The New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts worked out one blockbuster of a trade early Saturday morning, swapping top-six picks to give New York the ability to land a franchise quarterback.
Here’s how it works out. New York sends the sixth overall pick as well as two second-round picks in 2018 (37th and 49th overall) and a second-round pick in 2019 to Indianapolis for the third pick in April’s draft.
Pleasure doing business with you, @nyjets! pic.twitter.com/oAgpEudDWj
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) March 17, 2018
It’s rather clear that this is a move up for a quarterback. Though, there’s a ton of issues with that possibility. Putting aside the hefty compensation New York paid to move up, it’s only to No. 3 overall. Both the Browns and Giants, picking No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, are more than likely going to select quarterbacks with their picks. This means New York yielded three second-round picks for the right to select a quarterback two teams are willing to pass up on. That’s a pretty interesting strategy right there.
Now, about that compensation. No matter what trade value chart you look at, Indianapolis got the better of this deal. Sure that’s usually the case when teams make a move for a quarterback. But it’s magnified even further here. According to Drafttek, New York gave up the equivalent of a first-round pick above value to move up to No. 3. Other charts show nearly the exact same thing.
That’s a whole heck of a lot of capital to exhaust in moving up just a few spots.
We then have the entire Jets quarterback situation to look into here. They re-signed Josh McCown on a one-year, $10 million contract while also adding Teddy Bridgewater to the mix on a one-year deal that could top out at $15 million. Based on this trade, either one of those quarterbacks is going to spend Sundays this coming fall inactive or the Jets will decide to give the rookie a redshirt season by making him the No. 3 quarterback.
Sure the quarterback room in New Jersey is going to be a whole heck of a lot better next season. But the cost could very well be $25 million for two veteran quarterbacks and a massive overapay for a rookie two teams are likely going to pass up on.
It’s a risk New York was okay taking. Now, will it pay off? We’re not too sure.