Khyber53

Select free agents as mid-price players with high leadership and locker room skills with great practice commitments. Grab your stars and role players in the draft and have them molded by the vets who make up the kind of team you are trying to be. With the right core of solid players, you can make a lot of progress farming up first and second round picks, getting five affordable years out of them and then moving on, either trading them away or grabbing compensatory picks when they leave. It's not flashy and doesn't make sense to the fantasy football crowd, but really, a team only needs one or two star quality players on it to make it big. Those two must be ones that are directly involved in every play, though, like a QB, DE, MLB or OT. That being said, if your team's star player is a WR, you've got a problem, because it's a crap ton of money on a guy who might figure heavily into one third of your offensive plays.

I think we'll move to the draft for pass rush guys, maybe even use our first on it. Edge rushers, especially free agents, are just too expensive. Better to grow your own.

I'm enjoying the new defense, especially in contrast to what Evero trotted out there last season. If he keeps this up, he's going to be getting some HC interviews, which I think was the reason that we retained him. And this year, he's earned those opportunities. Best of luck to him.

The thing is, he was a full grown man in college, but in the NFL they grow 'em bigger. Takes time to adjust and D-line is a lot harder than people think.

Honestly, in his second year, I spent a lot of time wondering if he was going to be the guy. That should always remind me that none of us are a finished product. I went from questioning his value then to where I am now in realizing that he is a franchise cornerstone that can completely set the tone for our entire defense. And folks, I believe he's feared by other teams. Especially after last Sunday. He's a monster out there. Thankfully, he's our monster. (I hate saying that because by all accounts, he's a wonderful fellow).

Anyone who says Bryce is this or isn't this is just basically pulling it out of their ass at this point. No one knows whether Bryce is the man or if Bryce is a total washout. I don't know it, you don't know it. Canales doesn't know it. Heck, even Bryce doesn't know it. He's either learning his game or he's just getting lucky. He's either putting the team on his back for wins or he's causing the losses and deficits all on his own. The only thing that Bryce is, at this point in his career, is a quandary. We'll have to just keep watching to see how it turns out. At least it's interesting in December for the Panthers for once in a long, long while.

Someone who is quiet in the defensive backfield is a good sign. Chris Gamble, back in the day was the silent assassin. They never said his name on TV after the first couple of seasons because other teams just gave up trying to throw to his side of the field. Scott might not be that level, but he's sure holding down his end of the job.

This! It changed everything, didn't it? As did the Green Bay and Dallas games in their own rights at that part of the season. This is a remarkably scrappy team. It just keeps getting up off the floor and goes back into the fight. That's not something you want to see ahead of you on the schedule, twice, as you try to get into the play offs. It's all playoffs for us from here on out. Won or done should be the team mantra.

Might have more to do with three touchdowns. Gimme 3 TDs and 84 yds passing and I'm going to be okay with that. Give me 1 TD, 422 yards passing and 3 INTs... well, nah. The number of yards matters much less than where those yards were on the field.

Right now, all that means is that an option is likely to be exercised. We were keeping him for year four no matter what and we will probably keep him around for year five. Both of those years would be at what could be considered reasonable fees for a QB. What kind of QB? Where on the depth chart? Doesn't say a thing. Not one damned thing about it. And that's because we don't know what we have yet from Bryce, still. But let's be honest about a few things since Canales came along. We are actually showing the kind of progress you want from a head coach. He inherited a run down, poorly assembled team that was more used to being doormats and losers than anything else. And he elevated the squad with limited resources last year, even at one point benching the starting #1 pick QB for poor performance and keeping him from starting until another injury forced his hand. And somehow, with a historically bad defense, we managed to win some games that we had no right doing and playing a couple of other championship level teams to a near deadlock. And we moved into this season with Bryce back under center and we've had some serious ups and downs for the third year QB. And the rest of the team. We're getting better but we are far from a finished product, especially at QB. But we are sitting here with a winning record and two wins against teams where the betting line had us at 10 point underdogs. We actually have a shot at the playoffs. Last year, that would have been completely unbelievable. So, here we are looking at giving Bryce that coveted 5th year option and the money and commitment that comes with it. What does that do? Well, it gives Canales and Bryce another season to fix what is broken and to grow, which he is (in fits and starts). Can Canales coax that record setting Bryce out a bit more? He did against LA last week. Maybe there's more growing to happen there. And well, as much as we might kick the walls at that thought, it would be good for everything to finally pay out on that gamble we made. But what it doesn't do... It doesn't lock us into not drafting a QB again, possibly one on Day 2 or 3 of the draft to keep Bryce's seat warm and to groom for the future. It also doesn't prevent us from snagging a FA QB out there if the right one comes along that Canales feels more confident. And if another team with a desperate need at QB or a good team in need of a quality back up comes sniffing around, there are two years on a decent contract available for trade. There's no lose in exercising the option. There are some opportunities.

This 100%. The "nobody saw this coming" game. Okay, Jake apparently believed it could happen.

Pay it now rather than later. Steady has a value all on its own and that means if you have a top 12 LT, they are probably going to need to be paid like a top 5 LT just to hang onto them. Give him top 5 salary today and it'll be a bargain compared to what it will be next season.

More than people, myself included, want to acknowledge. It's not just a coach that players need to want to run through a wall for.

Those three touchdown passes were pretty decent, though. Even the most cynical has to agree to that.