SetfreexX

I would like this! Then Fire Rhule.

I will say at the least Fitterer echoed a sentiment that he thought there could be some worth looking at in the middle rounds, but not early as I paraphrase his comments a week or so ago. Hopefully Rhule doesn't get his way (Pickett).

I hate this, but I can 100% see it happening. I was in the Fields camp last year, hoped he fell to #8 and we took a f****** corner because ''we believe in Sam'' guaranteed him 18.8M BEFORE EVER PLAYING A SNAP. Now we'll get the Kenny's a 3 or 4 year starter bs, and he's ''athletic'' for the position. Blah, blah. My stance for this off-season was trade back from #6, swap with that team and secure a future first as a part of the trade, and some day 2 compensation this year. At this point, ride it out with Darnold, sign Cam, let them battle in camp, and use FA / the draft to solidify the roster. Then with our 1st, and the additional 1st from trading this year's #6 look to move up if needed to select a QB in 23'.

Real talk, he's just a bad QB, on a team that had a terrible offensive line most of the year. He has raw talent, but his flaws are too big and likely beyond repair.

This 100%....I'm past the denial phase of Rhule being here, now I have to hope / root for the best in spite of his presence. Same way I watched, and went to games in 21'; as a real true fan of my favorite team I will do so again.

7-9 (2019 - Rivera fired in DEC) / 5-11 (2020 - Rhule S1) / 5-11 (2021 - Rhule S2 the 1000% season) So not 3 years in a row, but I get the sentiment; we've been worse under Rhule.

Will it matter, they were in the same boat a few years ago after paying Goff, they navigated that, and re-assembled a team that is about to make it's 2nd SB appearance in what 3 seasons (2018) and they're doing it with a different QB at that in his first year with the team, see TB as the most recent, and even Manning in DEN of just placing a top 10 caliber QB on a ready made roster. Rodgers, and Russell are likely the next candidates to pull this type of move, and while Watson may try / be available, I doubt they send him to a ready made destination, even if he can waive a no trade, they can just opt to set him out. So the question then becomes who's more patient, him, or HOU.

The real question is how does this keep happening across the NFL, it's not just a Panther's problem...

Gimme Willis in a trade back where we're able to add him and OL on Day 2. I need to see those picks back in the 2nd and 3rd, we have too many holes to just select at #6, then wait until the 4th.

Batted passes typically occur on short drops and interior pressure, something we featured a good bit of this past season, under Rivera I do not recall ''a lot'' of tipped passes at the OL.

Damn, some of y'all don't like anything sheesh. As it stands I'm not blaming Fitterer, or Samir on last season; I think they are partially the reason we had some of the success we did, navigating the COVID stricken cap, and making the most of available assets. Some of the contract structures are what allowed us to add the pieces that we did. Erving and Elf take a lot of poo and rightfully so, but their contracts are not necessarily hampering, or of hindrance to the cap if we move away from them. Fox, Jones, and Bouye were positive additions to the defense; not to mention we got Reddick for 6M via some ''voidable'' year(s) magic. I am at the least interested to see where this front office goes, as I think Rhule is gone by mid-season, I don't expect us to make any real noise even if we have a solid start which I also doubt.

Anyone that thinks paying what Jimmy G would want on TOP of having to TRADE additional assets for his is out of their minds. Because his 'dead cap hit' is 1.4M, meaning SF is in the driver's seat. Jimmy G is more name than QB - the run game and defense carried them on the SB run, and this past weekend special teams won the day, their offense didn't even score. It was a blocked punt I think for a scoop and score and a late FG for the win. Jimmy didn't play a huge role, and similar to the DAL game threw another INT. This Jimmy G talk is not it, we also don't have nearly the defense, or run game they have had in his best year with them. Darnold is here outside a miracle, and we're not getting Wilson, or Watson, or Rodgers. Any other veteran is likely only a back up viable option. But why pay for that since PJ is much cheaper. Cam is likely the only player we could sign as his market is likely going to be extremely thin unless he just opts not to play.

If you're a professional kicker and don't get the call, why would you not run to the sideline? I can't imagine delay of game on a kickoff is more than just backing up 5 yards; however to be fair I don't know the exact rule for that. There's too many people on the staff not to be able to address that in some form or another.

At this point this is where we are, there is not other viable option, taking a rookie at #6 for what could be a lame duck coach isn't smart. Rhule made the bed, he has to sleep in it at this point. Let me add that I absolutely hate all of this, my remaining hope is that we suck ala the Jimmy Clausen year and luck our way into Bryce, or C.J. while hiring an actual NFL caliber HC. Cam to me is the ONLY other option if you're trying to win some games finally giving him a FULL off-season to actually KNOW the offense, let him and Sam compete in camp, I'm just so annoyed they guaranteed his 5th year at 18.8M what kind of lunacy (and I felt that way when I saw the ticker during the draft after Jaycee was selected) is this. He hasn't played a down, has three bad years of tape and we're locking him in; for f*** sakes. That right there told me all I needed to know, Rhule drove the ship on that trade, and the ship on getting rid of Perryman, I don't hate the Arnold for Henderson / pick swaps, and we got Gilmore for a flier late pick.

