kungfoodude

Lance would have to be a big bust to not perform better than Jones, IMO. Fields, hard to say. But if Fields is a big success, we will also look like idiots.

I think Lance seems to have the drive more than Fields does. Everything you read about Lance is how he has a chip on his shoulder and works hard to get better and prove his doubters wrong. I haven't really seen the same kind of stories about Fields. Lance just seems to be in the mold of the strong team leader type player. Plus, physically he is the most gifted guy in that draft. Does he have the most work to do of the top 4 guys? Absolutely. I just personally think he will get there because he is self motivated(something I don't see with a guy like Darnold).

I would be curious to know if this was a genuine smokescreen or just the media types overreacting to Shanahan's public comments about Jones. I tend to think that the mock draft media tends to whip themselves and everyone into a frenzy with their speculation just to get more content to put out. I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would want to draft Mac Jones in the first round. Even with our QB problems, I wouldn't have wanted to take a flier on him until probably the third round. I think he'll end up being a decent 2nd string QB but there is almost nothing about him that says franchise or even consistent starting caliber QB. Lance just seems to be such an obvious choice for the 49ers with an existing above average caliber NFL starting QB on a contract. Let him develop and start the process of building for the future. That seems like the better option for sustained success beyond Jimmy G's time there.

I think Rhule's threshold for getting hell is gonna be a lot lower than that. We haven't had a winning season in almost four years, so that needs to get remedied first. I don't think even the most ardent Panthers fan genuinely sees a Super Bowl in the near future. We are quite a few years from being in that discussion again.

Every coach or coordinator eventually gets hell from the fans. It's just the way it is when you aren't winning Super Bowls all the time.

Yeah, I don't want this to stretch, especially with how Nashville is starting to lean goon on us.

I hope after Rod called out the officiating that we are fired up Sunday. I don't want to give then any momentum.

Pedestal? We are discussing sinking and floating turds. Yeah, I have heard plenty about how bad the Jets were. You gonna say that if he flames out with us next season? Is it because we are a dumpster fire franchise like the Jets?

Now that I can agree with. At least Darnold is going to try and sling his way out of problems and not dink and dunk his way out of them. The results might end up worse but when those gun slingers are on point, it's fun to watch.

The Jets article was depressing. So many guys we willingly passed on that supposedly fit our scheme very well. I hope all that trading down is gonna work out.

Or not had the Rams scoop us in the Stafford deal.

You are out of your mind if you think any of those guys are going to beat out Paradis without injuries being involved.

I am not sure I would describe the anticipation of watching Sam Darnold play as "fun." Watching Teddy play last year was frustrating enough. Sam Darnold has never been as good as Teddy was last year. I can't wait to see the 2021 Panthers....but I am not at all looking forward to seeing Darnold play. More like an impending sense of doom.

I mean, if I don't get that prediction right, I will assume the apocalypse has happened.

Contract signing imminent?

0-17 wins??

I agree with this. If we have a rash of TC injuries, that could change based on need but I don't think they are looking to add any 30+ year old guys unless they have no other choice.

I am going to withhold predictions until after Training Camp. I think given the turnover rate on the OL and at QB and on the defense, I want to see how those look early.

Well a three of the guys you are listing are from last year's class. I would say our 2021 draft class is really the first true "Rhule" class because the shadow of Hurney over everything prior to this offseason. We just will never know what portion he gets blame nor credit for. And I don't so much mean accolades in college as actual accomplishments. For instance, Tremble who was essentially a rotational player but his athletic marks are off the charts. They definitely seemed to lean high athletic ability and they have been vocal about that. My counter being, you have to be careful how far down that road you go. Everyone here remembers the persistent joke about how Oakland was going to over rank all the combine warriors. Winning the underwear Olympics means you have great raw ability but that doesn't mean you are going to be a great NFL player. Remember, most guys that reach this point are already amazing athletes.

Yeah and perhaps they don't value OL as much as we do. And also perhaps they didn't view Slater as an elite LT prospect. I was upset initially but I think we are gonna end up with a good player. The long term question of whether it was the correct choice is for another day. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing Horn develop and possibly become another top 10-15 CB, which we have been lucky enough to have a few of in the past 15 years.

We really have no idea whether these coaches have any clue how to be successful at the level. The early indications are they seem to know what they are doing but we also know that there were definitely signs of learning curves having to be navigated. I don't get too concerned about that. In a couple of seasons if you don't see the growth, then you really start to worry a lot. We will never know the full story on Teddy. Was that the rumored, "He was a Hurney guy" thing or was he a Brady guy or was he a Rhule guy or some combination? We'll never know. What we do know is that the boogeyman(Hurney) is gone now. The early indications of guys we were interested in (Stafford and Watson) clearly shows some ability to at least recognize what elite NFL talent is. After the past season, we are going to see if they have the ability to determine what a potentially elite QB is(Fields/Darnold). In the very likely event that Darnold fails, I am not going to jump off a cliff and start calling for the firing of everyone. We do know he wasn't even close to the first option we had in mind. So, the big test to me will be in 2022 when we are going through our third consecutive QB search. Do we keep making poor choices or do we get desperate? The next QB search is where I am going to learn the most about the staff/FO, IMO. I think every successive offseason and draft class will allow patterns to start emerging and we the fans to start to deduct whether we have the guys that can build a long term successful franchise or not. The best possible outcome is that we crushed free agency and crushed the draft. The likelihood of that isn't great but if we can at least clearly see that our decisions were largely correct, that will give the fans peace of mind and perhaps even great hope for the future.

The Caps vs. Bruins series is great because it removes one of the only two remaining teams I hate. I don't even care about facing either of them. Just let them lose.

Yeah, I have the same doubts in the back of my mind. Is he so confident in his ability to maximize everyone's potential, that he is ignoring what it takes to be a great professional football player? The warning signs are all there. Dramatic preference for very young players. Drafting guys based on athletic ability and measurables rather than actual accomplishments. When I let the serious doubts creep in, all those thoughts go through my head. I want that to be needless worrying.

That isn't Ned or his GF.