like Bridgewater unless they gut other parts of the roster. We are in the bottom third of the league in cap space. It would be pointless to blow any of our limited cap space on WRs when we have no one capable of consistently delivering them the ball. This means surrendering any bidding war for Crowder, and probably cutting Vernon Davis. No one-year rentals unless they're on the cheap. We are not one, or even five players away. Besides QB, neither of our tackles can be relied upon to stay healthy (I put the over/under on Trent Williams at 6 games for 2019), our pass rush is mediocre, safety and inside linebackers have been a disaster, and I can't even remember the last time we had a good left guard. Guice may be cleared to play in 2019, but most players don't regain speed from an ACL until their second year back. What we have is the makings of a 3-13 team. The future is manifestly not now. Now must instead be about the future. Unfortunately, Gruden and Allen won't want to bite the bullet for a better 2020 or beyond, knowing that a failed season would hasten their removal long before the benefits of any austerity program can be realized. It's possible Gruden may be enamored enough with his Todd Collins...er...Colt McCoy that the team won't pay through the nose for Teddy, Flacco or Fitz, but... something tells me Danny will insist on finding our own Amari Cooper, and we will overpay for someone who will become a malcontent because there's no one to throw to him after Colt goes on IR around game 4. Our best shot for approaching .500 (which is an overly optimistic projection) without damaging future seasons is probably following Baltimore's late season template - beef up the defense as much as possible, and just hand the ball off. Painfully boring, painfully predictable, and predictably painful. But, is it worth sapping cap more cap space from future years just to get to 6-10 or maybe another 7-9 instead of 4-12? We must go BPA in the draft, but our biggest needs are Edge Rush, safety, and the left side of the OL. FA signings should be limited to role players and depth. If the BPA at 15 (or spot iirc) is an OG or LT, take him...even if it makes Gruden apoplectic. If the BPA for us in both the first and second rounds are edge rushers, take them both. No whining about why didn't we take a QB or WR or LG or FS or ILB or whatever if the BPA was not a position of need. No one player, let alone a rookie, is going to be the missing piece. Settle was a great pick, but NT stopped being a need position after we grabbed Payne. This is the kind of foresight to which we must continue to adhere, even if it frustrates whatever fans have not yet succumbed to apathy. No restructuring of contracts to push a cap squeeze on to future years. Take our medicine now.

According to NFL bylaws, we know the Browns pick will be out of football within 4 years, and the Jets pick will barely hang on as a career backup. Bad news for Mayfield (for whom I had high hopes) and Darnold (who seemed rather "meh"). I will go with Josh Rosen...although his situation looks drearily sumilar to Matt Leinart. The football gods have probably still not forgiven Buffalo for benching Flutie for Rob Johnson, which is sad news for J.osh P. Allen. Lamar Jackson is a joke. I think one of the mid-round picks (Lauletta or Mason Rudolph) will emerge as the best in a couple years (I would take Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins over Luck [or obviously RG3] now, though that might have seemed crazy in 2012).