MasterAwesome

I’ve literally watched like 5 snaps of XFL football total (cause @Peon Awesome had it on), and one of those was this guy catching like an 80+ yard TD on a fake punt. It was impressive, but also one of those plays that I’m confident would never work in the NFL. Just an incredible combination of confusion, poor tackling, and a lack of athleticism from the DBs who were unable to chase down a guy 80 pounds heavier than them. But hey, that’s exactly the kind of guy you bring in for a tryout, the dude who stands out among his competitors. Then again, I was super impressed by the performance in the same game from a QB I found out was AJ McCarron, so maybe take my opinion with a grain of salt.

"Bryce cream" is a little sus...possibly questionable marketing.

All we need to do to make the playoffs this year is to win our crappy division. Not sure why you consider that such an outlandish prediction.

Now that I understand the prompt lol, yeah I'd agree that the juiciest matchups would be against the Texans, Colts, Bears, or maybe even the Jaguars as an under-the-radar intriguing pick. Battle of the big cats between the two newest NFL franchises, going head to head with their recent #1 overall pick QBs coupled with offensive-minded HCs. Admittedly the drama (if you can even call it that) is a bit more nuanced and subtle in the case of Panthers/Jags, but I'd be excited for that to kick off our season.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I imagine their ultimate objective is to draw as many viewers as possible, rather than specifically being focused on drama. I can't imagine a Panthers/Colts matchup being particularly marketable or enticing to fans outside of our two fanbases other than maybe people interested in Bryce Young's debut. We're both relatively bad teams in small markets. I would think they'd be better off either picking two powerhouses to face off (like a Bills/Chiefs type matchup) or maybe a divisional rivalry between two exciting up-and-comers. If there's any coaching-related storyline that would entice viewers, I'd say it's the return of Sean Payton, so Broncos vs. whoever would probably be fairly interesting for the average fan. Edit: I think I totally misunderstood the OP....I was thinking of who the NFL is going to pick as the kickoff game lol. Not our personal Week 1 opener.

I'm not sure the "spurned coach" storyline has enough broad appeal to the casual NFL fan. I'd consider myself a fairly hardcore NFL fan and I'm not sure I could even name half the head coaches in the league, let alone know much in the way of storylines about any coach outside of my own team. I don't think fans of the other 30 NFL teams could care any less about a Reich "revenge game", ha.

Theoretically it’s possible that we and/or the Texans decide to bring our rookie QB along slowly and start the vet Week 1. That would potentially make this an incredibly lackluster season opener, so I’m not sure they’ll take that risk.

I feel like Bryce would be the type of QB who doesn't translate particularly well to Madden since what makes him truly special is his brain/processing...and that's essentially irrelevant in Madden since the player does all the decision making. Otherwise, Young doesn't have a particularly strong arm, isn't the most accurate, nor is he the most athletic. Anthony Richardson would be a fun Madden QB...albeit probably infuriating both for the player using him (when he sails a wide open pass) and for his opponent (when he scrambles for 200 yards a game). (Admittedly I haven't watched the video in the OP yet)

Even if so, it's also been reported that Tepper isn't meddling in personnel decisions. So it's unlikely that his personal feelings on the S2 has been a meaningful factor in two different coaching staffs' application of it in their respective scouting processes.

It's already been reported that there have been QBs who scored well on the S2 who have done poorly in the NFL, but never a QB who has done poorly on the S2 who has been successful in the NFL. Almost definitely too small of a sample size though since the S2 is relatively new. Who are "we" that are valuing it so highly? If you're talking about us Huddlers, then how are we supposed to access S2 scores that aren't being publicly reported? If you have a public database somewhere, please feel free to share it. And if you're talking about "we" as in the front office, then we're talking about Rhule's team last year. We don't know how much emphasis Rhule placed on the S2, nor do we even really know how much emphasis this coaching staff/FO places on the S2...I don't recall that ever being reported.

Part of me was worried we were gonna draft Darnell Washington only because I was dreading one of these side by side photos when they do the rookie draft class picture lol.

I get the same feeling about Haynes as I did about Luvu his first year with us. “This dude is constantly flashing and always around the ball…he just needs more opportunities” - and we see how that worked out for Luvu last season.

