Mr. Scot

Schefter's rumor was based on the narrative that Reich wouldn't take a talk short quarterback. It was proven wrong, especially if you look at the respective timelines. Also, here's some of the parts you skipped... Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer, head coach Frank Reich, and owner David Tepper talked about the process that led to Bryce Young, when they said they went in with an open mind, that's the truth. ... Tepper was watching Reich when Young was breaking down his process of identifying opponent tendencies. "Just the reaction around the table," Tepper recalled. "Frank's eyes go wide; it's like holy s---." If they had conviction before that dinner, it might have been cemented that night. ... A whole long description of the process, none of which describes David Tepper as making the decision, only being asked if he was "comfortable with it". There's also the bit about Nicole Tepper really hitting it off with CJ Stroud to the point of him calling her "Mama Tepp" But hey...

Hasn't that narrative been around forever though? How many times have we seen somebody predict that this is the year Eric Bieniemy gets a head coaching job...only to see it not happen?

Also this... Last Monday, Fitterer went to Reich's office and finally asked which quarterback he liked. They had held off asking each other their preference so they didn't contaminate the process. "That was about a five-second conversation," Fitterer said. With the big decision made, the draft day itself was almost anticlimactic and definitely more relaxed than last year, when they were pacing and sweating and hoping left tackle Ikem Ekwonu would fall to them at six. Again, obviously made up, right? Darin Gantt sure did go to a lot of trouble to write these fictional stories covering for what really happened 🫥

Take this, for example: So that next weekend, before the Panthers went to Atlanta and lost an overtime thriller, Fitterer and assistant GM Dan Morgan and vice president of football administration Samir Suleiman headed to Knoxville to watch Kentucky's Will Levis against Tennessee. After they beat the Falcons three weeks later to improve to 3-7, Fitterer and Morgan used the road trip to Baltimore to slide over to College Park, Md., to watch the Terps get carved up by Ohio State's CJ Stroud. One of the televisions in Fitterer's office, the one to his left, eye level from his desk, always has game film on it. And last fall, it was often college film. As the year went on, you'd see more and more Florida tape in addition to Kentucky and Ohio State, as they started getting intrigued by Anthony Richardson. But seldom did you see a lot of Alabama on that screen. It wasn't due to lack of interest. Asked during that stretch last fall if there was a quarterback in the following class they had "conviction" on, and Fitterer laughed. "Yeah, Bryce Young, but it's not like we're going to be in a position to get him," Fitterer said. Now, we know for our wonderful Huddle sources who have absolutely no inside info whatsoever, that David Tepper was the guy who wanted Bryce Young. So obviously all of this must just be made up bullsh-t. Seems like an awful loy of effort to go to just a fabric and a narrative, though

Lemme help you out here... Here's the full behind the scenes story of the Panthers draft process. Conviction: the inside story of how the Panthers chose Bryce Young Now granted, it's written by Darin Gantt, so obviously we can't trust anything that's reported, but hey

In other words, you actually are full of sh-t And hell, it's by your own admission that you like to defend stupid points just to argue. That said though, this year I think you've exceeded your quota.

FYI: You're agreeing with someone who's been trying to argue that Rhule didn't actually have full control when he was here. You signing on with that one too?

So you should have no trouble going back and finding articles by legit insiders reporting that Frank Reich didn't really want Bryce Young, right? I mean, I'm sure the video from the pre-draft process is going to back you up because after all you're not just full of sh-t, right? Oh wait, I forgot, the Panthers doctor that video (Matt Rhule didn't really have full control either)

Maybe he's finally got an OC not named Turner that he trusts more. Could wind up biting him on the ass though.

Maybe those scripts are already written

I don't expect us to win a lot this season. That's not gonna prevent me from being excited as long as I see progress though.

Meanwhile in DC... Mind you, this is from a not-so-reliable Twitter account, but it brings to mind a potential scenario.DC If the Commanders new owner were to fire Ron Rivera midseason (or even after) would Eric Bieniemy be promoted in his place? Might Ron have unwittingly hired his own replacement?

Not knocking him. He was my preferred choice. I wouldn't mind seeing him succeed.

Re: tonight

You mean everything wasn't supposed to be perfected in preseason?

Heh

Not even close, dude And as mentioned, his "involvement" has been ezplained. And no one, not even people that he's fired, have said anything to contradict it. But yeah, "proof"

Or at least better than Justin Fields (granted that's not a real high bar to clear)

That's because the answer was dumb Also find it pretty funny that you're trying to argue Scott Fitterer is a bad GM while also suggesting that it's David Tepper making the picks. If Tepper makes the picks, what does it matter who's the GM?

Yeah, that's weak It's also false given that even per Rivera's own account, Tepper just made a comment like "maybe you could try going 3-4". He didn't dictate that they switch. And as we all remember by watching, Riviera didn't really switch anyway. If you want to go from that to saying "he told us who to draft", yeah sure

This strikes me as one of those times where either a team or the quarterback himself is trying to make a point that he can win as a passer. One, that's just about always a sh-tty strategy. But more to the point, if you have to go to an effort to try and prove something like that, it probably isn't true.

Funny you should bring up the Commanders. Remember after his firing, Jay Gruden told the story about how Daniel Snyder would essentially tell them with the draft picks were? Tepper has fired two coaches and one GM. The team has also parted ways with a high level executive in Pat Stewart. Has any one of them come out and made similar accusations about Tepper? Hell, even inveterate excuse maker Matt Rhule hasn't suggested anything like that.

Watching a pro day doesn't equal telling your people who to draft. Hell, if I were an owner, I'd go to The Combine , pro days or anything I could. But I'd also be smart enough to know I'm not a professional scout. (Tepper has said that too)

Yep. Did my fair share of damage to myself over the years. I know a while back we had a thread where we talked about old sports injuries. Seems like a load of us were walking wounded