TE is a while because that position was not emphasized under Brady imo. Hopefully that changes.

Last week I wrote a bout the offense, this week it only seems fair to take a look at the roster and players under contract as of ''today''; to determine how I / you feel about that side of the ball and where things stand. I'd like to start out by saying overall the defense IMO held us down in a lot of games, and ANY level of competence from the offense primarily while Sam was QB (I can't blame Cam coming in mid-season, and not knowing the PB, no off-season, etc.) could have seen us look less like a complete disaster. DL - Derrick Brown, Morgan Fox, Gross-Matos -- I think the 3 DL fronts exposed our lack of size in base personnel at times versus the more power run centric teams. However each of these three, two of which being 2nd year guys (Brown / Matos) showed some growth even if there were some growing pains at times. Fox I think is worth keeping around for the rotation, but he seemed to taper off after a hot start. However that was an affect on the defense as a whole as I think the guys up front were morn out as we approached the end of games. EDGE - Burns, that's it, Reddick is the only other person that would make this list but he's an UFA. We HAVE no perimeter depth at the OLB spot as far as pass rushers go. I am fairly concerned about this unit as we move forward if we are not able to retain Reddick's services. Since we adopted more 3 man fronts, I do not include Gross-Matos in this category as he is more of a traditional 4-3 DE vs a stand up guy. Off Ball LB - Shaq, once again that's it, Carter Jr. is serviceable at best, and doesn't seem to have star upside. Shaq is about to count as a $18.2M cap hit this coming season (rounded up - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/). While Shaq had a hell of a season and finally lived up to his selection status, that is an absurd number for that position. I fully expect to see a restructure of some sort as cutting him would still be 12M in dead cap which would free up 6M in space, so with not depth, and no ''significant'' savings we need to add to this position as well. Cornerback - Horn, Abouye, & Henderson; quite honestly this would still be one of the better secondary's we have had overall in the past several years. Horn looked the part of a true #1, allowing a guy like Henderson to match the 2nd or 3rd WR in a rotation with Abouye. STO III, and Pride off IR have potential, but not enough to say I'm okay not retaining Jackson, or Gilmore. Safety - Chinn, and I say that with a bit of an asterisk, of any player added I think he's had the most on his plate. Played out of position as a rookie due to ''necessity'' and again to a bit of a lesser degree did so again as the ''free'' safety. IMO he's a better fit as a flex piece, and shouldn't be tied to any particular spot, however in order to maximize his potential we have got to get some legit talent to man the single high position so that he is free to play man on TE's, or offer additional run support in the box. Temple guys like Franklin, and Chandler are PS guys, and Robinson has been limited to flashes in spot duty. ________________________________________________________________ All things considered, I think we have our hands full heading into this off-season, as things stand I think we have a ''C'' level defense, and it could be as high as a B, or B+ depending on what we are able to do in regard to our own re-signings, free agency, and the draft. I think there are way more holes on the defense than people realize, and finding enough allocation to improve both sides will be a challenge. This is why personally I think the part of the solution is to trade back 1-2 times in the 1st round as we would do ourselves a service to accumulate a future 1st, and day 2 picks (trading down from 6), and secondly additional day 2 picks via a potential second trade down in the first. If we had at least a 2nd, I'd be all over BPA at #6, I just don't think we have that luxury, and with a non-starter quality QB on the roster, and the 18.8M we owe him taking BPA there at any position doesn't matter because we have IMO a lame duck coach in Rhule barring a miracle, and we need to start prepping this roster for 2023. To me that's the reality of it all. It has been gross mismanagement of assets, and a lack of common sense at the top (Tepper and Rhule).

Don't want Howell, I'm a pass on a QB from a basketball school, he's not impressive to me. From what I can see he's solid / good, but no ''elite'' trait that stands out to me. Seems like a high floor / low ceiling QB.

You're also not ''competing'' without a quarterback, whether it's Watson, or someone else.

If we are talking draft strategy, I think we need to trade back from #6, our depth is incredibly thin, and we'll need some cap magic just to navigate our own pending FA's not to mention trying to sign anyone. We wouldn't pick til' around #100, I don't think a player at #6 is better than adding picks given the state of the OL, that one player isn't fixing it.

