SmokinwithWilly

Nope. Was Morgan this past off season. 2 year 44 million extension with 40 guaranteed and a 21.35 signing bonus.

If we weren't facing the 5th year option this off season I would be able to enjoy this more from a fan's perspective. I don't trust the FO, and by that I mainly mean Dave and Nicole, to make the right move for this organization moving forward. It's been 8 years of suckage and I don't want to get locked into another 5 because of a couple of feel good wins that end up being a mirage and not reality. And is that Bryce's fault? Not entirely. It's really just a history of Tepper and the FO doing really dumb things.

We're not happy because we're facing having to pick up a 5th year option or an extension and still have NO IDEA who Bryce is as a QB. He has great moments, but he has yet to put together back to back great games. We haven't had back to back winning seasons in 30 years, so asking for back to back franchise QB game performances from your QB isn't a whole hell of a lot to ask for.

I didn't think it was weird. It's his final year. He thought the Vikings had a shot at making a real playoff run and his wife wanted to go back to Minnesota where they have roots. Carolina does nothing to upgrade the QB room, Bryce's past performances would lead him to think this is a paycheck, nothing more. I totally get why he'd want out of here. He wanted a shot at a ring and let's be honest, no one had Carolina making any serious deep playoff runs. He's still trying to get a shot at a ring.

One of the reasons I really didn't like the timing of the Moton extension. Not knowing how Bryce was going to perform and how the option/extension was going to play out, that flexibility of not having that guaranteed $$$ could do a lot moving forward with getting Icky signed. There was nothing wrong with waiting until the end of the season to see how all of this played out then extending him if we felt the need to do so.

It's actually why I thought we should have opened it up against ATL in the first game when we were up big. What was the worst that could happen. It's not like the score was 28-3 and they were mounting a comeback with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Sling it around some.

That's if he doesn't push to have his extension like other QBs that have remained with their teams have done following year 3. Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Hurts, Lawrence all got their extensions after year 3. Lamar played out his 5th year. That's why I said the 5th year and extension could be a potential clusterfug. His agent could very well push for the extension. Lamar didn't have an agent to advise him. Playing out the 5th year is not the norm at all.

Moton is a lock next year. His dead cap if cut is in the 20s. Hunt is too. His hit is too big. Lewis could be a casualty and Corbett certainly is one. Mays, dunno. If we keep him, unless we plan on drafting a center, he could pursue starting money. That's why I thought paying Hunt and Lewis was insane instead of drafting guards and a center with Icky's contract looming on the horizon. This 5th year and extension is a potential clusterfug.

That's a little different than signing a 5th year extension then bringing in another player to push the guy you just extended. Drafting a QB to sit on the bench and learn is how it used to be done and QBs actually perform better generally when they do have that opportunity instead of being plugged into the starting lineup right away.

I'm fine picking up the option if he keeps playing like he did in Atl and he did yesterday. My concern lies in what we've seen from QBs like Mahomes, Allen, Burrow pushing for their extensions at the end of year 3, unlike Lamar who played his out through year 5. Lamar also took a ton of flack for playing on that 5th year instead of pursuing the extension as a league MVP. When/if/how an extension for Bryce falls can change a lot of things regarding how this team looks moving forward.

You forgot 11 fumbles.

And a legitimate question to ask is what does this offense look like once Bryce is off his rookie contract? How is that offensive line going to look? We have a ton of money invested up front and that is 100% unsustainable with Bryce making starting QB money. Icky and Moton are going to be 50m per season plus the guards at 32 and possibly Mays at 6-8 if we're lucky. Add in Bryce and that's 125m just on those 6 players if we tried to keep them all. It's just not doable. So then the real question IMO becomes, if we spent the money on our OL, and less on a QB, would the outcome be that much different? I haven't seen Bryce elevate the offense enough by himself on a consistent basis to warrant the contract we would have to give him, not to mention the players we would have to give up, based on the accelerations of the bonuses as I understand them, would likely include Icky.

The only one I can think of is we had Darnold on the 5th year and brought in Baker as "competition." Even then, we had traded for Darnold. I can't think of another instance where the 5th year was used on the drafted QB and then another QB had to be brought in to push the now guaranteed starter. You're guaranteeing him 27m in 2027. That's your starting LT salary for the season and we're already cash strapped on the line. An adequate backup that can push him at this point (if it's even allowed, which judging by history it's not) is probably going to run 6-12m per season if one is even available with all the teams needing QBs.

Put in a claim just so we don't have to see Moore in the lineup again.

If he has the choice I meant

I can see him heading to the Rams for a SB ring.

The time for that was week 1. This is essentially a contract year. Based on his body of work as a whole, are you ready to lock him in as your starting QB for the next 5 years at 45m AAV, because that's where we are.

Because you don't bring in competition if you're paying your QB 27m. Look at what we did with Darnold and Mayfield. He's either your guy or he isn't. Hes not playing on the final year and most agents aren't going to let a 5th year stand. They'll push for the extension now. If we're willing to do the 5th year, why aren't we willing to do the extension? That's why I didn't care what the win loss record was this year. We needed to know if Bryce is the franchise QB or not. At the end of the year we have to make a decision that locks us in to Bryce for the next 5 or we move on. Now maybe his agent doesn't play hard ball with the Panthers, but I don't see that happening. Most likely we decide Bryce's future in Carolina at the end of this season. Extend, trade or cut. That's the most likely scenario based on history. Bryce's play over the past 3 years, are you paying him 50m a season? And who are you letting walk to do it? Give Bryce his extension and Icky is all but gone. Can't pay everyone on that line and there are too many bonuses that will be accelerated. It's not so simple as just play him on the 5th year.

Because the 5th year has to be picked up after he finishes this year or not at all.

Hence why my problem all along has been Fitts/Morgan and the FO since we drafted Bryce and actually since 2018. We don't model ourselves after successful organizations. We've tried to blaze the trail with algorithms and metrics and RAS scores instead of just figuring out if these guys can play.

But here's my thing. If you plug in Jacoby Brissett, are we still a winning football team? Most likely yes. That's my issue. We're at the point of franchise QB defining money and I don't see the difference between what Bryce is doing and what an average NFL starter is doing. I don't care about one and done in the playoffs and off into obscurity again. I want consistent success. We haven't had it in 3 decades. An inconsistent QB in the bottom 3rd metric of starting QBs doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies that he's going to lead the team that direction either.

JMO, but the only reason he made it through this season is we did everything possible to keep a backup that was worse than Bryce. Dalton was washed lasted year. How he got a 2 year contract is beyond me. Year 1 was one of the worst years ever for a rookie QB. Nowhere to go but up. Year 2 he was benched 2 games in until Dalton for hurt in a car accident. Then he played better but we were out of it and the pressure was off. Year 3 has been well below average with a few bright spots here and there. Year 4 maybe average might be a guess, but that's stretching it IMO.

There were 2 INTs and can't forget the strip sack by Brown on Stafford. Defense played a huge part in this game. Without them stepping up when they did, this is a L.

This has nothing to do with liking Bryce. We need a new backup. We needed one last year. We need to look at a young QB in the draft as well in case 4th year Bryce is the same as 1st 3 years Bryce. Improve the QB room. Don't settle and be complacent. Do what's best for the team as a whole.

This is beginner level GM stuff to do. If we don’t do this, it tells me Tepper is still calling the shots and Dan is yes man Fitts2.0.