A week before the Super Bowl, WEEI callers clamored openly for the Patriots to sign Baker Mayfield to compete with (and possibly) overtake Mac Jones this off-season.
Then, this week, the "Jones & Mego Show" (with Arcand!) debated the merits of New England pursuing now-ex-Raiders quarterback Derek Carr on WEEI.
Even as Jones prepares for a career-defining third season, a portion of Patriots fans and media would rather have anyone but him quarterbacking the team. Will they get their wish in 2023?
A poll put out by the "Jones & Mego Show" indicates most fans don't want to see the team sign Carr, in particular.
Here's why I agree the Patriots should leave Carr on the store shelf.
Carr is, of course, an above-average quarterback, which is worth a lot in a league plagued with terrible quarterback play. He's made four Pro Bowls as well. Until last year, he'd thrown for 4,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. One could argue his 2022 struggles could be chalked up to learning an offensive system veterans have called “counterintuitive” to others they’ve played in rather than Carr himself being bad.
In a vacuum, he’s likely better than Jones is at this point in time. But we don’t live in a vacuum, do we?
Think of it this way: Carr will probably earn a salary north of $20 million a year given his track record. The Patriots have $28 million in effective cap space heading into the off-season. Signing Carr basically means you’re blowing the whole wad on one player rather than separate moves that beef up the offensive line or the receiving corps, for instance.
That’s not going to work for the Patriots, who have to pick a lane as far as what kind of team they intend to be as they try to return to the Super Bowl.
They probably don’t have a path to a Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow this season that can take them to the playoffs or Super Bowl just because he exists and plays for your team. But New England does still have a cheap young quarterback with which to build an exceptional roster around to elevate said quarterback. That strategy has paid off for teams like the Eagles, Dolphins and Bills, who had big question marks coming into their respective Year 3s and answered them resoundingly.
Carr, though, is a hedged bet that tries to occupy both lanes while successfully living in neither. He’s cheaper than the top quarterbacks but not cheap enough, and he’s not a “tide that lifts all boats,” so to speak. He’s good, not great, and that’s probably not worth any more wins than what Jones could provide with an improved roster.
In essence, Mac Jones at under $3 million in salary and $4.25 million in cap space is a better player and value than Derek Carr at whatever New England would get him at. The same logic applies to Mayfield, who will be cheaper than Carr but is also simply worse at football.
In theory, the Patriots could do far worse than swapping out Jones for Carr. But in reality, New England would have to do much, much better to make moving on from Jones for a veteran worth it.
Unless that veteran is Lamar Jackson or a magically non-weird Aaron Rodgers, that scenario’s probably not in the cards.