Crazy Offseason Plan the Colts Will Never Do That Just Might Work.

[Dam8610]

You read the title and clicked on the thread, so if you came in to bitch, go click on another thread. There's plenty of that going on already.

Still here? Cool, let's talk about shit that's never going to happen.

Step 1
Trade the 4th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft to the Oakland Raiders for their 2024 1st round pick, 2024 2nd round pick, and 2025 1st round pick.

Rationale: We're going after Lamar Jackson in this scenario. We can't be forced to forfeit something we don't have. That's also half of the reason I'm not asking for their 7th pick in return. The other half of the reason for that is I probably won't get a second 1 from them for trading down three spots, but I can by targeting their future draft capital. Finally, this is a bet on Josh McDaniels doing Josh McDaniels things and continuing to blow up this franchise. I project all of the picks we're acquiring to be Top 5 in their respective rounds as a result.

Step 2
Negotiate with Lamar Jackson's camp and determine what kind of long term deal he would be willing to sign.

Rationale: For the plan to work, we need to be able to sign Lamar Jackson to a long term deal. Therefore, we need to know for what amount and contract structure Lamar would be willing to sign long term, preferably 4 years.

Step 3
Negotiate trade compensation with Eric DeCosta.

Rationale: This is where our move in Step 1 pays dividends. Sure, DeCosta could try to sit back and wait for an offer sheet to be signed, but why would we do his work for him? Furthermore, after our trade in Step 1, DeCosta is much more likely to match an offer sheet we would sign. By negotiating a trade, we can get around the 2 1st round pick requirement. I would offer something like our 2024 1st round pick and 3rd round pick and our 2025 2nd round pick. This is more compensation than any team has received for a franchise player in recent history, which is fine because Lamar Jackson is a more valuable player than any that have been tagged and traded recently.

Step 4
Sign Lamar Jackson to the pre-negotiated long term deal.

Rationale: I don't think this needs much explanation. If you do all the work listed above to get Lamar Jackson on the team, it doesn't make sense to leave him on the franchise tag and frustrated. Ideally this would be a 4 year deal, but I'd be okay with it being a 5 year deal.

At the end of this, the Colts have a franchise QB, their full complement of 2023 draft picks except the 4th overall pick, a 2024 1st round pick that is likely to be top 5 and all other 2024 draft picks except the team's own 1 and 3, and 2 1st round draft picks in 2025, including 1 that is likely to be top 5, and a full complement of 2025 draft picks other than the team's own 2. If you happen to luck out and the McDaniels dumpster fire results in the #1 overall pick, you can either select the QB everyone is calling a generational talent already or if after 1 year you believe in Lamar enough, you could flip that pick for all of the draft capital, draft Marvin Harrison Jr., and have 2 first round picks per year for the next half decade. This plan nets Lamar Jackson and a likely top 5 pick in each of the next 2 drafts, which to me sounds a lot better than draft Anthony Richardson at 4 and pray.

Thoughts?

[Ironshaft]

After the past three years, I think there is zero chance Irsay would sign off on another veteran franchise QB.

Zero...
None...
Nada...

[rcubed]

TLDR. I just came to bitch.

[Dewey 5]

I just don't think the Raiders would give up that much for our pick. Good thinking out of the box though, Dam

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Ironshaft

After the past three years, I think there is zero chance Irsay would sign off on another veteran franchise QB.

Zero...
None...
Nada...

Even one that's 26 and has won an MVP in the last 5 years? I think that, and honestly Steichen's success with Hurts last year, would turn the tide. Lamar is the starting QB most similar to Hurts in the NFL.

Originally Posted by Dewey 5

I just don't think the Raiders would give up that much for our pick. Good thinking out of the box though, Dam

The upside for them would be having 2 top 10 picks this year, including a pick that would net them one of the top QBs in this class. I'll admit I'd be willing to take a slightly lesser package than that as long as it included the 2 1s, but looking at how much the Bears got for the #1 pick, and considering they wouldn't be giving up a 2023 1 at all, I thought the deal was fair.

[Butter]

I have a hard time imagining a world where there is a contract Ballard and the Colt write for Lamar that the Ravens do not match. So I simply find this idle speculation and not worth investing much effort into.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Butter

I have a hard time imagining a world where there is a contract Ballard and the Colt write for Lamar that the Ravens do not match. So I simply find this idle speculation and not worth investing much effort into.

Yet here you are…….

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Butter

I have a hard time imagining a world where there is a contract Ballard and the Colt write for Lamar that the Ravens do not match. So I simply find this idle speculation and not worth investing much effort into.

The key is not signing an offer sheet. Negotiate the trade in lieu of signing the offer sheet. Signing an offer sheet is just doing DeCosta's work for him.

[Oldcolt]

I worry about giving a ton of guaranteed money to a guy that hasn’t finished the last two years. I worry that a huge part of his game is his running ability and that that will not age well. I’m hearing 45-50 million a year.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

I worry about giving a ton of guaranteed money to a guy that hasn’t finished the last two years. I worry that a huge part of his game is his running ability and that that will not age well. I’m hearing 45-50 million a year.

Reasonable concern, that's another reason for the first trade. If you have the 2024 #1 pick and you're not sure on Lamar, draft Caleb Williams. The Colts will not get the 2024 #1 pick with Lamar, but Josh McDaniels continues to do Josh McDaniels things, and I think they will be positioned very well by the end of the offseason for the 2024 #1 pick, especially if the Colts starter at that point is Lamar Jackson instead of Gardner Minshew. There's a built in out here.