Bye Bye Birdie

Matt Flynn appears to be on his way out of Seattle, just one season after the failed experiment to bring him to the organization. Before the start of last season the Seattle Seahawks signed Flynn to a three year, $19.5 million contract, ostensibly to be the QB of the future for the franchise. Then, as insurance, they drafted Russell Wilson III, to be his backup. Wilson ended up beating out Flynn in training camp and the rest is history. Now Flynn will be on to his third team in as many seasons and there seems to be four logical places for Flynn to end up: Oakland, Jacksonville, Buffalo, or Arizona.

Oakland seems to be the most likely suitor at this point. They are desperate to get out from under the huge cap hit that Carson Palmer is going to be this season, and Palmer has thus far been unwilling to restructure. Palmer is under contract for $13 million this season and there is no way that Oakland, as frivolous as they have been in past seasons, is going to pay that much for a 33 year old QB so obviously on the down slope of his career. Flynn would seem like a logical replacement for Palmer. He's younger than Palmer by six years, so he is in the prime of his career and has several good years left. Oakland, however, does not have much talent to surround Flynn. Their best player, Darren McFadden, is also one of, if not the most, injury-prone players in the NFL. Factors like this may mean that Flynn may not be so willing to continue his career as a Raider.

Jacksonville would appear to be another good fit for Flynn. Gus Bradley, Jacksonville's new head coach, was the defensive coordinator with Flynn in Seattle. Jacksonville also has considerably more talent to surround Flynn with, having one of the league's best running backs in Maurice Jones Drew and a couple talented young wide receivers: Justin Blackmon and Cecil Shorts. The Jags, however, are reportedly not interested in acquiring Flynn, as they already have former first round draft choice Blaine Gabbart and capable but limited Chad Henne on their roster. If a former coach doesn't want Flynn, I'd be surprised to see the Jacksonville front office overrule him.

Buffalo is another team who is in desperate need of someone at the QB position. Earlier this month the Bills released their starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick in a move to save some salary cap room. With the loss of Fitzpatrick, the Bills have a gaping hole on a team that has a lot of talent. They have two very strong running backs in the oft-injured Fred Jackson and the electric C.J. Spiller. They also have an extremely talented, yet problematic, receiver in Stevie Johnson. On the surface, this seems like a great fit for Flynn. Unfortunately for Flynn (and fortunately for the Dolphins fan in me), I really don't see Buffalo being willing to bring on Flynn's salary if they weren't willing to put up the money for Fitzpatrick.

Arizona, the last possibility, seems to be the most far-fetched to me. They have a very large need at the position and have a decent amount of talent around him, namely in arguably the best receiver in the league, Larry Fitzgerald. The downside to the Cardinals is mainly their offensive line. Anyone who watched a Cardinals game last season could see that they have the worst line in the NFL. I can't imagine that Flynn would be thrilled to go to a team with such a porous line, especially when you consider that they also have a relative paucity at running back as well. I doubt that the lure of Fitzgerald alone would be enough to entice Flynn. That being said, Flynn is still under contract with Seattle and may not have any say in the Cardinals if they put up the best offer for him.

Wherever Flynn ends up, a trade will be a win for everyone involved. The team who gets Flynn will have significantly upgraded their QB situation. Seattle will pick up draft picks that will off-set the trade they made with Minnesota for Percy Harvin. And most of all, Flynn will finally get a shot at being a starter in the NFL, something he has been after since he left the Green Bay Packers.