With Frank Reich getting fired and Bryce Young not looking anything like the player he was at Bama (granted he's not working with much), this inquiry seemed highly relevant to me and the NFL could look very different if the dominoes fell in a different formation.
Pretty straightforward: Lovie said fuck it and coached his boys to win their second game of the year in the last week of 22, ultimately losing the first overall pick in the draft and instead picking 2 overall. Thus, Chicago does not get the first pick and Carolina would not be able to trade up to number 1. Houston would not have traded that first pick, and they'd have their choice of the 2 consensus top QBs.
I'm not saying Stroud wasn't their guy. He may have been that dude regardless and they very well could have picked him. But most prognosticators assessed Young as the safer prospect with a higher ceiling.
What if Houston gets that first pick and drafts Young? Does Chicago trade their pick still? Does Chicago stay put? Who do they snag at 2 if so? Does Carolina still try to move up to 2 to get a QB? Does another team like Indy get into the mix? What does Chicago's future outlook look like without those potential picks going forward? Same question about Carolina, reversed. Do they keep all those picks and have a better outlook? What if Chicago doesn't get Moore in a deal? What if the Panthers QB has Moore as his WR1 instead of Theilen? How does Houston look relative to how impressive they've been? Does Carolina still have 1 win? Is Reich still there?
So many dominoes, how would the NFL look if the first domino never happened? Which ones did I miss? Just curious of others thoughts!
I still think Texans take Stroud. Casserio had his chance at Young and didn’t take it. Panthers dangled Stroud as their pick when they were willing to trade back (to two) and not Young. They wouldn’t do that if we were targeting Young.
In this scenario Stroud goes 1. Young goes 2 to Indy.