NFL Fans Shouldn't Pay Much Attention To Their Teams' End-Of-Year Press Conferences: Listen Up
After four of the six wild-card games resulting in a blowout, hopefully, we’ll see a more competitive brand of football in the Divisional Round that gets underway on Saturday. But as for the 24 teams that won’t be taking the field this weekend, their offseason preparations are already well underway.
SportsGrid’s Donnie Seymour talked about season-ending pressers on The Early Line this morning in his Listen Up segment. His message was as clear as the 49ers hope the skies in Green Bay are this weekend. “Don’t believe a single thing you hear right now from postseason press conferences on quarterbacks that are on shaky ground in their cities.”
The most significant decision any franchise has to make will be who they should hand the keys to at the quarterback position. This is a question the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had to face for the past 18 years since they drafted Ben Roethlisberger with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Now, with Roethlisberger likely retiring, the Steelers could turn to Mason Rudolph or Dwayne Haskins as their next starting quarterback. While the organization is saying all the right things to the media about the opportunity of both players competing for the starting job, does anyone think that has any remote chance of even happening? Seymour certainly doesn’t think so.
Then, If you travel 300 miles east to Philadelphia, the Eagles organization also expresses confidence that its quarterback of the future is already on the roster.
"I'm pleased with the way he developed as a passer, as a quarterback." – Coach Sirianni on @JalenHurts pic.twitter.com/nRrPB5Zl18
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 19, 2022
That seems almost comical given how their first-year starter, Jalen Hurts, was exposed for his inability to be effective in the passing game against the Buccaneers in the Wild Card round.
Of course, the Eagles will pursue other options at quarterback, but if Hurts remains the starter, they’ll still try to work around his deficiencies as best as possible. If you’re in the Steelers or Eagles front office, you could have a chance to land either Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, or Deshaun Watson this offseason. It would be almost criminal if both teams failed to do their due diligence and at least kick the tires on, possibly adding one of those names to their roster.
Thus, fans shouldn’t pay any attention to what these organizations say in their season-ending press conferences. Because as they say in the trade, “It could be a very fluid situation.”
Get more of Donnie’s hot takes every weekday morning in Listen Up on The Early Line, only on SportsGrid.
Get a jump start on this year’s NFL Draft by heading to FanDuel Sportsbook, where you can find odds on which player will be selected as the No. 1 overall pick.
