kungfoodude

Agreed.

Oh it's a step down. It just depends on how much. Hopefully not a lot.

The NIL didn't break the system. The system has always been broken. Now all the issues are laid bare because the actual players get a piece of the money above the board. The problem is that the conferences and schools are too focused on tearing each other apart and none of them care about the health of the sport. This is the difference in college and the NFL. In the NFL, you don't allow existential threats to the product. In college, they routinely work against their own self interests.

Yeah, I mean it's hard to envision him being worse than Bryce was. I just don't know if it is better enough to really have mattered much. It doesn't matter. It is what it is now.

I mean, he was last season too. Burrow has not ascended to "NFL protected" status. The closest we have to that is probably Mahomes.

I mean, he would probably have last year. That was utter chaos.

I mean, I used to have his posters on my wall in the early 90's. He was my favorite NFL player and MLB player at that time. He is an egotistical douche, though.

Yeah, when I make those kind of statements about our roster(as I have over the past 2-3 seasons) I don't think it is hyperbole at all. If you think about it, our roster SHOULD be really bad. Our previous two GM's(Rhule and Fitterer) were horrible. Add roster meddling by ownership and this SHOULD be the expected result. Hence why I say the performance of our offseason additions this past cycle are very critical. If we see a bunch of bungled moves, the future is going to be pretty bleak, once again.

Yeah, if we were not playing well at OL this year, that should be someone's job. Either FO or in the coaching staff. This was a line built to be good. Admittedly, I was highly skeptical of Corbett at C. He has really surprised me by being as solid as he has been.

That's just frustration with the situation. If anything, their anger would largely be directed at ownership/front office/coaching staff. Basically whomever is responsible for him continuing to start games. It was quite clear that the players frustration was growing in interviews. However that would have been unlikely to manifest itself as a bunch of hate and vitriolic outbursts towards Bryce. He is just doing his job. He just also happens to REALLY suck at it.

There has never been any QB in Carolina with the pure arm talent that Cam had. Not even close.

It's definitely the most talent deficient roster I can recall since 1995. Defensively the talent is just basically Brown and possibly Horn. There is little in the way of homegrown talent, mostly a mix of journeyman on their way through. Offensively it's just the OL and maybe some decent players like Hubbard/Tremble. The elite talent on the roster is basically just Brown and, in theory, Horn. It's pretty sad overall. But, if we get something more in the next 14 games from our FA signings and perhaps some of the draft picks show any inkling of development, there is future hope. If not, it's basically just the continued talent spiral downwards to who knows what end. I would like to think this is finally rock bottom and the start of the upward climb. Unfortunately with the Tepper Panthers, sometimes it can actually get worse.

Very similar. The 17 game averages reflect that Carson was a slightly more prolific passer.

He looked good in the preseason and wasn't a disaster on Sunday. I think he can develop into our IOL version of BC(who was pretty shaky early in his career too). If Zavala progresses, we will finally have something we haven't had for YEARS. Some actual quality OL depth behind a quality OL. This is why I have always been a favor of continuing to draft OL every single draft. That's how you build and develop a stalwart OL that can buoy your entire offense for years to come.

There are plenty of candidates for that, actually. Plus they might actually just tag out on IR.

Some of the moves you are talking about would also reduce the roster to under 40 players(the amount we currently have under contract with that ~$42 mil in cap space per OTC). That isn't including a QB salary(Dalton isn't on there) and when you are looking at maybe $55-60 mil in cap(if we do everything you say), it's going to be tighter than you think to sign almost 20 players, including a starting QB. The point being is that to have as little overall roster talent as we have, we should be looking more like the Pats, who have a projected $138 mil in cap space for 2025 with 39 players under contract. That's what a talent deficient roster amount of free cap SHOULD look like.

I don't think people realize that Bryce isn't some super villain character in a Marvel movie. All these guys are on the same team. If they were at each other's throats or as backstabbing as people sometimes assume, we would be even more of a disaster than we are now.

He has actually done fairly well in the 2011-current time period. He's firmly in the above average range, IMO. Definitely not elite. I don't view him worse than Derek Carr, for instance. I would say he isn't worse than guys like Goff, Lawrence, etc. Maybe not a high bar to hit but he's(career wise) probably at the top of the #3 QB grouping(Elite, Near Elite, etc).

Age isn't a concern until it just suddenly is. More of these guys go out looking like Peyton Manning(minus NFL gifted ring) than they do Tom Brady.

Well he was a 3x Pro Bowler.....

But also immediately incurs an additional dead cap lump sum, making it $8.2 total dead cap. The question is how much of that is "new" dead cap. I think it would be about an additional $6 mil, correct? If OTC is correct about the prorated bonus money, anyway. Either way, I am curious to see when they opt to move him. If he lasts into the 2025 season, I will interpret that as Tepper still doing Tepper things.

It does acceralte to the current league year. If you read the rule, that is what happens. That is why they posted the $8 mil dead cap hit. That's all new dead cap.

Well Dalton's contract runs out at the end of this season. Even if we do resign him, there is no guarantee he will be there more than a couple of more seasons. I think some of it will just boil down to what Johnson thinks of this scenario and the money we offer. If he is looking to win, this isn't the spot. If he is looking to get paid, it might be.

It's not size, it's longevity

I would not say he is a proven #1. That is what he is hoping to prove here. Dude, to be this cap strapped and also talent deficient is nuts.