NEWSLETTER
And then there was one.
There were five quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, and only Trevor Lawrence remains with the team that selected him. That will be the case once the Zach Wilson trade from the New York Jets to the Denver Broncos becomes officially official.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport has the scoop:
In addition to getting Wilson, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Broncos net the 256th pick (a seventh-rounder) in this weekend’s draft. Meanwhile, the Jets are getting pick No. 207 (which is in the sixth-round) in return for their trouble.
My favorite trades are the ones in which all parties get something they want. For instance, the Jets get to dump Zach Wilson and get something in return. I imagine this news is going over well among the members of that fan base. As for the Broncos, they get to add another quarterback with a pulse to their locker room. Before Wilson’s arrival, the only quarterbacks on Denver’s roster were Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci. Even after Wilson’s arrival, this shouldn’t stop the Broncos from drafting a quarterback this weekend.
But maybe it won’t. Perhaps Sean Payton is such a believer in Sean Payton that he feels as if he is the one who can turn Zach Wilson to a respectable NFL quarterback. Or maybe this is just posturing:
Yeah, it’s probably just posturing. Even still … it got a chuckle out of me when I saw it cross my timeline.
Zach Wilson and three others from the 2021 NFL quarterback class have already left their original team
Now that the deal is going down, only Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is set as the lone first-round signal caller from that draft class lined up to be the unquestioned QB1 for the team that drafted him. What a difference three seasons makes.
For the sake of comparison, let’s see how the other trades stack up:
All things considered, I suppose the Bears could’ve done worse than what they did. But it still gives me the ick knowing that the Trey Lance trade was able to net the Niners a better pick for a player who has accomplished less. But at this point, the Fields trade is water under the bridge. And now that the Zach Wilson trade is out there, I’m ready to put a bow on the 2021 NFL Draft class and close the books for good. Soon enough, we’ll have a new quarterback to obsess about. The draft is in three days and I just wish I could fast forward to Thursday.
