I said "Had we..." as in IF we did, which we didn't. Going hard would have been signing him to a contract similar to Schaub's first deal with us or spending a 3rd or 4th round pick in the 2014 draft to get him. We didn't. Everything we've done so far to get Mallett has been on the cheap. He gave up more money, supposedly with the Jets, to sign here & we got him for $1.7M or something like that.
Winning is important... yes. OB proved that he could win with Fitzpatrick & Case Keenum. Hoyer, I think, is as "good" or better than those two. & he knows what OB is trying to do on offense.
Again, I hope Mallett is the guy, I really do. I'm just saying OB isn't married to him yet.
We'll see. If Mallett is our franchise QB (I wanted to type "next" but that didn't make sense) & we have to sign him to a $100M deal in the next two~three years, then I was right & we should have sweetened the pot this offseason to sign him to a long term sub $100M deal.
If I'm wrong, & Mallett crashes & burns & is no longer in the "sarter" conversation after 2015... then that will definitely explain why I don't have control of an NFL franchise.