INDIANAPOLIS — When the Rams and Buccaneers won back-to-back Super Bowls with something resembling the same formula—acquiring an elite quarterback to steer a roster that was otherwise packed full of elite players—there came an idea that this could supercede traditional, slow-burn roster building and represent a new kind of standard for general managers willing to roll the dice.
This week at the NFL scouting combine, we’ve seen the deterrent: the moment when a team realizes that no star quarterback is coming to rescue the fine roster a given GM has built for himself, no matter how many levers he might try to pull behind the scenes at the league’s annual let’s-tamper-safely convention.