Look who the browns got for carson wentz... a guy who never played a down in the Nfl. Did not even play in the FBS.
Again, it's apples and oranges. Carson Wentz is a rookie, and so he is forced to sign a cheap rookie contract. After Wentz was drafted, he signed a 4-year, $27M deal, which additionally comes with a 5th-year option.
Jimmy is in the last year of his contract. Brock just signed for $72M and he's a steaming pile of garbage. Jimmy G could require something like a 5-year, $90M contract. Who knows.
So basically, if you're the Browns, you have to say something like:
- do I want Jimmy G and lock him up at 5-years, $90M, OR,
- do I want Kizer/Watson/Trubisky at 4-years, $29M + 5th year option, and have $61M extra in payroll over the next five years? $12M a year could completely cover a Terrelle Pryor extension!
Again, many of the arguments being made apply exactly to Jamie Collins. Let's say hypothetically we knew there were ongoing trade discussion for Jamie Collins earlier in the season. You would've seen posts on this board like, "Collins is an elite talent. If the Browns want him, they're going to have to pay a steep price. I wouldn't settle for anything less than a 2nd round pick. If the Browns don't want to pay that? Too bad, then you can't have him. We don't
have to trade Collins, we're only going to trade him if the price is right. Belichick shouldn't settle any for anything less than we got for Chandler Jones, and he's not going to. Period."