kungfoodude

@Basbear great use of PFR's CarAV. One of the better metrics around for arguments like this.

I think we will have a good idea of what that class is around 2024 offseason. If we haven't gotten at least 2 quality starters from the 11 picks, it was a very, very bad draft. That's my baseline for success.

You are aware he came in here professing himself a New England Pats fan, correct?

The reasoning behind wanting to hit on more early picks is basically you want to crush the easy picks and not flub then. Plus the hit percentages in those three rounds are generally higher. Nothing wrong with hitting on later round picks. It's awesome. But the percentages of those hitting are quite low so you can't count on that with any regularity. Even the best drafting teams don't have exceptional hit rates on 4th-7th rounders. That's why I am generally more focused on that 1st-3rd round.

You want to hit on your top picks, those are what make the core of a team. 4th rounder and lower are just nice surprises. If Smith actually pans out, that would elevate the draft immediately. I think we SHOULD feel very good about Horn. Smith seems promising and hopefully he becomes a top 4 WR for us. If BC can be an average or better NFL starter, he was a hit. If Tremble can stay a starter for the remainder of his rookie deal, he was a hit. If Taylor stays on as a depth guy until his rookie deal is up, he was a hit. That's already a pretty good draft even with TMJ likely being a bust and most of the rest unlikely to make any impact. Then again, if BC is not a good starter and Smith never can break out, it's looking pretty rough.

Could also be that he was trying in vain to shop him. Who knows? It definitely isn't the first time we have seen the team talk glowingly about a player and then cut them. It's a Rhule era thing.

Morgan wasn't as strong against the rush as he was expected to be.

It isn't a good sign to see so many jettisoned already but if we hit on at least 2 of the top 3 picks, it was a good draft.

This is a very weird and slightly snotty take. Nixon being cut is a surprise because he was cut over some guys that could easily be construed as worse. Now, is that a sinking versus floating turds argument? Most likely. Curious to see if Nixon clears waivers and signs on the PS.

Mac Jones.....get ready....

True. He never was able to capitalize on that potential.

It does seem like an improvement on a weak area. Guess we will see how it works out.

Solid run stopper also supposedly a pretty dirty player. The Nixon cut is baffling. That draft class looks weaker and weaker.

I'll wager about 60% of those are actually New England bandwagoners that jumped over.

Our most delusional sunshiners and biggest negative nancies don't hold a candle to Falcon or Saints fans "regular" fans. I'd disparage Tampa fans but they will just disappear again once Brady is gone. They never really have any actual fans. Just people taking time away from getting hammered, high and hanging out on the beach.

Yeah, I am skeptical of our run defense overall because I just think we run a scheme with personnel that aren't suited to excel in that front seven. We have some high caliber talent but the overall makeup and especially the depth seems much more suited to creating pass rush pressure than being physically dominant or locking down the line of scrimmage in the run game. We will see, though. Maybe it is better than expected

Not sure that will be true or not, depends on how they use the personnel. We thought putting Fox out on the edge last year would result in better run support last year and that still didn't materialize. I think the general scheme we run is basically pretty weak against the run. Our front personnel are also pretty weak overall against the run so that probably amplifies that. It will be interesting to finally see what the position group performances are.

I would say overall roster is probably bottom third of the NFL. But we are a bad team that has been rebuilding for three seasons. That's kind of the lot we have for the moment. The important thing is that it appears to be improved over the roster we fielded in 2020. Now THAT was a bad team.

I can agree on DB and WR but outside that our depth is very, very thin at most positions.

Given what we preached about Rhule's track record of third year jumps, I think 10+ wins and a playoff berth are necessary to be "successful." Ideally a win in the playoffs to establish with complete certainty that we have had a monumental jump to being a success again. Either less than 10 wins OR less than 1 playoff win have to be failures, IMO. If you want to keep selling further improvement and the future being bright, you have to show something more than 0-9 wins and no playoffs.

I expect it to be a hard fought game. I think our OL will struggle a lot with their pass rushers. CMC will keep them honest by gashing them a few times. I suspect they will try and run the ball down our throats and have a lot of success with that. I think we win the TO battle and that is the difference. Panthers in a close victory. Concerned about DL/OL and CMC's health.

The odds of us beating a Tom Tampa team seem extremely low. This isn't Rivera who had Tom's number.