Ron Rivera has said the Commanders will be seeking a new "QB1" in the 2023 offseason, which likely signals the end of the Carson Wentz experiment in Washington.
The question is, who's available and how would you rank them, from best available to worst available, considering the Commanders will be picking from the middle of the first round of the draft and thus have a poor shot at selecting any of the top available prospects from the incoming QB draft class?
Former Washington head coach Jay Gruden lent his perspective to 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier. Among those ranked were Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, Tom Brady, Geno Smith and Ryan Tannehill.
"I'd probably go Carr, Garoppolo, Geno -- probably in that order," Gruden said. "Who was the fourth one?"
"Brady," Paulsen said.
"Tom Brady? Yeah, he's not coming here. No way," Gruden said, drawing laughter from the studio. "He's not gonna be 46 years old and coming to Washington. Not a chance. He might go to Vegas. He might go to Miami. But he ain't coming here."
Gruden was asked if Carr is still worth signing for $35 million-ish per year or if the Commanders could hope to get him at a discount at this point in his career.
"Well, if you want to upgrade the position, you're gonna have to pay," Gruden said. "Because there's gonna be other teams that are gonna want Derek Carr. I would imagine the Jets will probably gonna go after him. There's gonna be five or six teams I think that are in the bidding. When you have four, or five or six teams going after a guy, his market value is gonna be high. If nobody's going after him, then sure, you get him for cheap. So, that's the issue."
Gruden was then asked if it would be worth paying Carr $70 million guaranteed over two years.
"It depends on who we've got around him," Gruden said. "I mean what are they doing with the offensive line and all the stuff? Who else is available? I mean, I don't know, the guys that you mentioned, yes I would. I would probably do that, if those are the only guys available. I would do that."
"Because Jimmy G, as much as I like him, he's just injury prone," he continued. "Geno, he's had a good year but he's a turnover machine. I do like Geno and what he's done this year. He'd be a thought. He does have a little bit of mobility but he takes too many sacks and he turns the ball over. But he's in the position to get in the playoffs, too, so between Geno and Derek, it would be a decision."
Asked if it was too late for the Commanders to get in position to draft a top quarterback, Gruden suggested they maybe wait another year for USC's Caleb Williams, who's 20.
"It depends on the kid. I don't know who's available next year," Gruden said. "I think after watching Caleb Williams play, I might tank for him. I mean this guy's a dynamic type quarterback. I mean that guy's gonna go No. 1 though, you've gotta go 1-16 to get him."
"I don't know who else is out there," he said. "I don't know if [Sam] Howell's the guy. That's why I think it's important for him to get some reps in this game just to see what you have and the possibilities of what he can do. That way maybe stick with [Taylor] Heinicke another year and let them compete, and then see what happens next year in the draft or this year in the draft, see if you can draft one in the first or second round, and make something happen that way."
