top dawg

*Tepper

Man, y'all are late to the party. I've seen all this poo people are bringing up now.

Like I said in another thread, if the MMQB story is true, Rhule asked Fitty what he wanted to do. That's not the sign of a man that's not running things, it's the sign of a man who is deferring to and trusting his staff.

That quote was attributed to sources, not necessarily what Rhule said himself. That could have been speculation or simply bullshit.

The entire FO, and being that Rhule is running the football side of things and ultimately deferred to McAdoo in reference to QB choice, and Fitterer in reference to maneuvering the draft, he gets a lot of credit. You think that the old OC had any credibility or pull, much less experience and that Rhule was listening to him?

I knew he was old as dirt. I didn't think he was still playing. He was trying to be a legit receiver many years ago, but it didn't work out.

If so, they can do better than that. My bad, maybe not. But I'm still skeptical.

Actually it's further evidence of growth.

I'm not going to fault Tepper for attempting to take advantage of what just may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The availability of a young, already-proven NFL franchise QB is not rare, it's unique. It never happens, and has never happened. If a young guy is available, he always comes with questions. It was really a one-off. But, the thing is, Tepper can be patient in some ways and impatient in others. Moreover, he's had to learn and is still learning just like everyone else. The MMQB story in the other thread portrays patience and not trying to step on toes from them all. Let's not forget that Tepper apparently wanted Fields, but he let his guy(s) run things and the Darnold debacle came to pass, but Tepper still exercised an extraordinary amount of patience in action and in words.

I never bought the hype. I was just waiting for us to make the move on Corral (as I suspected we would and hinted at all offseason). The only QB I thought had a possibility to wreck my thinking was Pickett (if the FO was desperate). Well...I got a wee bit concerned when I heard about thee Howell dinner, but I thought that they thought Corral wasn't going to be available. Willis was never the right fit.

Duane Brown may still be an option if he wants to come here.

I don't think that anyone thinks Rhule is the guy with anything resembling certainty. In fact, there are way more reasons to believe he is not the guy from a fan's perspective (not to mention that I haven't even discussed game day decisions). That being said, I believe it's a bit of a stretch to assume that he isn't learning. To be fair, I mentioned that we'll likely never get the full story behind the part that Tepper has played (is playing), but from the MMQB article in the other post, I think that it's a little bit telling that Rhule who was in between Tepper and Fitterer during draft night asked Fitterer what he wanted to do (as someone who is ultimately in charge might do at times), and Fitterer told him that it'd be best to wait and read the tea leaves in order not to "overpay". He obviously let Fitty--the expert--make the call, and followed his advice. That's a positive sign.

Not quite sure why y'all are discounting Chuba. If he makes it to the second level, he'll be a terror. Last year's O-line was pretty much sh¡t, and he flashed enough to show that he's a capable backup. He needs to get his hands right.

No licks were even thrown, guys. This was more than sensationalism than anything else. Some rich kids and their parents got offended. I don't blame Corral one bit for publicly professing how he felt and getting the hell out of a culture of entitlement. That wasn't him. This story was blown out of proportion and used as a tool by some rich schmucks to impugn Corral's character. Furthermore, Corral has been drafted at this point, by the Panthers, so the story is as useless as ever. It's not like this is the first time it's been brought up. It's time to give it a rest.

