Mr. Scot

Lamar Jackson probably isn't going to like hearing that

I once logged in and saw 100 notifications, all of somebody going through my posts just to poo on them. I got a good chuckle out of it

I think there are some of us here who don't like anything or anyone

Well now at least the new jerseys will have the "process blue" right

Actually looked up the lyrics to that song once. It's even weirder when you can understand them

I'd say the "dum dums" are the ones who think you can make a choice like that strictly by looking at a physical comparison. Thankfully, our people dug a little deeper than that.

The Richardson thing is based in the idea that you can take a super athlete who's only got raw quarterbacking skills and train him to play the position just as well as someone who has all the skills already. It's what the 49ers believed when they took Trey Lance.

Quick note to the folks who take the oddsmakers too seriously...

Yeah...I could see that.

Not sure what it's about, but...

Nah Young is everything I'd typically want in a quarterback, just with durability concerns because of his size. Have to help either those concerns don't manifest into anything or we protect him well enough.

Kind of a valid question

Priorities...

Wouldn't that be some carnage? Someone said they thought I'd crow about it if a trade down happens. Not really true. I've long said it could happen but never predicted it would. There's not a lot to crow about if all you've done is acknowledge that anything can happen

You mean Joe Judge... (Joe Douglas is the Jets GM)

Were they only looking for bad comps?

I get that. I also remember "tackle monster" Eric Reid all too frequently going for a big hit and completely whiffing

To be fair, there's a big difference between being the hitter vs the hittee

I've compared Newton's accuracy to Brett Favre numerous times, and still do. Both were more "general vicinity" accurate than pinpoint accurate like Brady or Brees. Likewise, both were capable of throwing a damn near laser accurate pass, then following it up with a pass that made you wonder if they needed to get their eyes checked

