Joe Bear

I'm not saying he's the right pick or the worst pick, I'm just saying he's the pick.

Who's making the "Round 1, Panthers Select Mykel Williams" thread?

I remember when Mykel Williams’ name was Everette Brown.

I say he was dogshit. Keeping things on track, 2021 was a decent-to-good draft. The ones immediately preceding it and every one after it were ass, so that also inflates it a bit.

Kicked Cincinnati's ass 2-0 yesterday. Patrick Agyemang might be Him.

If McMillan played for Purdue, no one on here would be interested in him.

What would you have paid?

I reacted in much the same way when Rob Hunt was paid a lot of cash to come here last year. Then he made the Pro Bowl. Nearly every deal by every team today has been an overpay of some sort. Either you spend money from a rising cap to get better players, or you don't.

Not sure how I feel about it yet. The endless optimists in this thread love it, and the endless pessimists hate it, so nothing to sway me yet.

Sports Illustrated picked the Panthers to finish last in the NFC South in 2003 and 2015. The Panthers went to the Super Bowl both years.

Yeah, yesterday was as trash as the home opener was awesome. Pick up some points this weekend and all is well.

Week 1: at Seattle, 2-2 draw Week 2: vs. Atlanta, 2-0 win Off to a strong start. Discuss.

Raiders fans called him "Dropvante" last year. Pass.

I don't think you know the difference between sports columnists and sports reporters.

Probably also like Velus Jones.

I don't work in media. I'm just not blind to the pitfalls of handcuffing it.

Another thing about press conferences: if you're a young reporter who doesn't work for a local TV outlet, the O, ESPN or NFLN, there's a decent chance you may not even get to ask a question. "Big deal. Just write whatever they said," you probably think. But if you're a young reporter, writing what everyone else wrote doesn't make you stand out. It keeps you on the bottom rung of the totem pole, it doesn't allow for different spins on topics, and a lot of the younger folks in there are the ones who take it most seriously, anyway. It's the same concept as drafting a guy in the sixth or seventh round, or signing a UDFA, then letting them play no more than one or two snaps a year, because they weren't a Day 1 starter. Well how the hell do you know how good they are, then?

Nothing Austin Corbett said is inaccurate. David Newton wants that access for nefarious purposes, and removing it removes his value entirely. However, there are good reporters in the locker room who actually value their careers, work hard at developing a rapport with players and coaches, and have the players' respect.

Players don't want to come back to the building when they don't have to, and they absolutely have no interest in spending what little bit of free time they have during the week talking to one reporter who wants to do a story. You might get that if you work for NFLN or ESPN (and aren't a moron like Newton), but the odds still aren't in your favor. It's far more trouble on the reporter's, players's and PR guy's time to try that method instead of letting the guy be open to media for three minutes after the player's already showered and changed following a game.

Removing access from media only gives platforms like X even greater importance. Then, all the stories are written about what some idiot said to a player and what that player said in return, and people will complain about how bad journalism’s gotten even more. Removing access won’t make it better.

But — it is important when it’s your job. No outlet is running a feature story on a player without a quote from said player. Can’t ask Bryce about every guy on the team.

The whole roster doesn’t do press conferences. Say you’re writing a story and you need a quote from an up-and-coming defensive player who’s by no means a household name. How else do you get access? Hope for an autograph session?

This is the head coach's job, not the quarterback's. Bryce can't go in the defensive huddle and remind Chandler Wooten to wrap up when he's tackling a running back. And offensively, what can he do that makes Hubbard, Thielen, Coker or an offensive lineman better? His performance is all I'm thinking about when considering a contract extension.

People love to hate the media, because they report facts people don't want to know, let alone read about. Not everyone who covers professional sports is a callous buffoon like David Newton, and not everyone who wants locker-room access post-game wants to be in there because they're gay or they're a woman trying to get laid. Many of these people need this access to gather comments, again, from non-head coach and non-QB members of the team, so they can properly do their jobs. In football terms, it's as uneducated an opinion as "why do players need practice? Just more time around a bunch of guys. If that's all they want, go to a gay bar or something. They don't even play games at practice. Just show up on Sunday and do better than the other team. It's not hard."

That's not true. The media aren't allowed until after a brief cooldown period after the game. Press conferences don't provide the access a post-game interview provides, because in most cases, only the head coach and the starting QB (unless he played poorly) go to the podium. If you were doing a feature on a guy for your hometown paper, and he's not Dave Canales or Bryce Young, how do you get his comments after the game? You think you can tweet at him and he'll respond?