Psh…he can’t call himself a superfan unless he posts at least 300 times a day on the Huddle.

That's fair, but defenders aren't allowed to hit below the knees which is the primary concern when we're talking about a QB getting hit while their feet are planted. Otherwise you're mainly talking about upper body injuries which are generally speaking, less common and less serious to my knowledge (I may be wrong). The Brock Purdy injury in the playoffs comes to mind which is definitely a case of that and appears to be serious, but something like that probably has relatively little to do with a QB's weight/build. Cam's a giant and he got hit in the shoulder which effectively ended his career as well.

If by "looking to argue" you mean challenging something you said that I disagree with, then okay sure that's kind of the point of these boards unless you're seeking an echo chamber. Were you looking to argue when you came in here to disagree with the OP? I wouldn't say so, but that seems to be an admission by your own perspective. Yeah trust me I've understood your simple point since the beginning. I'm agreeing that they take different types of hits, I just disagree that a QB's hits are necessarily more dangerous than a RB's hits. And certainly not to the level that overcomes the natural wear and tear that a RB accumulates, and not to the level that I can reconcile how it's the primary concern for Bryce Young but a complete afterthought (not even mentioned, actually) when it comes to Bijan Robinson...which was the entire point of the OP.

I think you stick to the draft board you've spent months developing and perfecting. It'd be premature to tweak your draft strategy based on a divisional rival's first round pick who hasn't taken an NFL snap yet. For all we know, he could end up a Trent Richardson level bust.

I mean, surely as a Panthers fan you've witnessed countless running plays up the gut into a wall of linemen for zero yards. "Both accelerating in a straight line directly at one another" is an incredibly hyperbolic interpretation of what I said lol. Not to mention, running backs getting gang-tackled with a ton of bodies around them often leaves them open to one of these 300-lb linemen (both o-line and d-line) getting pushed directly into their knee or ankle while their foot is planted. Your initial framing was pretty wacky...running backs running the complete opposite direction of linemen whereas the QB is getting tackled with zero momentum while their feet are planted in the ground? If anything, the QB is the one running in the opposite direction of the linemen as they trade to elude the pass rush. The way you framed it is really only particularly applicable for blindside hits where the QB has no idea the rusher is about to hit them (and what percentage of those account for a QB's total sacks taken, maybe 10%?). Otherwise, the QB can generally see that they're about to get sacked and will brace for the hit.

I do want to shout out Nicole Tepper. Most of the time she’s mentioned on these boards, it’s some veiled misogyny scoffing at her inclusion in team affairs. But it was refreshing to see her excitement and giddiness in the draft room in contrast to the emotionless blank faces of Reich, D. Tepper, and Fitterer every time the camera switched until the pick was made (then high fives were being dished out all around). I’m not one of those people who hyper focuses on the body language and demeanor of draft rooms, but hey I simply like seeing people enthusiastic and happy…call me crazy.

Sorry, is the RB the one running as fast as he can in the opposite direction of these 300 lb linemen in this scenario? Is he taking the handoff and then immediately running backwards out of his own end zone or something? These are the guys often running directly into the 300lb linemen.

Maybe you forgot about the biggest leaguewide scandal in at least two decades that rocked the NFL to its core.....when Nicole Tepper forgot to do a mandatory compliance training. I mean, it generated 15-20 pages worth of scathing commentary on the Huddle about how dysfunctional of an organization Tepper is running.

It's hard to keep up with because he's adjusted his rankings between the top 3 a couple times over the last several months. He has had all three of them as #1 at some point lol. Initial rankings (September 2022): 1. Stroud 2. Levis 3. Young Updated rankings (December 2022): 1. Levis 2. Young 3. Stroud Final rankings (April 2023): 1. Young 2. Levis 3. Stroud

So were we less enthusiastic about Young because we took 5 minutes to turn our pick in? I’m not sure I understand this argument…everyone and their grandmas knew we were taking Young so the Texans had plenty of time before the draft to decide who they were taking and apparently decided on Stroud. Obviously the Texans were never going into the draft with the #2 overall pick with the intention of spending their 10 minutes still deliberating last second on who they’re taking. I think you’re reading too much into the optics of rushing to get their pick in lol.

Bryce stores his weight in that giant beautiful brain of his.

Did you pack that in your carry-on?