hepcat

https://theathletic.com/3518394/2022/08/17/carolina-panthers-baker-mayfield-starter/?source=user_shared_article in other news water is wet

Didn’t even know he was still playing, guess he is a FA.

I mean if you're gonna roll out your best players against the Patriots defense, you gotta use common sense. Belichick owns Darnold. Even Matt Rhule isn't that dumb, at least it appears that way.

perfect scenario would be Burns putting Mac Jones in a body bag and SS89 telling him to ice up.

I know they all do the drills it's just who he's going up against. Myers is their #2 WR. Dawson is probably the 7th or 8th corner. Doesn't make sense to me sending a camp body up against their starters.

I watched the highlights I was traveling during the game. I didn't really register which backups have an INT, dude isn't making the roster obv

so looks like the coaching staff isn't taking these drills seriously sending out some recently signed nobody who is getting worked

Who the F is Duke Dawson

Put SS89 in pads for one practice and he'd probably still be the best receiver on the field.

It's a brutal schedule. I made a whole thread about it. Talent wise the team matches up well with about half the teams on the schedule, but coaching wise, this team gets beat at the end of every game because Matt Rhule has no idea how to outwit an NFL coach on the other sideline. I haven't seen him do it except against inferior competition (of which there isn't much) and Kliff Kingsbury who shouldn't be an NFL head coach either.

Defense punched back at the end in the 2 minute drills. But the Pats dominated the individual drills.

He was a terrible pick, total bust. Could have had Creed Humphrey but nooo lets double down a position that already had some depth because Joe Brady coached the guy for 1 season.

Just to answer your question I'd definitely take Taylor and wouldn't even consider CMC #1 overall. To me, Jonathan Taylor is a safer pick because he doesn't have an injury-prone risk and he's younger. CMC probably isn't going to stay healthy for another full season for the rest of his career. If he's there at like 7 or lower I'd take him, but the risk is too high. You might get 7 or 8 games out of him. Maybe you get lucky, maybe he stays healthy, but I think those days are over. He's got an insane amount of wear and tear on this body from Stanford and the NFL, it's finally caught up to him. ----- But to be honest I wouldn't want the #1 overall pick in this year's draft. I don't ever want it. I like having a pick in the back 5 of the round. There's always a good but not great player who comes in and has a career season and takes a team to a fantasy championship. That guy is almost never the #1 overall pick. Sometimes that reason is because of a change at QB, or coach. Sometimes the player just develops and has a career year because they got better and more experienced. Sometimes it's a player coming off an injury who is ready to have a career year in a contract year. I try to draft guys who are definitely going to produce, but who have the potential to have a career season in the first round. Here's some examples this season. Justin Jefferson is unreal and I honestly think he's worthy of the #1 overall pick. He has taken a step up from his rookie to second season, has the same QB situation, but upgraded in coaching with Kevin O'Connell. I think the Vikings offense might light it up this season. I also like Dalvin Cook this season. I think Najee Harris might make a leap. I'm surprised he's not being talked about at like #3 or #4 overall. Pittsburgh's QB situation is shaky and Harris might get a TON of volume. Doesn't mean his yardage and TDs will be there, but he's going to get the ball a LOT for sure. Ekeler could have a massive season if he stays healthy (PPR league only). They have a good offensive line and Ekeler always produces. Jamarr Chase had an unreal rookie season and I see no reason why he shouldn't continue that in Year 2 if he stays healthy. Burrow and Chase have obvious chemistry. Just some examples of guys who might make another step up and be that fantasy #1 guy who leads your team to a championship. There's a couple guys like that every year and the trick is taking a swing on a couple guys who have potential to have a huge career year, not guys on the back end of their career hoping to reclaim past glory (cough cough CMC, Zeke Elliott, etc)

Looks like a bunch of guys who won't be here next season.

Ugh we could have had Creed Humphrey instead of Marshall.

I really have no idea what he even does. He’s not an expert at anything football related. He’s not a defensive guru or an offensive mastermind. Literally what does he do aside from f*ck sh*t up and make dumbass decisions.

Mac Jones should know better by now

It's true, Howell likely had more reps in practice and yes his supporting cast looked a little better. But lets not sugar-coat how bad Corral looked in his limited action. Even Will Grier looked more competent in his rookie preseason. Still time to turn it around though. One bad outing shouldn't cause a panic for a 3rd round rookie.

I’m not ready to close the book on Corral after a bad preseason debut. He was a late 3rd round pick. He needs time to develop. The bust rate on QBs is extremely high. The only thing that frustrated me was seeing how good Sam Howell looked. The Panthers easily could have saved that draft capital and taken Howell. Made a lot more sense to me at that part of the draft. Oh well, like you said, typical Panthers.

No, I think they all agreed on him. I just think he’s further behind than maybe they anticipated. That might have been the final straw that pushed them to trade for Mayfield. If Corral was ready, they would be prepping him for a QB battle with Darnold. He wasn’t. He might need a few years to develop.

Very obvious from the game that Sam Howell will be a much better QB, at least in the short term, than Matt Corral. Howell was throwing lasers and finding open guys. Corral couldn’t complete a pass. Both went against backups so no difference there. Corral has time to improve but, makes me wonder if the Panthers picked the right QB.

Why

I really based this analysis on the Panthers current projected starting roster vs the other team's projected starting roster. Then I added in some factors like historical matchups as predictors and just my general feelings on how a matchup could go. Things can obviously change quickly if players stay healthy and gel, or if a few key guys get hurt like last season. I don't think anyone in their right mind expects CMC to play 17 games this season. If there's somewhere I can place a bet that he won't play every game, and make money (I can't imagine those are good odds), I would do it. But if he magically does play all the games, it definitely improves the Panthers chances, especially because it lowers the bar for the quality of QB play needed to win a game. He's the ultimate safety valve as we saw Kyle Allen utilize, despite his limitations as a QB.

Eh true BUT the Falcons might be the least talented team on offense the NFL has seen in many years. They could win only 1-2 games I'm not kidding.

If this team was playing last year's schedule, I could see 8 wins as a "likely" scenario. Unfortunately this season's schedule is far more difficult. Swapping out the NFC East for the NFC West sucks. The only good thing about the 2022 season, is the Falcons are certainly going to be worse, the Saints are probably going to be worse, and the Panthers might have Christian McCaffrey for more than half the season.