I don't truly hate the idea of, in a vacuum, trading Tunsil for Joe Alt/Olu and like a day 2 pick but there are a few issues. Aside from the obvious issue of course which is trading away a proven player at a premium position in hopes of drafting a prospect.
The most fundamental is if we would do that why would another team do it? Just from looking at a few big boards it looks like Joe Alt is projected to go at like 6. Teams at the top of the draft are not in a position to be trading away picks for players, in fact it's usually the other way around. Those teams are starting a rebuild and probably don't feel like it's the right move to take on a large contract for an ageing player when they could instead draft a young prospect who fits their timeline.
That leads to the next issue which is our timeline. With Stroud already performing like this and the defense playing decent football despite injuries and some roster holes the hope is that we have opened up a 4-5 year window here where we can compete at the top of the AFC. What if we draft Alt and he struggles year 1 (as many rookies do) and causes the offense to regress.
Young prospects are great but when you are looking to really compete these next few years you don't just start trading away your top players.
The most fundamental is if we would do that why would another team do it? Just from looking at a few big boards it looks like Joe Alt is projected to go at like 6. Teams at the top of the draft are not in a position to be trading away picks for players, in fact it's usually the other way around. Those teams are starting a rebuild and probably don't feel like it's the right move to take on a large contract for an ageing player when they could instead draft a young prospect who fits their timeline.
That leads to the next issue which is our timeline. With Stroud already performing like this and the defense playing decent football despite injuries and some roster holes the hope is that we have opened up a 4-5 year window here where we can compete at the top of the AFC. What if we draft Alt and he struggles year 1 (as many rookies do) and causes the offense to regress.
Young prospects are great but when you are looking to really compete these next few years you don't just start trading away your top players.