Joe did have a good start this year showing some glimpses of what he can be. I just keep looking at Jax as a great matchup with still having a strong D and a good RB but running all the teams thru my head I don't see very many matchups that we can deal with. Elway could be a wildcard and maybe Tenn or dare I say Cincy but if we could just get 2 teams that do get enamored I'm thinking we could get a 2nd or 3rd.
Let’s look at the potential suitors:
TEN: I’m not sure TEN wants to move on from Marcus who costs $20M but Joe could be an option. They have the cap space ~$37M, OL, defense (Pees knows Joe for whatever that’s worth), WR.
DEN: they have the coaching connection with Kubiak, a new coach coming, a good defense, and cap ~$37M. They have Keenum under contract for $18M and may want to stick with him, but I think Joe is better at roughly the same price so that could be a factor.
WAS: lost their starter in Alex Smith maybe for good and he’s getting paid $15M and Eagles won’t be trading them Foles, have a good OL and defense but not much cap ~$17M.
MIA: don’t have much cap ~$13M, but have Tannehill costs $18M and hasn’t done much and a new coach and could be looking for a new QB or looking to improve him as a QB. Kinda have an OL.
TB: new coach who has an offense that fits but seem to be looking to fix Winston at $20M, limited cap ~$8M, good OL. I find this unlikely.
JAX: decent defense that could be great, over the cap by ~$7M so limited flexibility, need a QB due to major controversy at QB with Bortles under contract for $16M.
Competition: includes Sam “Rasputin” Bradford, Tyrod Taylor, Teddy Bridgewater, and Eagles Nick Foles, or one of the guys listed above who could be cut to clear up cap sans Alex Smith. I don’t think Taylor will be looked at as a starter this time, so I kinda remove him from this. I also think NYG draft a QB, so I didn’t include them because Eli to Joe is lateral movement and we want escalation. I am removing TB because I think they’re committed to Winston.
So that leaves JAX, MIA, & WAS as teams who could use a QB but have limited cap that they can clear by making some moves. It all depends on whether these teams think they are in win-now mode or not because otherwise you stick it out for next year. That’s why I see DEN, WAS, & JAX as our likeliest suitors. Problem with JAX & WAS is if you’re in win now mode you don’t want to cut a bunch of core guys to get Joe under the cap, which is why they would pay the heaviest price because we would likely have to absorb a chunk of Joe’s salary a la Eugene Monroe deal. Those cap figures are before accounting for rookies.
TLDR, it’s tricky to figure out what’ll happen with Joe but WAS, DEN, & JAX are our likeliest partners unless TEN is done with Mariota. Joe and Marcus are extremely different QB so you don’t get Joe if you are undecided on Mariota.