None of it is ridiculous. Prime QBs in the NFL cost a ton of money to stay in their city. That's just the way it is. You can either lean into it or cut bait. We leaned into it, like so many teams do, and that's fine. But it's a choice that has other repercussions. You can't afford to do that and also better yourself at all these other positions. So, the QB has to play and play great in order to succeed. Tua has missed games, therefore it isn't working out.
I'd say we didn't so much as lean into it, we jumped hard and we jumped early. We could have made him play out his rookie contract (this season), and we could have franchised him the year after that (next season). It's not unheard of - the Ravens did it with Jackson, and that hasn't hurt them one little bit.
Like I said earlier (and elsewhere, I think in the "Tua gets paid" thread), it's not a ridiculous contract. In isolation there's nothing wrong with it at all. It's fair value compared to other QB at a comparable skill level around the league that got paid...
But as you also mentioned there are consequences, and big ones at that because we maxed out the credit card with him on a rookie deal. We lost a
lot of highly drafted players last offseason to bring his payday forward, and we are going to lose more the next couple of offseasons to pay the rest of his contract, along with huge cap hits of Tyreek (for at least next season whether he stays with us or not), and possibly Chubb and Armstead (if we don't do some effective renegotiation's, or cut them), then Ramsey from 2026 and Waddle from 2027.
Get ready to say goodbye to Holland and Kohu, then Achane, Phillips, Jonnu Smith, and probably Sieler when their contracts end. They're getting paid comparatively peanuts right now, and we won't have the money to keep them.
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