Was mid 30s Ben good enough to give a win now window with? Because statistically, Ben wasn't that much better in his mid 30s than Wilson has been.
Idk, the logic you're putting out there is basically just "anyone who doesn't have Patrick Mahomes isn't a win-now team", which I think is a crazy exaggeration.
Well, I'm glad that we're starting this from a sober and non-hyperbolic point.
Although yes, the thing is, the list of QBs good enough to make a team win-now isn't all that long. It's one of the things that draws me to the NFL, the way the league should operate due to the crazy importance of the position and the lack of people who can play it well enough... and how it operates instead.
Now, the list is manifestly longer than Patrick Mahomes (well, it is he stops being perfect on potential game-winning drives in the playoffs). With the right help, it very obviously goes down to QBs as talented as Jared Goff. By adjusted EPA, he was 12th in the league last season although guys right next to him go down to 16.
So maybe half the league has a win-now window, albeit pretty shaky in some cases? That's about the longest it could be put. It's probably shorter but let's go with 16 at longest.
Wilson wasn't in that 16. Not by adjusted EPA. Quite a way out. Unadjusted EPA or PFF grade lifts him closer, but any stat/underlying number trying to dig deeper than the surface says Wilson is not in that 16. Other stats will tell you different but I think them less trustworthy.
Now I can't tell you whether mid 30s Ben was good enough to have a win now window with. Wasn't there. But leaving aside the very large difference in their QBR (which presumably means EPA given the correlation), you've got a pretty loud no to Wilson from the NFL. I don't know what they'd have said to mid-30s Ben, but they've said no to Wilson. 1.2m QB and 31 teams don't want to sign him as a starter? That suggests the negative stats are more likely the correct one.
The amount of cap and assets the Steelers have allocated to QB is unprecedented considering their quality. The fact that have flexibility to do whatever they want after this year is a good thing. It blows my mind others can’t see how good of a situation this is. I think they’d rather have the comfort of knowing they have the same guy slated for multiple years, regardless if they’re actually any good.
If the best thing about a team's QB situation is the flexibility, then the situation is shit.
It beats being bad and inflexible, but getting poked with a blunt stick beats getting poked with a sharp stick too.