I recall two overwhelmed moments that stand out to me versus an all pro caliber guy in Shaq Barrett, and one other that does not immediately come to mind. For a rookie, and as a 3rd round pick I think he looked solid, and has something to build off of, the bar being Erving is not high, and Brady played above that with actual room to get better. People said Paradis was bad at C, yet those that review / grade felt otherwise about him also. I try not to let the ''standout'' bad plays be all that I think about. There's a lot of snaps over the course of a game / season.

As it stands today (1/20/22) it looks like for whatever reason Rhule is going to be here for this upcoming season. With that poo in mind, I figured why not look at players under contract that we ''feel good about'' moving forward and where the offense could be if FA, and the draft play out well. Offense: QB - We don't have one, sorry Sam Darnold apologist, 4 seasons, two NFL teams, and the same turnover prone play at 18.8M next season. HB - CMC is great however we don't seem to know how to manage his touches / snaps, so availability is a concern; we still don't have a bigger running back to take some of the loads / hits off our main guy in GL, and short yardage this is an absolute necessity. Chuba flashed I'll give him that, be he seems to have terrible balance at times, and his hands out of the backfield are inconsistent; as it stands I don't see a lot of upside from him but I also can't ignore the poor play from the OL in the running game. WR - DJ & Robbie IMO are still a top duo in the league from a ''talent'' perspective, just see the avg QB play of TB and the fact the were both 1K receivers a year ago on a bad team, DJ is coming off a 3rd consecutive 1K season with bad QB play. In regard to TMJ and Shi, I like their skill sets so I am inclined to say I feel good about both, usage was on the staff IMO. TE - I had hope for Ian Thomas after the Arnold trade, but he never really did anything, could be the QB, could be the OL but you'd think the TE would be on of the easier completions for a QB to make given their proximity to each other. I still like his talent, but with Tremble looking to be the better blocker with the higher ceiling I think we're in a solid place at this position, more Tremble in the future is necessary. We need an OC that understands the value of the TE position and it's utilization. I'd like to see a veteran added to this group. T - Christensen (finally), and Moton; I think it's hard not to feel good about these two as a pair, Brady looked pretty damn solid as a rookie at his natural position (imagine that, playing a guy where they spent their entire collegiate career working out), and Moton overall anchored the right side, though he also had some bad moments. I am not against added a top talent at Tackle, I just think IOL proves to be the biggest offensive issue outside QB by the end of the season. IOL - Elflein, and Brown; Elf actually looked decent at C (also his natural position), the problem was being flanked by an UDFA in Jordan, and then Miller. For the life of me aside from ineptitude I cannot figure out why at the VERY least Deonte Brown was not a spot duty G for us throughout the season, he'd been playing at ALA all this time, and now all of a sudden we need him ''in shape''. Let the mauler maul, and get in shape while getting snaps and experience so we can truly see what we have; even in Week 17 his snaps were limited, why? Miller isn't better, and was often injured I think the staff screwed the pooch here all season. Overall Offensive Personnel Grade: (D+), a competent QB, better coaching, and just average IOL play could see this unit jump up to a B'ish grade IMO as it's hard to argue against the talent we have at the skill positions (DJ / Robbie / CMC). ------------------------------ What are your thoughts about our offensive personnel moving forward?

Even in this scenario, the left over candidates would be better than Rhule, Bienemy, Flores, Pederson, Caldwell, etc.

This is partly what I'm alluding to, why would O'Brien leave ALA knowing he could be looking at HC offers inside a year. Jay Gruden IMO makes no sense, Pep would be nice, but I don't want to subject the brother to Rhule. I don't want the Vikings guy, or a guy, that knew a guy from PHI.

I just want to wake up to ''Breaking News'' Panthers fire Matt Rhule. Even if late to the HC hiring game, we can't do worse...

So by now we've read, and seen the ''reports'' that Tepper supposedly wants a ''rockstar'' OC hire. My question as the title references...what happens if Rhule fails to hire said ''rockstar''? What will Tepper do then? As a fan this is my team, bad coach, roster etc.; however that can't be said for a marquee OC that is ''already established'' ________________________________________________ So as an OC candidate you come into a Panthers team that is 10-23 in two years, for what is shaping up to be a final season for Rhule and then you're right back on the market with little to show for it on your resume'. Why would any established OC put themselves in this position? You would inherit Darnold, and an OL that can be described at best as ''in flux'', the main guys under contract are: LT - Erving / Christensen LG - TBD C - Elflien RG - Brown RT - Moton Note - Paradis (ACL), Miller, Scott, and Jordan I believe are all expiring contracts* _______________________________________________ That is just not a very enticing core aspect of the offense to bet on yourself to work with, I would not be surprised if we didn't get anyone of notoriety at OC. Hopefully that is enough to prompt a firing for a guy in Rhule who can't put together an NFL level staff, and has to rely on his prior staff members from college.