grimesgoat

I get what you are saying, but there is a mental part of the game that is difficult to measure. If you walk out and expect to lose (because you always do), chances are pretty good you will lose. However if you win, it builds confidence. You learn what it takes to win and you go about doing those things. Winning breeds winning. If you've played competitive team sports, you understand these things. I don't mind if a young team such as ours loses an individual game, as long as we are improving and not quitting. And I'm not seeing anyone quit out there. The real problem I have is the people who say things like 'typical Panthers, winning a meaningless game and messing up their draft position. They can't even tank right'. Those guys are losers.

Good luck getting your answers. My hope is that Panthers play hard and young guys get lots of reps. Build chemistry on the line and between Bryce and receivers. If we are underdogs and we lose, I won't lose any sleep. But if we are favored, like this week vs. Dallas, I will be disappointed if we lose. Draft status be damned.

Not sure I agree with all of this, but i love the out-of-the-box thinking. Great post.

I don't think our roster is that talent deficient. Other than Sanders and maybe Wonnum, no one looks grossly overpaid. The Moton cap hit is bad, but that is from all the restructures. But our line is decent and mostly intact for 2025 (other than Corbett). We're just drafted an RB, TE, and WR that we need to develop - maybe there is some talent there? On defense we will still have Horn, Brown, Robinson, and Clowney, who are all above average. I think the idea is to build through the draft anyway. Those are low-cost additions. Draft another edge in round 1 and a WR in round 2, and developing them. I, for one, don't really care that we don't have 100m to spend because I like the organic growth path they seem to be on. If you have to spend money, put it in the trenches. Our recent impatience has hurt us tremendously and put us in this hole. I'm giving it a good 2 years to see what Morgan/Cannales can come up with.

Can't agree here. We're showing 42m in cap space in 2025. Cutting Sanders clears 5m more. horn extension clears another 6-8. Cutting Wonnum gets us another 7.5. The cap will probably go up another 10-20 like it always does. And this is without any major restructures. It is a fallacy that it costs a lot of money to sign your draft class. 7 draftees come onto the roster to count against the cap and 7 guys leave that will no longer count against the cap. Its usually close to a wash. We have a full complement of draft picks for the first time in a while. We have very little dead money in 2025. We have our answer on BY (he sux), so we don't have that hanging over our head. Maybe we can convert that into a pick or two. And everyone's favorite whipping boy, Ian Thomas, will probably not be re-signed. I think the future is the brightest its been in 4-5 years. I am optimistic.

He was picked in the 6th round. He's a backup basically making the minimum. He played in 15 games last year. What were your expectations?

That's the confusing part. I always thought it accelerated in the current year too, but sportrac has it spread into 2025 and 2026. It would probably be impossible to absorb an additional 12m in the current season meaning they will have to hang on to him through this year, then try to move him in 2025, when they can spread the dead cap over 2025/2026 if they want.

his 2024 prorated 6m bonus is already counting in the salary cap. converting it to dead money does not change that. We call it dead money when the guy is gone, but before that we just call it signing bonus hitting the cap. sportrac seems to suggest an in-season trade would not immediately accelerate the balance of dead money. instead that would hit as dead money in 2025. The rest of the guaranteed money is on his new team.

There is an 6m or 8m dead cap hit, but his cap number of 8m goes away. Another player would then count against the cap, but that's likely only 1m or so.

I'd take a 3rd and maybe a future 5th. Or maybe a 4th and future 4th. Looking at the numbers, we'd save $2m this year but have a dead cap hit of around $12m next year. The trade partner would be getting a developmental QB that has been scarred by us on basically a 2-year $10m deal. I thought it would be impossible to move him, but there may be some takers. As someone said - he is a sunk cost. Get what you can and don't look back. It is awkward to have him around at this point.

pie for "flaming shitwreck". well done.

Part of that could have been to try to entice Houston to trade up. If Houston had taken the bait and given us 33 to trade places with us, we'd probably being sitting with Stroud and maybe Laporta. Man what a difference that would have made.

The FA QB list is pretty uninspiring. Re-sign Dalton or grab Lock. Draft a developmental QB in round 3/4. We're going to be picking in the top 5 next year, so now is the time to grab an edge. LB or CB in the second. I think these guys may know what they are doing with the draft. From the 2024 draft, I think Legette, Brooks, Sanders, and Wallace will all be starting in 2025 (and possibly Smith-Wade). There is a decent chance Raym will be our starting C next year. Another good draft in 2025 could set us up well for a real QB in 2026. I'm an eternal optimist.

Other than the last paragraph, I can't get on board with this. All the QBs had red flags. Stroud played at OSU, had ridiculous skilled WRs, and supposedly couldn't process. Richardson was wildly inaccurate. Levis was dumb and always played below expectations. Young was clearly the cream of the crop based on 75% of the pundits and scouts. He was the most pro-ready drop-in option. Alabama QB who won a National Championship and a Heisman. Seemed like a sure thing if size issues could be overcome. Human nature is to blame someone, but sometimes things just don't work out. I was team Stroud and now I look smart, but you never know what's going to happen down the road. Injuries, surrounding cast, coaching, all play their part. The good news (for now), is we are doing something about this going forward instead of wallowing in a seemingly bad call. It's going to take this group (Cannales/Morgan) 2-3 years to make something happen anyway given our draft/dead cap situation heading into 2024. I'm going to give them a little time to see what develops.

My sentiments exactly. I preferred Stroud, but once Young was picked I wasn't going to whine about it. I think he got a fair shake, but at the end of the day, he's just not able and ready. He may never be - depends on his work ethic and what kind of role he can carve out.