CPantherKing

So, they want 5 first round picks and an additional pick for a QB who has done nothing in the NFL. Yeah, they think the Panthers organization is the most idiotic team in the NFL. Deshaun Watson has proven he can't even carry a team into the playoffs nevermind a SB. Not to mention his poor judgment and play style that gives you 5 to 6 years max with him at QB. He's worth two 2nd round picks or a 1st and a 5th. And that's still a big risk. Hard pass!

Todd Marinovich/Jamarcus Russell would be an upgrade over Sam Darnold/PJ Walker

You can add Lions, Falcons, Texans, Vikings, Giants, Eagles, Bears, Jaguars, Jets, and Patriots to the list of teams who are not completely sold on their QBs even with the choice of going forward with them as the favored starter for the 2022 season. These teams are all in the market for a backup QB that can step in and force their team to make the decision to part with their #1 QB. The Lions, Falcons, Texans, Vikings, and Giants are hoping for their Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady moment. The Eagles, Bears, Jaguars, Jets, and Patriots are still in hopeful mode, but are not sold on having franchise QBs in place. They will gladly bring in a QB to compete for the starter position if their young QBs lose focus and fall on their face. The NFL QB situation has not been this unstable since Y2K rocked the world. Ridder, Pickett, Howell, Willis, Corral, Strong, Glass, Coan, Zappe, Eleby, Purdy, Kelley, Oladokun, and Garbers are all going to get their shot to prove themselves in the next few years. In 2021, 30+ year old back up QBs Mike Glennon, Case Keenum, Josh Johnson, Geno Smith, Colt McCoy, Taysom Hill, Tyrod Taylor, Trevor Siemian, Cam Newton and Andy Dalton all had 50 or more passing attempts for the season with some topping 200 pass attempts on the season. Then you have the under-30 Davis Mills, Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinike, and Tyler Huntley place holders getting 200 pass attempts. Place your bets on the 2022 QBs who will shock the NFL and emerge as franchise QBs. I put the over/under at 4 franchise QBs in this 2022 class, and only 1 of them will be a 1st round pick. A handful of these 2022 QBs will be the new generation of Geno Smith/Colt McCoy that will have 10+ years as back up QBs. The opportunities are there. 2022 is going to be a crazy year for the QB position. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the Panthers are going to miss this wild and bumpy ride that won't be around for another 20 years.

Are you unaware of this common practice? How long have you been watching NFL organizations inner workings? They have PIs on retainer and send them out to high schools, follow around prospects, and deep dive into high cost/high profile franchise players. From Joe Namath to Baker Mayfield. Not new at all. Very well known. If you were not in the know, then you know now.

Organizations hiring PIs to look into a possible franchise QB? A 50 year long tradition in the NFL. Is this news? I think the big news would be that an organization did not hire a PI to look into a move on a franchise QB. I'm sure they hired a PI for Bridgewater and Darnold too. The one thing that the PI isn't good at is alerting a team to a lack of talent and leadership in clutch situations. Maybe spend more money on better scouts.

That is not a path and it definitely doesn't fix the team. As a lame duck coach coming off multiple losing seasons, you have a couple plans that have proven themselves to work for the past 4 decades. You can go with the miracle season path. Draft a top WR. Find a dark horse starting QB in the draft or stored away on another teams roster as a #3. The Panthers have the players and defense to make this plan work. You give your inexperienced but hopeful QB 7 targets in the passing game and let him throw and take risks. Go aggressive with a pass heavy offense and aggressive defense as though you have nothing to lose from the start of the season. Doubt the organization is intelligent enough to figure it out. Draft Garrett Wilson/Treylon Burks and Aqeel Glass/Jack Coan (or trade for Brett Rypien/Shane Buechele). Anyone who touches the ball can score, and there will always be at least 1 matchup to exploit on every play. The use of a RB out of the backfield in the passing game and the addition of a 3rd speed WR with great hands, that can be disciplined, can out jump DBs for contested balls, and come up with the clutch catch is key. QB must be decisive and be poised with the blitz in his face (this rules out Darnold). You can go with the #1 defense path that can carry a bad offense. Panthers are also in a position to pull this off too, but they have to strengthen the center of the defense with a MLB and a couple big NT/DT to rotate in. Trade down to get extra picks, unload offensive players with trade value, and draft Devin Lloyd, Jordan Davis, Jermaine Johnson, and John Ridgeway. Neither plan needs a top OL that can hold blocks to develop plays. Zone blocking, pulling, stretch, 3 and 5 step drops, play action, redzone roll outs, and quick screens. The later plan with the heavy defense carries over well after the lame duck coach, and sets up the incoming coach to have quick success. The things a lame duck coach should never do. Draft OL. Draft 1st round QB. Go with a QB or RB by committee approach. Rely on a RB to carry the load game in and game out. Load up on pass rushers at the expense of run defense.

Tepper's invoice company hasn't paid the bill yet so Tepper has put invoices on hold until further notice.

I hope the new HC next year wants to build around a raw project QB like Malik Willis who couldn't pass for 3k yards in a college season. I always wondered what it would be like to be a fan of the Bengals with Akili Smith coming in under a lame duck coach.

