If I told you that a team gave an aging pivot a five-year contract extension, essentially, the game after the player put up the worst performance of his career, you’d probably think Isiah Thomas or the Raiders were involved, right? Wrong. After throwing five picks and fumbling once against the underdog Cardinals this past January, the Panthers have decide to keep in the fold until he turns 40 years old. On the basis of his age and overall ability, I’d say Delhomme isn’t worthy of the five-year, $42.5 million deal.
When your QB turns 34 and is nothing better than average for starters in the league, shouldn’t you be looking towards the future instead of locking up the aging veteran? With the draft tomorrow, you’d think the Panthers would be smarter than this.
And really, what has Delhomme done in his career to earn the right to play until he’s 39, at least. He lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl loss against the Patriots, but he’s never come close to replicating that success. I think it’s fairly safe to say that the best of Jake’s career is well behind him.
But, at least we know that Delhomme can’t get worse than that game against Arizona.
Now, I can see what sense it might make to trade away a semi-disgruntled player to make your team better, but what the Chiefs are trying to sell makes no sense at all. Tony Gonzalez, the best TE in the history of the NFL and, even while he’s getting older, is still an above average player. He wasn’t as happy as he could have been, so he was dealt to Atlanta for a second round pick in next year’s draft. Now, Kansas City is trying to sell their fans that the team is better to have dealt him.
Now, it is possible to deal away a disgruntled guy to improve the locker room — like what Dallas did with T.O. — but this different. Dallas had a top-flight receiver in Roy Williams to replace him, Gonzo will be very difficult to replace on the field.
Also, the Chiefs couldn’t even get a pick in this draft for him. How is a pick next year immediately making this current team better? It makes no sense to me.