In his latest Athletic article, Joe Person charts the path for how we got from "there to here" in this year's draft evaluations. As you might expect, a fair amount of this particular writing reviews events covered previously, but I've highlighted some particular areas of interest along the way. Starting with... Oct. 20, 2022 The Christian McCaffrey trade to San Francisco wasn’t the Panthers’ first after they fired Matt Rhule following a 1-4 start and replaced him with defensive assistant Steve Wilks. After Robbie Anderson got in an assistant’s face in Los Angeles during Wilks’ first game as interim head coach, Fitterer somehow finagled two late-round picks out of Arizona for the mercurial, overpaid receiver. But the McCaffrey deal was the biggie — a move that sent the Panthers’ best player to a team with Super Bowl aspirations near where he played his college ball at Stanford. And though the Panthers didn’t receive the first-round pick they were seeking for McCaffrey, they received a sizable haul from the 49ers for the versatile running back — second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth in 2024. - I'd forgotten about the sideline thing. Anderson really did turn into a problem child while he was here. I'm still amazed that we got something in return for him, especially given just how little he contributed to the Cardinals after he got there. ... With McCaffrey exiting on the heels of Anderson, it was fair to question whether the Panthers — owners of the league’s worst record (1-5) and the 32nd-ranked offense — were tanking to get in position for a franchise quarterback. Wilks, the former Arizona head coach who would fire several of Rhule’s assistants during his tenure as the Panthers’ interim coach, was adamant there would be no tank on his watch. - Fitterer confirmed the "no tanking" mindset later on. “Once you know you’re not gonna be in the top five, it’s, ‘OK, how we gonna get there?’” Fitterer told The Athletic at the NFL owners’ meetings last month. “But let’s worry about that later. Let’s win now.” ... Feb. 27, 2023 The Bears arrived at the combine ready to take offers for the No. 1 pick. While the rest of the team’s contingent stayed at the busy JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis, general manager Ryan Poles tried to keep a lower profile with a suite at the Hyatt. That’s where he and Fitterer had their first trade talks during a 20-minute, Monday night meeting at the start of combine week. Poles told Fitterer what the Bears were looking for, and Fitterer figured immediately the Panthers would have to include a player in order to jump up eight spots from 9. - We've seen the names of the players that were discussed, but while reiterating that they didn't really want to trade anybody, Fitterer expresses how they settled on Moore. “There were certain players that we never really wanted to trade,” Fitterer said. “It’s so hard to replace a Derrick Brown or Brian Burns, a pass rusher (and) an interior, dominant young player on a (first) contract. DJ, we didn’t want to move, either. But it’s a little bit easier to replace a receiver than it is a pass rusher or a three-tech.” ... March 7, 2023 After leaving Indianapolis without a deal, the two GMs agreed to check in the following week. Poles was trying to pull off two trades to maximize the return. He wanted to switch places with Houston, which has the second pick, and then move from 2 to 9. But Texans general manager Nick Caserio wasn’t committing. When Fitterer called Poles on March 7 while driving to his daughter’s high school soccer game in south Charlotte, the Bears GM encouraged Fitterer to make his move. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, if you want to jump in on this, make an offer,’” Fitterer said. The two talked throughout the Marvin Ridge-Covenant Day soccer game, with Fitterer also checking in with Tepper. By the following evening, the framework of the deal was in place. - Still wonder how that sat with Fitterer's wife and daughter ... March 10, 2023 Rumblings about a Panthers-Bears trade started surfacing Friday afternoon. It was official by happy hour: The Panthers would send Moore and four picks — two first-rounders and two seconds — to Chicago for the opportunity to pick first, which they had last done in 2011 when they drafted Cam Newton. The Panthers’ decision-makers — including Reich, assistant general manager Dan Morgan and VP of football administration Samir Suleiman — celebrated in Fitterer’s office. It didn’t last long: They had to call Moore and tell him he was going to Chicago “You go get the guy that you want. If you have conviction on a guy, you go get him. It’s pretty simple that way,” Fitterer told reporters at the combine when asked about the advantages in moving up for a quarterback. - People have made a lot of Fitterer saying "the guy", treating that as proof that they only have one player in mind. It wasn't. He was answering a general question with a general answer. As Person confirms below, it wasn't just one guy at that time. ... March 23, 2023 When they were willing to go up to 2 when a Chicago-Houston-Carolina trade scenario was being discussed, the Panthers were comfortable with two quarterbacks, believed to be Stroud and Young. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact day when they began focusing solely on Young. But high-ranking officials with other NFL teams believe the Panthers began to lock in on him after going to the pro days for all four quarterbacks: Young, Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis. - Again, people had been thinking that the decision was already made early on, but Person says nothing was really "official" before the pro day tour. It appears that's when things came into focus. ... April 18, 2023 Fitterer, Morgan and college scouting director Cole Spencer conducted their pre-draft news conference on the same day the Panthers wrapped up their final pre-draft visits with the top quarterbacks by hosting Stroud and Levis. Fitterer maintained the Panthers still had not narrowed their list. “This is a big decision for the organization,” he said. “We don’t want to lock on something early on just to decide that’s our guy. We want to keep this process open all the way through.” - This has been stated and restated, and yes I think they believe it. Person does speculate that Fitterer "offered a clue" by talking so much about Bryce Young, but I still don't think you can say that given that nearly every question was basically about Young. That's basically confirmation bias talking. What else was he supposed to do? ... And so here we are, just a few days from seeing how the whole story turns out. Bottom Line: It took a lot of work to get here. Don't let that work become a waste. Get it right.

At least early on, it felt like every pass he threw was shot out of a cannon. That doesn't necessarily make for a catchable ball, especially on certain routes. (Favre had the same issue, as I recall) Turner seemed to help with that, but I'd say it was his default throwing style.

I'd agree. In general, the team has gotten very good at plugging leaks, at least to the media. I don't know that I'd expect it, but there's at least a chance that we might all be shocked on draft night.

There's a chance of looking bad no matter who we take. You have to hope the team makes the right decision.