The week before a Super Bowl is normally filled with the buzz of the big game, with interviews and features swirling about the players who are about to compete for the NFL’s championship. Given the fact that the teams have not already gathered in Tampa but are waiting until later today, due to COVID-19 restrictions, most of the rumors are focusing on filling coaching vacancies and possible player movement.
Let’s take a look at some of the latest deals that might be coming to the NFL as you ponder your football betting for the 2021 season.
NFL News: The Rumor Mill
The Detroit Lions shipped Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Goff as well as two first-round picks in the future and a third-round pick for the 2021 draft. That’s an interesting trade given that Stafford is almost 33 years old. The Lions now have a younger starting quarterback as well as two potentially high picks, if Stafford does not pan out for the Rams. You could argue that the Rams overpaid — but you could also argue that the market for a starting quarterback is that steep.
Another quarterback who will almost certainly be playing somewhere else next year is Deshaun Watson, who has lost patience with the front office in Houston. He is one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL, and he is almost ten years younger than Stafford. His numbers in 2020 were insane — but the team only won four games, because the roster around him was basically devoid of skill players. Another team that might be interested is the New York Jets. The Jets have Sam Darnold, who did not play well in 2020. Would the Texans be interested in him? Darnold has spent his time in the NFL getting basically no coaching or development, and Houston could view him as a project worth working on. Of course, the Jets also have the draft choices to send as many as four first-round picks to get a franchise quarterback. Would they do that? Behind the scenes, former Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall is lobbying for Watson to end up wearing green and white. He told TMZ Sports that New York would be the “perfect landing spot” for Watson.
Another potential landing spot could be Los Angeles — not with the Rams, of course, but with the Chargers. The Chargers will have a new head coach, and they just finished tuning up rookie quarterback Justin Herbert, who had one of the best rookie campaigns of any quarterback in league history. He’s still on a rookie deal, which means the Chargers are getting a lot for not much money. But if Watson wants to move to a bigger city and lead a franchise that appears to be trending upward, this would be an intriguing destination.
When we think about quarterbacks on the trading block, one signal-caller who has just started to come to mind for many league observers is Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins. He signed a contract with the Vikings in 2018 good for three years and $84 million, fully guaranteed. That has turned into exactly two playoff games in three seasons; after the 2019 season, Minnesota went down to New Orleans and upset the Saints in the wild card round and then lost in Seattle. They missed the playoffs this season. The Vikings did better with Case Keenum at the helm, going all the way to the NFC Championship only to lose in Philadelphia, than they did with this pricy quarterback. It did not help that the Vikings lost Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills in the off-season, and Cousins’ 35:13 TD:INT ratio this year is solid. The team decided to switch to a run-heavy offense, with Dalvin Cook, which propelled them to mid-season success. The problem for the Vikings is an offensive line that does not provide Cousins with enough protection to throw the ball down the field.
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