Mr. Scot

I will say that as bad as some coaches can be about wanting to fix headcase players, fans are worse. A while back, somebody on here wanted us to go after Titus Young.

Was watching when that happened. The assistant or whatever she was that talked about "a man of his statue" didn't exactly help things.

He never reached the level of Aaron Hernandez

Might just not have been publicly known before that. Social media probably wasn't as big a deal back then either. I know some of the crazy sh-t Charles Haley did was kept under wraps for quite a while.

Steve Smith can probably find out where you live

Not sure which direction you're going, but yes it's also true that negative memories of a player being a dick can downgrade them too. For evaluative purposes, I always try to keep those things separate. If you're a coach or GM though, you don't have that option. You have to take the bad with the good. Sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes it isn't.

Looking back at those two games, it felt like Staley had Canales' number and Moore had Evero's. Evero is likely gone next year but If that's in any way true, it could be trouble for us in the future.

Doing these kinds of things with a player like Owens is kind of a double-edged sword. Amazing ability, production, etc but also huge amounts of hype, self-promotion, media coverage and things of that sort. I remember one NFL guy talking about coaches (I think) who were objectively phenomenal coaches but didn't really get a lot of attention or job offers because they weren't self-promoters. In a world with Internet, social media and 24 hour sports coverage, It's not that difficult for even great players to be overhyped.

Number two would put him over guys like Fitzgerald, Irvin, Harrison and Megatron. Not sure I could go that high.

Not at all... Heck, if anyone in our current leadership had that attitude, I'd be lobbying for them to be on the unemployment line.

Not just talking about the guys we've already discussed. NFL history certainly has its fair share of head cases.

Which time? (that's happened to him more than once)

Owens is probably the best player in this scenario, but Lord knows there have been plenty. Antonio Brown is another that comes to mind. George had fantastic physical traits and ability but Ryan Leaf level attitude.

It isn't just that they're not mathematically out. In order for what you suggested actions to take place, the Panthers would have to believe they're out. Nothing I've seen indicates that's even in the realm of possibility right now. We all knew the "reality" that the Rams were going to walk all over us too. I'm not ready to say we'll make it, but I've seen enough weirdness this season to not bet huge money against anything.

Same was true of Jeff George. Those guys just about always wind up being one or two year rentals... sometimes less Hell, people took chances on Diontae Johnson.