How committed is your NFL team to your starting quarterback?

March is here, spring is coming and the handcuffing season has come and gone. But in the NFL, the handcuff season is about to begin. The free agency starts in two weeks, the draft in two months and the biggest question is which teams will handcuff against which quarters. But before that can work, begins a proud tradition: pretense.

General Managers and coaches are bombarded with questions about their teams' plans during the off-season at NFL press conferences. That's about a quarter of the league each year, which is how much they are tied to their current quarter. Whether because of the age (the giants) of the QB, the availability of a more desirable person (cardinals) or shouts in public (raiders), some wickets will inevitably give up their watch. Of course, coaches and general managers can not say thatSo when they are asked, they must offer half-truths without conviction. It is a dance similar to that experienced when parents ask for a stormy relationship at Thanksgiving dinner. Too much commitment seems illusory; too few telegraphs that feelings have disappeared. For teams that are really looking to get out of their QB without breaking a hand, the pretenses can work well enough right now to give the impression of a commitment, but if the situation changes, no one would consider that as a lie.

Below we have listed five relationships that teams have with thin ice quarterbacks, as well as a verdict indicating whether the quarterback has made a commitment or a pretense.

We stay together for the kids but start seeing other people: Eli Manning and the New York Giants

Eli and the giants have been together for almost 15 years. When you've been together for so long, it's hard to put an end to things. The team first divorced in 2017 by divorcing Manning for Geno Smith, and the match ended up screaming, Eli's crying and his eventual return to training, thus restoring normality even if everyone knew that things would never be the same again. . The team has spent a good part of the past 15 months trying to correct this mistake. On Wednesday, head coach Pat Shurmur said Manning, 38, would be the starter for 2019.

"I think Eli can help us win games, and he proved that when the players around him started to play better, he could play at a very high level and help us win games," he said. Shurmur said. "So at this point, I want Eli to come back, he's back and get ready to go with him."

Everyone who watches Giants games know that it was polite falsification of the truth. Eli and the team stay together to keep the peace, but a separation has been openly discussed.

"There are a million different models. There are a million different ways to do it, "Dave Gettleman, General Manager, Giants m said Thursday. "You can name a number of models who had a veteran and hired a young man. At one point, the torch passed and everyone left, and it was happier. So there is a lot of time left to make those decisions. "

At first, Manning seemed to be the end of the world. But fans now realize that it could have been better than watching it go slow.

Verdict: Commitment – for the moment.

I think they see somebody else: Josh Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals

We all have a friend who has been in Rosen's place. You know that. They enter into a relationship with someone who surprises you. (Arizona? Really?) Although you do not see how it could work, you can not say anything. Finally, you hear through the vineyard that it does not work. In fact, it's one of the worst relationships already. Your suspicions end up finally in public view when someone discovers an old post on social networks where the other one of your friends was Great in someone else.

Not that serious! We all have a past, admirite? But this new person is younger and sexier, and they are suddenly single. Not to mention their trip to Indianapolis the same weekend as the team, and you think that they could communicate through a common friend. When asked about this, other important social media publications explain their commitment.

It turns against us. Now we are even more curious to know what is happening.

"Our feelings towards Josh have not diminished nor changed, nor anything," said Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. His words say one thing, but the lack of fire in his tone sends a stronger, more thirsty message.

It was the prologue to Cardinals general manager Steve Keim's press conference on Wednesday.

Asked to take another quarterback to step. 1 Overall, Keim said, "It's early in the process." It's hardly a commitment to Josh. When Keim was asked to follow up, the question: "Is Josh Rosen your quarterback?" – Keim replied, "For the moment, for sure.

In one day, all of Rosen's Cardinals photos were removed from his Instagram page. He said that he had been hacked a few days earlier. It was perhaps a coincidence. It's a difficult situation for Josh. It's one thing to be in a relationship with someone you think is not loyal, but it's even more difficult when you walk through it in public.

Verdict: Fauxmitment.

The Friend Zone: Colt McCoy and Washington

McCoy has been Washington's replacement for five years. Given his popularity at the university, many people thought that he could hold a stable, long-term role with someone, but he has so invested his time in Washington that he is hard to accept that this will not happen. Even though they decided that this guy Kirk would suit you in 2015. When an opening finally came up last season, the McCoy audition only lasted two games before getting hurt and lose what could have been his best chance so far.

