Where Will Weeden Go

Ah yes, the portion of the blog posting season when we riff, project, and try to predict the things for which we have absolutely no ideas (because if Harry and Lloyd can’t figure it out…how are we supposed to?) Let’s countdown Brandon Weeden’s most likely NFL destinations in reverse order.

I decided to just go ahead and post the final 12 here because we have a massive (and fun) draft post coming this afternoon.

12. Titans – Uhhh Jake Locker? Matt Hasselbeck?? Rusty Smith???

11. Cowboys – The whole Kyle Orton thing threw a kink in things because I think this would have actually been a nice landing spot for Weeden since Romo will be a free agent after next season. I’m not one of those “Romo sucks in the clutch” guys (because there are about 15 teams that would kill a special teams player to get Romo, but the reality is that he only played six games two years ago and Weeden would be all the insurance Jerry Jones could dream of. But they have Orton now so it’s probably not happening.

10. Ravens – Joe Flacco contract negotiations going badly. A city that’s never truly fallen in love with him anyway. Weeden at #29 could be more enticing than an offseason vaca for Billy Cundiff.

9. Seahawks – I don’t know what the Matt Flynn thing is all about. He couldn’t even usurp JaMarcus Russell at LSU! He’s only making $6M a year though, and his backups are Tarvaris (duck!) and Josh Portis so I honestly wouldn’t be stunned if Weeden went here at #43.

8. Chiefs – Cassel is signed through 2014 (to the tune of $63M) so on the surface this would seem kind of dumb. But apparently there’s interest, and let’s be honest, when your backups are Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi, there’s always interest.

7. Eagles – Michael Vick has played 16 games exactly once in his nine year career. The Eags have the 15th and 46th picks. Their current backups are Mike Kafka and Trent Edwards. Do you think Weeden would enjoy throwing to Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson?

6. Vikings – They’re sitting in the perfect spot (#35) to do it. And really, does anyone believe Christian Ponder is the answer? The good thing about where Minny sits is that they only have $10M tied up in Ponder which really accentuates a larger concept that it’s getting easier to take first round chances on skill position players without having to worry about mortgaging the present and the future and the future’s future for people like Ponder and Gabbert. You can whiff once now, better not make it twice though.

5. Buccaneers – Josh Freeman is regressing and has three years left on his $26M contract. Bucs have pick #36 in the second round which sounds like prime Weeden landing zone to me. They need other positions more (their WR could be fictional names from a Tom Clancy thriller and I wouldn’t know the difference), but there are worse fates than a Weeden-Freeman QB battle Tampa.

4. Jaguars – See #6 – $12M tied up in Sunshine with Chad Henne and Dan LeFevour on call. Their second round pick is at #38, but will he get by Cleveland at #37?

3. Cardinals – The Kevin Kolb experiment is going very poorly…to the point that Ken Whisenhunt has said John Skelton (!) will compete with him for the starting nod this year. Might as well trade down from #13 and throw Weeden in the mix on the cheap.

2. Dolphins – But they’re going to take Tannehill instead. Which seems smart until you…watch both of them play or look at their stats.

1. Browns – I only say this because this is what I’ve read, none of us has any idea anyway so why not Weeden2Blackmon for another half decade? Also, if you had “VY and Colt will combine for 66 TD and 71 INT through seven years of NFL service” with your bookie, congratulations, you win.