Mr. Scot

Not necessarily everybody. You? Definitely. You''d fit in pretty well as one of Jim Rome's "clones" given that you seem to value being opinionated and arrogant over being informed.

Not that I can recall.

Pretty much. Gregg Rosenthal called us "a lousy franchise" that was gonna have a lousy year just prior to the 2015 season The same talking heads that call us irrelevant one week will talk glowingly of us the next if we make a move they like. It's not their job to be consistent on a team like us.

Ben Johnson dropped out waaayyy before things started heating up. Reich was being reported as having impressed the team well before the first round of interviews was even finished (Sheena Quick was one of the first to say so as I recall). I'm also going off of prior years. I'd add that "Athletic" Joe is far superior to "Observer" Joe. Person's definitely one of the better sources these days along with (obviously) Darin Gantt, Ellis Williams and Mike Kaye, who's risen to a "go to guy" level pretty quickly. At the national level, the NFL Network guys - Rapoport, Pelissero, Farafolo - are (also obviously) plugged in, along with Albert Breer and Jonathon Jones. among others.

I'd call it informed speculation. Person has a pretty good track record on these things.

On that same front...

There was actually pretty ample evidence that Reich was the guy before it happened.

Person mentions #3 as a likely target... The Panthers are considering all options, but they know they would have to switch places with Arizona at 3 to ensure they get one of the top three QBs on their board. While the Panthers are impressed with Anthony Richardson’s raw talent, my sense is they view him as too big of a gamble to trade up for. Then — assuming they don’t pursue another free agent such as Jimmy Garoppolo — it becomes a matter of which QB they like best among Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis. The Athletic

From Joe Person in The Athletic (link) The Panthers are considering all options, but they know they would have to switch places with Arizona at 3 to ensure they get one of the top three QBs on their board. While the Panthers are impressed with Anthony Richardson’s raw talent, my sense is they view him as too big of a gamble to trade up for. Then — assuming they don’t pursue another free agent such as Jimmy Garoppolo — it becomes a matter of which QB they like best among Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis.

Skip Bayless would be proud.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, but not everyone's opinion is informed. But again, In a world where a discretion is moderated by guys like Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd and the like, in an environment where opinion and reporting are one and the same, this is what I've come to expect.

Probably, but I'll give him credit that at least sometimes he's now asking questions rather than just dogmatically voicing his own opinion. Not in this thread, though. I'd call that a safe bet.

Again, the fact that you're still talking about Will Kunkel tells me you're really not getting it. Oh trust me, I get all of that. The 24/7 news cycle has changed things forever. I do remember a time when you could talk about sports more deeply, but guys like Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd have ruined that forever.

I really don't think you do. You're looking for a "gotcha", something you can use to discredit somebody. Maybe that makes you feel more self-assured. I don't know. It's consistent with the way a lot of sports talk is these days, though. And honestly for me, that's a shame. I wind up feeling like I'm trying to have a Greg Olsen style discussion in a Jim Rome world.

Major irony here, dude. But again, you're not gonna get it. Your view of things is a little too simplistic for that.

It's a bigger discussion than Kunkel, but I don't think you're getting the larger point.

Not when it's one that demonstrates you don't get it. We just had a discussion about how one of our resident insiders accurately reported our interest in Derek Carr. People goofily tried using the fact that Carr signed somewhere else to discredit them. That's not how the real world works. All sports reporters are covering situations that are very fluid. It's the nature of their business. If you don't understand that, you're not gonna be able to apply a realistic standard.

Oy

Read the post again. The point was that people often judge reporters unrealistically, with one of those standards being whether or not it's something they want to hear. Another example... Reporter X writes that the Panthers are interested in Free Agent Y... Free Agent Y signs somewhere else... The Huddle concludes that Reporter X doesn't know what he's talking about...

Oh yeah, that's absolutely what I meant by that analogy

I totally trust the coaching staff... Until they make a decision that I disagree with

I remember a lot of fans talking about how great Gil Brandt was when he spoke positively of Cam Newton prior to the draft. Later on, when Brandt pointed up some issues in a then veteran Newton's game, some of those same fans came back and called him an old codger. It's a time-honored Huddle tradition that a reporter's reliability depends mostly on whether or not you agree with their opinion. So if you think the Panthers should draft Anthony Richardson, Kunkel's likely a hack right now

He's not the only one saying that. It pretty closely matches what Joe Person has said.

Both of those things were actually true at the time they were posted. Things change