Entered the off-season, everyone thought Washington would go the way they did and return to McCoy, but head coach Jay Gruden said Thursday that his team may be ready to take McCoy out of the friendly zone this year. .

"He was shot for an opportunity," Gruden told journalists Thursday. "He finally got one; it's like letting an animal out of a cage. Ran right in the wall, was injured. It has to slow down, process.

Gruden praised McCoy's qualities, but acknowledged that the odds are against him.

"He was hurt and did not do it."

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that although Washington is not looking for a free agent with large sums of money, they are interested in competing with McCoy. We all know what that means.

Verdict: Fauxmitment.

We think we're taking a break: Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers

With the first pick in the draft, the Panthers could have had anyone in 2011 and chose Cam Newton. They have been together ever since, and they took their relationship to a higher level in 2015 with an extension of $ 104 million over five years. They know they will be together in the long run, as well as everyone who knows them. But when Newton was injured in the shoulder at the end of the 2018 season, people began to murmur. Cam trying to do too much?

To be clear, nobody says that the Panthers and Cam should separate. They are perfect for each other and I can not imagine them with anyone else. But when the owner of the Panthers, David Tepper, was questioned in January about the possibility that Newton would have to stay out of 2019 to properly heal from his shoulder surgery, as Andrew Luck did. 2017, Tepper did not rule out.

ESPN's Josina Anderson asked head coach Ron Rivera if the team would add a quarterback as a free agent, and Rivera told reporters do not. In other words, there will be no Ross and Rachel B.S. going to Carolina.

Verdict: Commitment.

Yes, we run into a bad pass, but we pass it: Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders

It's a funny story how Jon Gruden and Derek Carr met. It was in 2014. Gruden was an ESPN analyst. Carr was a potential candidate for Fresno State and one of Gruden's Grinders. They fell in love with each other and, while continuing on different paths, admired the other by far. Four years later, Gruden was hired to lead Carr and the Raiders, and soon the two men came face to face.

"Every time we do nothing, we are together," Carr told The Associated Press before the 2018 season. "If we're in an offensive meeting. If we are not in an offensive meeting, I sit next to him in the quarterback room. If I'm not on a representative, I'm right next to him. It is [saying,] "Hey, what do you think? What are you going to get here? What would you do? What would you do? That's the way it should be. He challenges me. He pushes me He wants the best for me. "

Their relationship quickly ran into obstacles, then guardrails. Gruden did not think Carr's friends were good influences, so he traded them. There was a debate as to whether Derek had cried during a match. The then Director General, Reggie McKenzie, said before the trading deadline that all members of the team were exchangeable. Gruden shouted to Carr in public.

"I am sometimes a great cheerleader," Gruden told reporters at a news conference in November. "I am very positive most of the time. From time to time, I think you have to argue your case in different ways. Sometimes, raise your voice. … I look ridiculous for some people, but I want some urgency. I want to have an emergency to do things right. That's not to say that I'm always right, either. Derek told me yesterday. So be it. "

Despite the speculation that they were going to separate (and Carr would go, since Gruden's name appears on the lease), both seem to have settled their differences.

"Our quarterback has played well despite all the geniuses," Gruden told Sirius XM on Thursday. "He launched 4,000 yards for the first time in his career. He has completed nearly 70% of his passes, so we are really confident in Carr and what he can do in our system. "

He was even clearer at his press conference.

"He's our franchise quarterback," said Gruden. "Let me say it clearly."

Maybe I'm a sap, but I think it's important to have a relationship.

Verdict: Commitment.

We are not happy, but we can not do better than others: Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins

After seven years, we do not know where the dolphins and Tannehill are going. He is a good guy, but he is 30 years old and it is increasingly difficult to believe that the growth and maturation promised for years will occur. By playing only 11 games in the last two seasons, you can not even count on him to show up.

On paper, breaking up with Ryan would not be so bad. Of the remaining $ 40 million of his contract, only about $ 19 million is guaranteed. But breaking up with him is easier said than done. He would have bounced back with someone else in the week, maybe even with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not only could the dolphins be alone, but if Ryan succeeds with someone else, people will say it's their fault if everything did not work out.

There is, however, something that drives this movement. New coach Brian Flores has come from New England with the fire of a Super Bowl champion, and he makes no promises to anyone.

"We have not made any final decisions," Flores said Wednesday. "Everything is on the table."

The dolphins may break with Tannehill, quit their job and stay in the backpack for a few months to find themselves.

Verdict: No commitment at all.