Matt Rhule has honestly earned his status as the Panthers version of public enemy number one. It wasn't so long ago that there were "fire Rhule" chants in the dwindling crowds at Bank of America stadium, and even in crowds at a Charlotte Hornets basketball broadcast. But that's what happens when you decide to take shortcuts via bad maneuverings. From just jettisoning your brigde QB while paying most of his salary in 2020, to foolishly and 100 percent needlessly extending his replacement in 2021, who had displayed enough stop signs along his journey to Charlotte that a raging bull would cease charging because of continually getting sidetracked and confused in a sea of red. It's no wonder that we all started hearing unsubstantiated stories, or at the very least stories without any context, that painted David Tepper as an upset owner that had lost his patience and set Rhule's seat on fire. We now know that the stories, if true at all, were overblown. As opposed to flying by the seat of his pants from the ballyhooed "success" of his college experiences and taking seemingly every opportunity to jump in front of the camera with his fast talking style that belied an undercurrent of arrogance and overstated knowledge of the most efficient way to build and sustain a successful team in the NFL, Matt Rhule seems to have finally learned to take a step back, hire guys with professional experience at their particular jobs in the NFL and let them do their thing. The behind-the-scenes part that Tepper has played will probably never be known in its entirety, but at least publicly he has given Rhule his full support. He said that he believes in Rhule. Tepper not only pretty much told you that Rhule is safe not only for 2022, but 2023 and possibly 2024. Some still don't believe it, but I do...at least for the next couple of seasons. You see, I couldn't exactly reconcile keeping Rhule and allowing him to wreck the immediate future of the franchise by making panic picks that were in the best interests of a man desperately clawing for his professional NFL life, and not in the long term interests of the franchise, particularly during a supposedly lame duck season, filled with constant pressure while the coach squirms on a glowing orange hot seat. That made little sense to me because at the end of the day it was counterproductive. I said in some thread weeks ago that it may be better to give Rhule a couple of more seasons for that very reason. Well, it appears that Tepper has taken that stance, a stance he appears to have had the day he hired Rhule. Tepper is still learning how to run an NFL franchise himself, and he obviously knows that learning and building takes patience. Some things just can't be rushed with good results. You can't always force things to happen the way that you want them to or you may hurt yourself; sometimes the best tact is to allow situations to present themselves to you, and that takes wisdom, maybe sometimes nerve, and discipline. Play-play time is over. Mistakes born of inexperience and sheer arrogance must be minimized if not eradicated. The 2022 draft seems less like an ending to Matt Rhule and company, and more like an ending to a bad storm. You don't go through the motions of hiring a group of key, knowledgeable and experienced coaches only to blow it all up several months later. You don't bolster up your scouting and give people more tools to farm more information in order to have temporary draft success. You don't draft a possible franchise LT at 6, and particularly a possible franchise QB at 94, with as much discipline and steely resolve as our FO did without giving everyone involved some time to see the fruit of such collective efforts. It's a new day. Rhule has got his mulligan via a patient Tepper. Rhule is on the clock, but it has always been Tepper's clock (and Tepper's alone). The FO has seemingly learned some bitter lessons from the past two seasons, and has at least started off the next two in a much more settled and prepared mental space. The way that free agency and the draft have been handled and maneuvered should at least give everyone new hope. You may not like Tepper's continued support of Rhule, but at least you should be able to understand the reasoning behind it. Change is in the air. Rhule seems more relaxed and maybe even relieved. He seems less talkative and more reflective (and better kept...). We may not have been able to see any process working in January at 1000 percent or otherwise, but, I dare say that in May, the outlook seems to have markedly changed, at least 500 percent...for those that want to see it.

"Actual improvement" is a matter of perspective, and Dave Tepper essentially said as much during his presser. For you, maybe not, but for Tepper it just may be. I don't necessarily think that you can put a number on it. Everyone wants to win and win now, but Tepper seems to have a little more patience and perspective than your average fan.

Rhule would have to totally bomb to be fired come next season. I believe Tepper when he stated that Rhule has his full support.

What a name!

This deserves a thread of its own. You start a million threads, and you stick this here? Juan, what's up?

Yep! Situational awareness.

It sounds like unless he gets into the return game, he'll be out of the game.

Fastest in the NFL?

Aye!

I didn't come in expecting that we'd be able to do much, but considering what we've done, I'm pleased. To be honest, we could've called it a day last night and I'd have been smiling. I didn't think we'd get Ickey, and I thought we'd have to trade someone (mainly CMC) to put us in position to get Corral on day 2. I wanted Fitt and company to do the right thing and have some discipline even though it was frustrating--tough--to be sitting on our hands and waiting. As far as today, I said it last night, it's all about upside. That includes not only the draftees, but the UDFAs. Fitterer is a draft wizard. He knows what he's doing. Accept it and embrace it.