*On the Chicago Butchers:

[br0_0ker]

The basic premise of the article seems to be 'the team is better now than it was 2 months ago', but I don't think anyone was arguing the contrary. You reference that your goal is to 'manufacture a window' in the short-to-medium term (Seasons 21-23), which is GM-speak for mortgaging the future in order to improve your chances of winning today. By improving the level of talent on the roster right now, that is what you are doing. You are achieving the goal that you have set for yourself.

The reason your trades have been so derided by the community is not because you're failing to achieve your goal, but because the consensus is that this is the wrong goal to pursue. The community (as a whole) is generally of the opinion that the level of talent on Chicago's roster is such that the roster cannot be transformed into a championship winning roster by Season 23. So each trade that improves your Season 23 roster at the expense of your Season 24 onwards roster looks bad if you believe this is the wrong strategy.

Maybe Chicago will win the Ultimus and you'll prove all the doubters wrong. But if they don't, then Chicago's roster from S24ish onwards will likely be worse than it would've been otherwise, and people will question whether or not it was worth it to win (for example) six or seven games instead of three or four.

Which is fair, but really, when you look at our QB situation, it's try to do something now through S23 or not at all until S28-S30 or so anyways. Trading S21 and S22, when those picks will be regressed by our next window, is not mortgaging the future. Because there is no future if we don't do anything anyways. It will take 3-4 seasons minimum at this point to have another championship level QB (Rose is of the ilk), Waldo simply doesn't earn enough to fill that role (he will surpass a regressing Jenkins in S24 at ~650 TPE based on earnings forecasts, but then hit regression himself in S26). If we draft players through S22 and S23 they will take time to develop, and by the time they do we won't have a QB to lead the team.

Next you'll say we can use the draft picks on a Qb (so that window could be sooner), which is what Valor wanted to do this past draft, but Waldo explicitly vetoed the idea in our war room during.