kungfoodude

I wouldn't. I also don't consider 3rd string caliber QB's as adequate replacements.

That's this issue with that list. Those were all downgrades.

I am gonna be honest with you, Willis is several years away from being a potentially viable NFL below average starter.

I mean....I think we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit there but Inhave been very pleased with the early returns. Cautiously optimistic.

Cheap would have to be the thing. If you are talking a 1 year, $2-3 mil price tag sure.

Yeah but Jones was a solid starter prior to Daboll and Baker was always a good QB. Geno is the outlier and Sam is gonna have to do this another year or so for me to believe. I understand people like those stories but they are memorable because they are rare. Most of the guys you listed, if not all, will probably be out of the NFL in 4 years. I am not saying definitely no, especially if Dalton retired or left for whatever reason but you named four very clear downgrades at QB.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46683459/2025-nfl-offseason-tiers-32-teams-best-worst-signings-trades-draft-barnwell Slightly above expectations Highlights: Trading WR Adam Thielen, signing RB Rico Dowdle (one year, $2.8 million), drafting fifth-round TE Mitchell Evans Disappointments: Re-signing CB Mike Jackson (two years, $10.5 million) The Panthers chose the right time to move on from Thielen, who had been productive in Carolina before being dealt to Minnesota just before the season. He has been lost in the shuffle there. While the Panthers won't see the fourth-round pick that forms the bulk of the return for Thielen until 2027, getting out from what was owed to a player who has 47 receiving yards in Minnesota is an easy victory. Dowdle has been a revelation since moving into the starting lineup after Chuba Hubbard's injury, becoming one of a handful of players in NFL history to produce consecutive 200-yard scrimmage games. The former Cowboys back was averaging 3 yards per carry before the opportunity, so I'm not sure I would count on him playing like Jim Brown the rest of the way in a rotational role alongside Hubbard. But it's hard to argue that Carolina hasn't already gotten its $2.8 million worth out of the 27-year-old back. Most of Carolina's biggest moves are either tracking to be right around expectation (drafting wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan) or have been impacted by unexpected injuries (signing defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton). Jackson was a pleasant surprise as a starter in 2024, and he hasn't been terrible this season, but most of the big plays against Carolina have come on throws against the former Seahawks cornerback. Overall, though, this has been a very reasonable offseason for the Panthers

I am not saying what I would or wouldn't want us to do because it isn't draft time. My general rule is that if a draft has very strong and deep classes of a position, you target those. BPA, after all. So if those "need" positions fall into that, fine. But we often as an organization ignore these things and reach in drafts that have weak classes at specific positions. Hence why I don't agree with your philosophy for the most part. It's easy to understand the "need" part. But needs shouldn't lead to rash decisions and poor drafting. The past decade has been a textbook example of that here in Carolina. Ignoring BPA and reaching for need more than vice versa. With hefty amounts of "smartest guy in the room" syndrome, which has been a massive accelerant to the dumpster fire. We just aren't going to agree on draft strategy. We don't view team building the same way.

I get that there isn't much to talk about but this is a hell of a thread to have reached 8 pages over literally nothing. Highly likely that it was unintentional to stomp on him that way. Even if it was somehow intentional.....okay?

This is basically me. I do think he has created quite a few of the problems the offense struggles with, outside of the bad QB situation.

He was just being willfully ignorant.

I think you might be surprised but that does happen.

I think people are going to be fairly disappointed that maybe DC doesn't have the high flying, downfield offense that a lot of people crave. This guy really doesn't wow me a bunch with his playcalling.

I mean we had more of a defensive need in the 2025 draft than we may in the 2026 draft(so far). But we took a TE. We did it in the 5th round. Also he has overwhelmingly been our best TE to date. He and the FA pickup. I think you just have an extremely skewed view of TE's in the NFL. I would implore you to take a look at some draft history, depth charts and career progressions of a lot of those players. You are going to see ample examples of lower round guys being drafted and then immediately starting at TE. The reason it isn't rare is that there aren't many TE's taken in the 1st at all. It's the same with other positions. You think that it's impossible to find a C outside the 1st? Well....most of them aren't 1st rounders because they rarely get taken there. How about OG? The NFL is mostly non-1st round OG's and the elite tier is almost all not former 1st round OG's. How about RB's? Pretty similar right? That's not just numbers, it's positional value historically. High value positions litter the first round. It's always been that way.

They are targeted towards the populace and they have more nefarious intentions, as well. Both are true. Hence the "ask your doctor about." That’s nuts. Hence why in a chunk of the European countries it is illegal to have such ads.

To be fair, it's a pretty small sample size but I think he needs to get getting a lot more reps based on the limited looks.

It applies to the offense largely, as well. Not as significantly but if you go position by position taking into account core players or guys that can't be upgraded, the numbers get pretty small. There is a ton of nuance to each scenario, as you are pointing out and I am very aware of that. There is no such thing as TRUE BPA because it flies in the face of logic. But overall, BPA needs to be the winning factor over need, IMO. That's how you end up bad for a long time by panic drafting. Gettleman, Rhule and Fitterer were the kings of that poo.

I think the issues are: - You think the TE's on the roster are much better than they actually are. - You are hyperfocused on the 1st round. - You are a "need" based draft guy. All of those can get you in trouble as a roster builder.

Well, I feel the same way about pharmaceutical, junk/fast food and political ads. They all cause active and KNOWN harm to the populace but we are the penultimate corrupt Western country, so that's just where we are as a society.

I would say the stat that generally flies in the face of that is his Bad Throw%. Let's compare it to recent contemporaries(2022-2025 1st round QB's) for career Bad Throw%. Jayden Daniels: 14.7% Drake Maye: 15.3% Bo Nix: 16.4% Kenny Pickett: 18.0% CJ Stroud: 19.0% Jaxon Dart: 20.7% Caleb Williams: 20.7% Cam Ward: 21.1% Bryce Young: 21.4% Michael Penis: 24.1% JJ McCarthy: 24.4% Anthony Richardson: 26.4% Now, notice which end of the list he has been on so far.

Honestly, those are things I expected and have been fairly underwhelmed.

Yes but this is under the assumption that most of the players are susceptible to this sort of coercing from those type of elements. I think those actual cases are rare. Plus the sportsbooks are more motivated than most to stamp it out because it loses them money. It's just a natural side effect of having gambling at all. IMO, better for it to be legal. Now, I do find it insanely hypocritical(but also typical) that all these sports leagues that once turned their noses up and were very high and mighty about sports gambling are so openly supporting it now that the megabucks are rolling in.

Well I should also say another caveat is positional value. You have to be careful violating that. For the scenarios you are describing, those are also things that free agency is for. Free agency should always set up the draft. Improve the roster and then go shopping for things to potentially take your roster up a notch. Lastly, we are in scenario 2. Our roster is still not good and we have holes at most position groups. We are actually in the "BPA All Day" range.

It's also waaaaay harder to accomplish because of technological advances. That was the benefit of being a late comer to the sport. A lot of overseas casinos have been steadilu developing technology to flag suspicious betting.

We are new to this because we are new to widespread LEGAL gambling. Look at the history of gambling scandals in soccer, rugby, cricket, etc. It's always been around.