Mr. Scot

The trade packages that are being discussed now are exaggerated to the point that about the only comparison is the Herschel Walker trade.

Articles like this are basically just sh-t flinging. They don't really look at the details.

McCaffrey, Burns, Anderson and two first round picks... No way in hell.

Maybe teams don't like it? I know NFL Shop prohibits certain things (Carruth jerseys, for example). Could also be that people have done that in the past and then tried to get refunds when it didn't turn out.

I get the sense that if Panther fans spend months salivating over Deshaun Watson only to see us wind up with Mac Jones, this isn't gonna be a happy place to visit.

I think they do that sort of thing sometimes around free agency time. Not sure what the harm would be but that's their thing, I suppose.

The problem in most of these places is they're seen as quarterbacks who just happened to be on exceptional teams rather than exceptional quarterbacks. And yeah, previous draftees have lent a lot of support to that idea.

No argument. He wouldn't be my choice, especially not at 8, but if we take him I'll hope for the best.

"I'll take 'Things Nobody Needs To See' for a hundred, Alex."

I think Jonathan Stewart nailed that one.

Well, technically he's not here right now because the Texans still refuse to trade him. I have no trouble believing Watson would like to come to the Panthers, as well as several other teams. The idea that he prefers the Panthers seems a little sketchy to me, but I don't think he'd block a trade here either. None of this matters unless the Texans change their mind, of course.

Joe Person's latest Athletic article is better. He asked three NFL personnel executives to rank the top ten Panthers players they'd want to trade for.

Today is the first day that NFL teams can officially start applying the franchise tag. Expectations have been that the Panthers will franchise Taylor Moton. Players from other teams that are heavily speculated to be franchise candidates include Dak Prescott (Cowboys) Chris Godwin (Bucs) and Allen Robinson (Bears).

I'm waiting to see whether Matt Rhule is a good as we think, whether Scottt Federer is as good as his reputation and whether David Tepper will keep his hands off and let the people who know football do their jobs. It absolutely has been a poorly run franchise for pretty near all of its existence. Those factors will determine whether or not it still is.

Don't think so, either.

I know he mentions Tepper in his comments, but part of me wonders if the intimidation thing wasn't necessarily about him. Remember a while back Igo was saying that Rivera and Hurney were basically afraid to say anything negative to Newton? That was a big reason why the stories were coming out about Ken Dorsey not being a true quarterback coach. That'd definitely qualify as being "intimidated".

Heck, he was hired because he had a connection to someone who worked well with Carson Wentz.

I guess it falls under the category of "seemed like a good idea at the time" for the people who were making the decisions.

You're not the only one to say that.

I forget who, but there was an analyst not long ago making an argument that as far as his final college season vs Tua's, Jones was actually better. Me? Don't know.

The radio station doesn't likely have their own sources. That's why I'd wonder who the sources they're referring to would be. Typically I'd expect it to be somebody like Rapoport, Schefter or Breer.

Meaning they don't like we have their own sources, so they'd have to get it from somewhere. For what it's worth, Aaron Wilson did say a short time ago that Watson liked the Dolphins a lot as an option. He mentioned the Panthers as interested but said nothing about Watson's feelings toward us.

That's a legit Twitter for a North Carolina sports radio station. Haven't seen this anywhere else though.

If we were in a better place as a team, I'd be fine with trading up or trading away picks. We have too many needs right now, but that doesn't mean we won't be in a better place later.

I might like Sam Howell better than any of the current three behind Lawrence.