Mr. Scot

And if he turns out to be a franchise quarterback, that's instantly going to become the best trade this franchise ever made.

See above.

That's the thing. Do we actually know for sure whether or not we have a franchise quarterback? With all due respect to our resident armchair GMs, we don't know that. Even if you take a guy in the draft, you do so because you believe he could be one, but even then you don't know. A lot of people in favor of drafting another QB high say so based on their belief that they already know Darnold isn't going to be good. I don't buy for a minute that the team believes that or would have traded for him if that were true.

Again, you think we could have traded for a guy that we don't believe in. I really have a hard time buying that idea.

The idea of a mock draft is it's supposed to be predicated on what teams think about certain players, not what the guy doing the mock thinks. That, to me, is where Simms fails.

If we hadn't already traded for a starter, I'd be completely on board with him. Of course, if that were the situation, he probably wouldn't fall to us because that's just how things go in Pantherland

It's very possible they take one. It's also very possible they don't.

No argument. I wouldn't want Jones either, but truthfully I'm not so much looking at particular players as I am particular positions. I think drafting a quarterback high in our situation is dumb, but that doesn't mean I'd be on board with drafting a linebacker or a runningback (i.e. the Marty Method).

If I thought they made a decision on a position as important as quarterback because "well, we've gotta do something", I'd completely lose faith in their decision making. And Lord knows teams never say things they don't really mean during draft season. I'll grant that the smokescreen thing is overrated, but it definitely isn't non-existent.

Granted, and if they make a decision I hate I'll be annoyed but I'll still hope for the best.

You realize Matt Rhule had a hand in bringing him here, right? He and Fitterer both watched the film of his entire Jets career before making the decision. This notion that they traded for somebody they think sucks is just insane.

Unfortunately, he has a point

Maybe you should tell that to the guy who said that his last few years in New York were basically his junior and senior years. He can be reached by calling the Panthers stadium and asking to speak to the head coach.

Congratulations on your purchase of the Washington franchise, Mr. Snyder.

I wasn't a fan of trading for Darnold, but now that we've got him I want us to do everything possible to help him succeed. Again, here's hoping...

Having to try and develop two guys who are basically rookies into NFL quarterbacks at the same time is a terrible problem to have.

The owner's best influence is hiring the football guys. His second best influence is, if they don't perform, firing them. The important part in this is being able to recognize what a good football guy is. Jerry Richardson's definition of a good football guy was someone he liked and who was loyal to him, regardless of whether he was actually qualified to be a personnel guy or not. Jeffrey Lurie seems to share the same philosophy. David Tepper's idea was a guy who had done analytics work rather than actual scouting (again, not something that gives me a lot of confidence in Tepper's football smarts). Matt Rhule wanted an experienced personnel guy that could help him build the roster. I'm thankful Matt Rhule won that debate. I recognize that we don't know whether Scott Fitterer will be a good GM or not, but at least we went with something that's known to work rather than trying to be the smartest guy in the room and do something different just because. Here's hoping...

I don't know whether Darnold is going to be good. I don't know whether Fields is going to be good. You seem to be pretty certain on both topics. Is there absolutely no allowance in your mind that maybe, just maybe, you could be wrong?

Well, maybe this will help. There were guys Tepper wanted for the GM job, including guys that nobody else was interviewing (seriously, Brandt Tillis?) and there were guys that Matt Rhule wanted for the GM job. None of Tepper's guys even made it to the second round. Rhule won that debate. I'd call that a reason for hope.

And if it turns out that Tepper believes in Sam Darnold, will you still be on board with this?

And within two years, the guy who was primarily responsible is fired in favor of the owners b-tch and the team is one of the worst in the league. If you're fine with that formula, you should be hoping Jerry Richardson somehow gets the team back because that's exactly how he ran things. One fluke season followed by several years of sh-t isn't my thing.

There's a huge difference between seeing "the quarterback position is important" and saying "this quarterback is the guy". If you say the second, you're being an evaluator.

Marty's gone, man. That's the best thing I can tell you.

You know as well as I do that not every NFL owner is "hands on", just as you know that the smartest ones tend not to be. Tepper himself has mentioned that the best way to operate is to get people who know what they're doing and let them do their jobs. He's also spoken about how sometimes the smartest thing he can do is realize how much he doesn't know. I'm hoping he's consistent with those words, and that's not going to change based on whether or not he agrees with me.

I know it's a sore spot for you. Trust me, it is for me too.