Let Cam be Cam. The coaches kept pushing for him to be a pocket passer like he would have a 20 year career. A scripted and no huddle offense with calls at the LoS was always best for Cam. The more time he had to think through the play he would be slower in delivering a play. He is a read and react QB. They used him completely wrong most of the time and leaned on Cam too late in games. Letting him loose in the first half and keeping him from overthinking was the key and the 2015 performance was the only season they really did that with it sprinkled in during the few years prior. Then they decided going in to the 2016 season that Cam needed to be more of a pocket passer because of the hits he was taking and all the money they gave him. It was a frustrating period of time to be a Panthers fan. They had the team to be so much more than a 1 time NFC Championship franchise. The front office and coaching staff just rode out the talent built up from the late 2000s and never went all in like they should have done for a 3 to 5 year run from 2013 to 2018. Instead, they were building for the future of being a winning franchise year in and year out and thought it was ridiculous to believe in windows of opportunity. Well... Here is that future now!

Broncos still have 10 draft picks this year after the Wilson trade. They have 3 in the top 100 picks.

Gordon will be a free agent and they have yet to move on signing him to a contract. Waiting to see what they can do in trade negotiations. So, they obviously have their target set on a RB valued higher than Gordon.

When the Broncos acquire McCaffrey and go from worst to first, we will all be wondering what if...

Broncos still have 10 draft picks with 3 in the top 100. They are in win now mode under Elway. We all know how that goes. 3 to 4 draft picks and some players would not be out of the question for Elway to get McCaffrey.

There is your answer. Broncos want to pair McCaffrey with Wilson.

The best option is not on the list. You like many other people are overlooking the best options in 2022, but a majority of the successful QBs are overlooked.

Trade with Colts incoming Wentz and Leonard plus draft picks for Darnold and McCaffrey restructure restructure restructure

You are still on this? Ridley being an idiot does not mean he is not a #1 WR. Same as Deshaun Watson still being a franchise QB after being an idiot. DJ Moore doesn't just get better over the past 4 seasons because Ridley placed a bet. DJ will be on another team when he doesn't perform in his contract year. It will take him 5 more seasons before he can pull even with Ridley in TDs, and I don't see Moore being a starter in the NFL for 10 years to even make that happen. Moore is a good #2 WR. Now, get back to talking about Ridley. Oh, that's right... you weren't.

Doesn't matter what defense you play. The Panthers have Chinn, Shaq, and Burns out of position. No true Mike. The good news is the key to balancing this defense out is in the draft with Devin Lloyd filling the Mike. Perfect compliment to Shaq, Chinn, and Burns. I doubt the Panthers will realize it.

Fournette is good, but he is not top 10 good. He can't take over a game. He is best sharing the backfield with another RB and surrounded by playmakers. Never said Fournette was bad. Are you an LSU fan? Moore is a #2 WR. Still a starter. Still good. The Panthers have always had #2 WRs starting outside of Muhammad and Smith. The issue is most Panthers fans don't know what a #1 WR looks like. Haven't had a true #1 since 2013.

So, yardage. Really thin. And whoever thinks Cooper's numbers are the same as DJ Moore can't read. If yardage is your only measure, then how many NFL WRs wouldn't be able to put up 1000 yard seasons with 150 targets? I'll give you a clue. You can count them on one hand. Moore needs those targets. He's not breaking 1000 with 100 targets or less. If all the receiver can do is put up yards, they better be top 5 in the NFL every year. At least consistently be top 10 in receiving yards if that is all the WR is good for while being fed the ball 150 times in a season. Moore isn't even the most productive receiver from his draft class. Christian Kirk is a better option at WR than Moore. Ridley is definitely better. I would consider Chark as a possible improvement since he can score and make the Pro Bowl with QBs that are lower quality than Cam, Teddy, and Sam. DJ is a good #2 and a team that is a contender may trade a 2nd and 5th for him to fill that #2 or #3 spot. His drops and catch% would be the biggest reason a contender wouldn't even trade a single 6th round pick for him. DJ Moore is the Leonard Fournette of WRs.

Remind me. What has DJ done with his 500 targets in 4 years? Maybe he'll take over a game by the time he gets 1000 targets and be the reason for a clutch win. Are you just waiting for him to get an elite QB because you believe he can't do it without one? After a receiver runs through 5+ QBs and there is no change for the better in their game, then it may simply be the best that WR can do. DJ is a good #2. He gets way too many targets and that is several wasted opportunities for the offense. 60 to 80 targets is Moore's sweet spot.

If we were to use these standards to rule out players, then the Panthers never have... Sam Mills Steve Smith Jordan Gross Ryan Kalil Jake Delhomme Using measurables to rule out a player is nonsense. This should only be used as a tiebreaker when you have to decided between 2 players of equal championship value. If you have not found a championship value in a player, then there is no need to even have a combine. Tom Brady, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, Jerry Rice, Steve Smith, Cooper Kupp, and Antonio Gates are my all time offensive skills team. Anthony Munoz, Randall McDaniel, Jeff Saturday, John Hannah, and Jackie Slater are my all time OL. Let's just say you'd rule them all out if you went by measurables. Would you want this offense? The best clutch QB of all time, RBs who made 100 yard games look easy and kept defenses honest, triple crown WRs, a TE TD machine who could stretch the seams, great pass blocking OLs who could maul with leverage in the running game. Coaches need to get better at planning around their players strengths instead of ruling them out based on their weaknesses.

Brian Burns is the weakest starter of the 3 that can be exploited. He should be a situational pass rusher.

There are 2 franchise QBs in the draft. Aqeel Glass and Jack Coan. Not the flashy 1st round QB, but the franchise 4th/5th round QB like a Joe Montana and Mark Brunell.