kungfoodude

I think part of the deal to lure Urban Meyer(who will almost assuredly be a huge failure as an NFL head coach) was the opportunity to coach a guy like Lawrence.

You are discounting scenarios like the 49ers who are a ready made SB-caliber team in need of a franchise QB. Or even a situation like Chicago where the injection of a franchise caliber QB could make them immediate contenders. Or if you want to go even crazier, how about New England where they will likely be getting back a lot of players that opted out for COVID. I do agree that I cannot see him wanting to go to some of these traditional loser franchises(which we actually do fall into that category at the moment). If that was the case, why not just stay in Houston?

If we did actually make that move, we'd basically make his contract even more of an albatross. He was paid to be the best RB in the league, not a hybrid utility player that we could have paid substantially less to obtain(and likely gotten a much better receiver). CMC will remain a RB for the remainder of the time that we decide to keep him.

TBQH, even if we were at #1 overall, I wouldn't completely shut down the idea of obtaining Watson. I'd entertain offers from Houston, at least. I love Lawrence as a prospect but....Watson is an MVP caliber NFL QB. Proven and extremely young. I cannot recall a recent case of that being available like this.

Henne wasn't atrocious in his stint replacing him. For all we know, Matt Moore's time in the NFL may just be near completion. Remember when Derek Anderson was the "best backup QB in the NFL" and very valuable for us.....until he wasn't.

Well, you have proven elite player at the NFL level and you have, "Gosh, I hope he becomes a proven elite player at the NFL level." Then it just becomes about what that vision for the future of the franchise is and how to achieve it. We have no idea whether the franchise wants to make that kind of a bold move or gamble on a rookie. TBQH, it's possible we choose neither for this offseason.

Wow.

Lol. If only that were possible.

I share those concerns but he is still our best offensive player until this past season becomes a larger trend. Moore is a budding star but he's also a guy that has a lot of unreached potential whereas CMC is basically already the best at his position in the league. Let's hope our fears about the crazy mileage he racked up are unfounded. That would be pretty destructive to our franchise future to have to jettison him and eat the cap hit that would require.

RB's don't have high value in the modern NFL, this has been discussed ad nauseam. That is largely the view of the entire league, so it isn't a minority opinion. The "best safety we've had since Minter" also didn't play much safety and he's just a rookie. I love him and I want to keep him but we cannot pretend that he is a 10 year All-Pro player. He MIGHT be. The best interior lineman we've had since Star is fine, although once again he was largely potential in his first year. I didn't see anything that made me say he was untouchable, although I would not personally want to get rid of him. The "DE who hasn't peaked yet" is already putting up statistics(especially advanced statistics) that are close to some of the premier pass rushers in the NFL. He also happens to play a position that has the highest value among all those you listed(RB, NT, S). You can quote history but you are also ignoring market value and positional value in the NFL. Take a look at every offseason for the past 20 years and you will see precisely what I mean. A pass rusher like Burns would command a VERY high salary on the open market, hence his extreme value on a rookie deal for three more years. I don't want to trade any of those guys but to get one of the elite QB's in the NFL at 25 years old??? Yeah, all of them would be on the table for me. Every single one of those players is way easier to find than an elite QB in the NFL. You want history? We've only ever had one elite QB in the NFL in franchise history.

He is our best offensive player. But that also doesn't necessarily mean he is our most valuable offensive player, either. It's entirely possible that either Moton or Moore could get more money than CMC on the open market, although perhaps not in the COVID reduced salary cap world.

This is all theoretical. There is no indication of a trade scenario actually happening or being proposed. The most that is known is that Deshaun Watson is extremely upset with the Texans and some of his teammates have expressed to him that he should probably get out of Houston. For all we know, Watson wants absolutely nothing to do with the Carolina Panthers. TBQH, we currently are arguably the worst team in our division, so unless he loves the area or he believes in our current franchise vision for the future, I doubt we will get a serious look. No reason to take this discussion as anything other than what would make sense if a trade scenario were possible.

We wouldn't trade CMC, Chinn or Brown but we'd trade Burns??? I gotta be honest, if that was our line in the sand, there wouldn't be much difference in our leadership now and what we just jettisoned in Marty Hurney.

It's not rare in most states.

That isn't a real or fair comparison. There is no RB in the league that is worth what an elite QB is.

We can't trade a free agent. Curtis is a free agent. It's too early to say what they do or don't want. They have no head coach and their GM was just hired. Plus with Watson leaving(and it isn't a sure thing he is yet) I would think there could easily be an exodus of talent much like we saw after the 2019 season. It's hard to say what they do or don't want.

I hope that is accurate. It would be a big shame not to see that monster, QB vs. QB matchup.

Making Burns and DJ untouchable also removes basically two of the three trade assets we have(BB, DJ and CMC). We love Chinn and we love Brown but those guys aren't terribly high on the positional value scale either. Elite pass rushers and potentially elite pass catchers do fall under that category. And CMC is just an elite player, so he is obviously included even though his contract situation is bad. The big benefit we may have is if Watson just WANTS to come to Carolina. If that happens(or if he leaks any sort of list of teams that he wants to play for) it IMMEDIATELY tanks the trade value for him. If he comes out and basically says, "I only want to play for the 49ers, Dolphins or Bears." Well, now you just have a three team race and the cost isn't going to be, "highest trade offer from a 10 team group." That is why this whole thing is so incredibly interesting, because of that no-trade clause.

Keep in mind that the "offer made" may end up being one of the least relevant things about this trade(if it happens). Watson has the ability to veto any trade due to his no-trade clause. Frankly, it may not matter how sweet a deal the Jets could make. If Deshaun doesn't want to be a Jet.....he isn't going to be a Jet.

I don't think it is a matter of forbidding that move. I think almost every GM in the NFL without a franchise QB would gladly trade CMC(or any other elite RB) for a QB like Watson. The issue is that Houston has to want a player with a salary like that at a devalued position in the modern NFL. I don't really seen that as very likely considering they are already struggling with cap issues WITHOUT the impeding hit that a trade would cause.

They mostly get paid by teams that don't end up reaping the rewards of those payments. Not sure the team that is about to have one of the worst salary cap situations in NFL history is a great example of financial responsibility, either.

Yeah, that's certainly possible. Nerve injuries around the spine are crazy. I have flare ups of sciatica in my lower back and that can completely overwhelming all the feeling in your lower body. I have heard stories of having similar instances in your neck and how debilitating it can be.

The choked out theory? No, that isn't really plausible. I could come up behind you and slip you into a chokehold for roughly that time(0.5-1 sec) and you wouldn't enjoy it but it would hardly be enough to even make you start to lose consciousness.

Yeah, it's not an area you want to have an injury in. I've only had one concussion(probably moderate) but it definitely deleted some time for me and caused some odd lingering effects. I've had minor neck injuries and those are pretty strange(like I described before). Let's hope he doesn't suffer from more concussions in the next few years. I really want to see him play in the NFL for a long time.

I have heard some wild theories already. One that he was "choked out" when he fell. But as an MMA fan, you don't choke someone out with a 0.5 second neck crank. You have to stop the blood flow for that to actually work. It looked like a concussion and I'd say it was a concussion. Even though his head didn't hit anything that hard he did suffer a violent deceleration and that was probably the cause of his brain smacking his skull(if it was a concussion). Just another example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet."