t96

Bryce ended last season at least 10x better than his play pre-benching. But that's mainly because of how truly atrocious he was in year 1 and at the beginning of last year. Like just flat out mind bogglingly bad for a 1st overall pick. Sure Reich and the team around him were a shitshow too, but Bryce started out even worse than Clausen was. His play after the benching showed me he can be an NFL QB, but still very very few hints of the potential to be a legit top tier franchise QB and a guy who can win a SB in anything other than a 2000 Ravens or 2017 Eagles type season where the D is that insanely good, or everything else goes right as in the Eagles case, for example. I just don't see Bryce being anything more than an efficient game manager at his peak. Nothing about his game says to me that he'll be a player that other teams actually try to game plan for. Could that be enough for us? Maybe, but I would strive for better and would not want to give that type of QB a 2nd contract. We'll see how he does this year with a legit OL, seemingly decent offensive coaching (and consistency there with the staff returning), and now a possible top skill position group too (yes the WRs and TEs are young or coming off injuries but the talent is there and a lot has been invested in the positions). In my view there are no more excuses this year and it's time for him to really put up or shut up. 5.5-6 out of 10 seems pretty fair, I'd still go lower like 3-3.5, but it was at a negative 10 when he got benched so certainly trending up going into this season.

Lol I actually don't have much hope for the team this season. I think the D will be a mess and Bryce will suck again. Hopefully I'm extremely wrong on both of those counts but I don't think OL and skill group strengths will be enough for the team results to show up. I do think it's possible we're on the right track in building this team up, but I suspect we'll need a new QB and just more time to add young talent to the D.

Honestly think we'll wind up having a top 10 skill position group. Hopefully that along with OL and decent coaching will have Bryce looking like the franchise QB we all hoped he would be.

figured as much -- bummer that he wouldn't participate here when all those other core players and teammates of his did. oh well

Cool, actually looking forward to this. No Cam in the interviews though??

Yeah that would be dumb. I’m far from sold on Bryce and think more likely than not he’s gone within 2 years, but Kyler sucks and is paid way more

They thought Romo would save them LOL. How short lived that hope was for cowgirls fans. Was a lovely thanksgiving. As horrible as the ending to that season was, man the ride was an absolute joy, especially compared to what has happened in the decade since that season. Miss prime Cam, Luke, Greg, TD, Kalil, etc. so much. We have some young promising guys but not a single player on the roster since like 2020 has felt like a true Panther and leader in the mold of those guys. Shaq was solid and a great team guy but we haven't had anyone with the intensity of that leadership group from 2013/2015.

It's going to take time to really evaluate new ownership. I still have some hopes that they can get us past the curse of the Jordan years. We got screwed over by the league with the lottery yet again, nothing in this draft was ever going to make people happy after that happened.

I really can't believe the hype this dude has gotten this offseason because of a handful of slightly above average games to close out last season. Granted slightly above average is lightyears ahead of where he was pre-benching, but still. Not buying into the hype until I actually see something on the field that resembles a top tier franchise QB. Haven't seen that yet.

Posted before in this thread, he broke his leg late in 2015 after being dominant in the slot that year too, pretty sure that injury prompted us to sign Finnegan out of retirement (who to his credit was great as a late season injury replacement off the street). Not that it would've made much of a difference in the SB anyways with our OL getting killed, but we got absolutely decimated by injury at CB late that year with Bene breaking his leg and I think Peanut Tillman tore his achilles or something in like week 16. That was rough. But yeah Bene was truly a great slot corner, one of the best in the league, before that injury. Then in 2016 he came back out of shape and without the agility he had before and was just not good. Rivera inexplicably matched him against Julio without any adjustments that game and then we cut him. He had declined enough anyways but I hardly blame him for the Julio game. Dude was a slot corner who was already struggling that year, not someone you matchup against a guy who at the time was easily a top 3-5 WR in the league, if not the best...

I saw the same thing lol, couldn't believe my eyes. Apparently they were so hurt at safety they signed him to practice squad in November and he immediately slotted in for 7 starts. All at safety. Pretty sure the tiny dude was Sanchez and was one of the victims along with Benwikere to Julio's infamous 300 yard game. I think he only caught passes against those 2 guys all game, with most being against Bene. Barely played after that, rightfully so.

Of course, I agree. Gamble did it way longer here. If Bradberry played at that level here for as long as Gamble it'd be closer. Bradberry actually has had a pretty under the radar career post-Carolina too. Many will remember the game-ending hold in the Super Bowl but the dude did have a pro bowl season and another 2nd team all pro season after leaving. Gamble (outrageously) never even made a pro bowl.

I was as big of a fan of Josh as anyone and was pissed about that situation then and still am today. But Bradberry was also a legit #1 corner for a while here, not as flashy as Josh or as mentioned before in this thread not at the level of Josh's peak, but he was more consistent and just a quiet stud. Like Gamble was. Was just correcting the post from before about how the draft was completely wasted trying to replace him, which is a notion I just disagree with. Bradberry was a great pick and legit #1 corner. As I already posted, the rest of the draft was an absolute disaster but we did come away with a Josh replacement. And yeah it should've been both but I'm just evaluating the moves after the Josh fiasco. Also worth noting we did have Bene who was coming off 2 incredible seasons before breaking his leg late in 2015. I don't think anyone expected him to fall off nearly as much as he did following that injury. If he had gotten back to that level of play, Bradberry on the outside with him in the slot would be a decent pair to bolster a corner group. Those 2 plus a veteran outside CB signing after the Josh fiasco would've been a reasonably good group. But Bene couldn't get his conditioning back and sucked and DG was confident in 3 rookies which was dumb as hell.

Bradberry was a great pick and worthy replacement. Rest of that draft was ass though

I think Rivera could've been an all time great HC if he were like 20-30 years older. Dude's defensive mind was legit and he was a hell of a leader, but he couldn't adjust and adapt to the modern game.