SmokinwithWilly

Sounds like the Panthers have a new PR person lined up.

It was another 1st and 2nd plus a possible 2nd player and 40m more per year. Thats a lot more than what we gave up for Bryce. Id rather have Lamar if we gave up what we did for Bryce. My biggest concern was always how do you make that trade before the tag was applied without creating the same situation he wanted out of in Baltimore. Happy New Year to you too.

After Baltimore applied the tag he was never leaving Baltimore. Before the tag, the talked about price by the talking heads was 3 1sts, 3 2nds plus players along the line of DJ, Burns or Chinn. What’s your offer to get Lamar and plan to build around him after giving up all that plus a fully guaranteed contract?

At least Browns fans could wear a mask to hide their shame and everyone else thought they were just part of the Dawg Pound.

I still feel like Tepper was forced on us as revenge for Cam being so damn charismatic and dabbing all over Roger Goodell's brand.

He's not being talked about for the same reason Cam wasn't. Too much attitude for the owners. Scot and myself were 2 of the biggest opponents to getting LJ for pretty much the same reasons. With all he was going to cost, how do you build around him? Once the tag was applied, he wasn't leaving the Ravens. It was just a matter of the guarantee on the contract. If someone had offered full guarantee, the Ravens would have matched it. It wouldn't have been worth it not to. Prior to that, it would have been extremely difficult to do missing 1sts and 2nds for 3 years and some players, whoever that might have been, plus a hugely guaranteed contract that would have limited the ability to bring in talent. Add into that Scott Fitterer as GM and you have a dumpster fire that makes this one look like a smoke bomb.

The search for a new GM is already over. Nicole Tepper.. come on down. You're the next contestant on "How bad can I fug this up."

We don't want him to fail. We want him to succeed. Do we ever want him to succeed. It just hasn't been happening.

Just wait. Nicole is going to be our new team President.

He's playing every bit as well as our former 4th round Heisman winning QB.

With what we've seen this year, I doubt he'd be more than a late day 3 pick or udfa.

Because the asking price was picks and players. I don't know if DJ would have been traded same as you don't know that he wouldn't have. They gave up 2 1sts, 2 2nds and DJ for an unproven QB. We just gutted our offense for our rookie savant QB. They could have easily paid more for a former NFL MVP. No way to know at this point. All I'm saying is LJ would have had to agree to come here and seeing how this team would have been completely gutted of its ability to improve offensively in the next 3 years, I can't see him agreeing to that. Might as well stay in Baltimore.

You're making the assumption DJ wouldn't have been part of the trade. It was picks AND players. Part of the reason he was asking to leave Baltimore was the lack of talent on offense. I'm sure he would have come running with TMJ as his WR1.

3 1sts, 3 2nds plus players was the rumored asking price before the tag. Lamar's fully guaranteed contract plus all those picks would have created the exact situation he had been complaining about in Baltimore. No talent around him and cap strapped with no picks for 3 years would have just recreated it. If we had been able to get LJ and surround him with talent, I'd have been all for it. But the way Baltimore played it, it was never going to happen for us or anyone else.

From what I remember, Kobe had said he wouldn't play for anyone but LA. It's part of the reason he fell. Teams knew he wouldn't sign.

That post doesn't even make top 25 of cringe worthy posts on the Huddle this year.

Would I rather have Lamar than Young? Without a doubt. But you're using info we didn't have at that time. All I'm saying is there's no way the Ravens were going to settle for 2 1sts with the tag than what they were previously asking for him. Restructuring deals wouldn't have mattered because the Ravens weren't going to let him walk, even if we did make the offer.

You can manipulate the salary cap easily enough, but what purpose would it do to create all that cap space when you don't legitimately have a chance of actually making the trade? Asking price pre tag was 3 1sts, multiple 2nds and players. You think they were going to accept 2 1sts and walk away? No chance in hell. You don't shoot yourself in the foot just so you can say you fired a shot.

Quick glance at OTC, the Panthers had roughly 5m cap space available going into 2023 offseason. To even make the offer, assuming a 50m per season guaranteed offer, they would have needed to create 45m in cap space through restructuring, etc. There is definitely downside to doing this if you think the Ravens would match the offer. To make the offer, you have to be in the position for the other team to say yes. We weren't even close.

I have no idea what Fitts did or didn't do and I'm damn sure not a fan of his. My only thought is that someone at the top of the organization looked at what happened with all the restructuring to go for Watson and decided it wasn't worth it when the likelihood of actually getting LJ was nil. That's my hope anyway. Like I said before, if the asking price in trade hadn't been so ridiculously high before the tag, another team might have taken a shot at getting LJ. But with that price, I just don't think there was a legitimate chance of ever getting LJ, even if it was a fully guaranteed contract.

Maybe, maybe not. What good would negotiating with the Ravens have done once the tag was applied? The price was 2 1sts. Contract or not, it was just a terrible position to be in for another team. With the asking price as high as it was prior to the tag, I'm not sure anyone could reasonably expect the Ravens to accept 2 1sts and just let him walk without matching the sheet. From a business perspective, it wouldn't make much sense.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe I am. In order to make the offer, you need the cap space available. How many teams realistically had 55m plus per season available to make a fully guaranteed offer? And if you didn't have that money available and had to restructure contracts, look at what we did for Watson, and you knew that the Ravens could just match it, all you've done is hurt yourself to accomplish nothing. It's not like teams didn't want LJ. It's not just about the offer. It's what you have to do to your own situation to even make the offer.

I don't know about legit better talent than LJ. The debate I remember was always price and the ability to build around him vs Lamar. I would have been ok with Carr but nowhere near the price he got from NO. From what i remember, pre tag rumors were 3 1sts, 3 2nds plus players for LJ with his contract needing to be fully guaranteed. That’s an insane asking price, especially when you need to build around him. Once the tag was done, any legit shot at LJ was done. He was never leaving Baltimore. If someone had offered full price, the Ravens would have just matched it. No need to waste the 30 seconds on the phone call.

I blame Taylor Swift.