kungfoodude

I don't think adding Mayfield makes up for that. Winning games does. That's the situation we are in. It's easy to nitpick and snipe at all aspects of the franchise with four straight losing seasons. Winning fixes all that. People will very easily forget the sins of the past when high on current success.

He is so ill-suited to being an NFL QB that you wonder how anyone scouted him and didn't pick up on it? It's wild.

Oh, I know. I have a big fear that a 7-8 win team would mean Rhule is safe. That would immediately mean that we had the worst owner in the NFL. I don't want to see that happen because that is the moment all hope is lost for Panther fans.

I think the chances of that happening are fairly low, TBH. The schedule doesn't look like that will be an easy task and this is a very thin roster at some very critical positions. It may take a Hurculean effort from Baker to drag us to a winning record.

I will never understand the infatuation Rhule had or has with him. It defies all logic and reasoning.

Yeah, I honestly don't see Baker staying if he plays well unless the team experiences a lot of success which I think is pretty unlikely. Namely because if we fire Rhule(very likely) and don't have a winning season(extremely likely) then our entire situation is going to be in flux. That means we have to convince him to stick around through a coaching change and that could be pretty hard.

Well Watson was generally acknowledged as an elite QB and Mayfield has yet to ascend to that category. So perhaps we can at least avoid that class of contract, should he and/or we decide to continue this relationship. If Brady retires, I am not sure that every team in the division isn't possibly looking for a starter. After all, this isn't the Sean Payton Saints so they may not be that quick to throw their chips behind Winston. I do think the chances of him going back to Tampa are very low. I don't think either party wants that.

The market is TBD for 2023. I know he would be probably #3 in the free agents "possibly" available at the moment. And it is a very thin QB pool, so a good season could be a huge boost to his value. I suspect there will still be at least 6-8 QB desperate teams, so it will come down to the FA pool, their draft positions and the draft class strength. As a "way too early" prediction, I think he will have to sign one more "prove it" deal at lower than elite money.

Oh you are preaching to the choir on the lack of OL(and really DL) investment. It's mind-numbing. This isn't the only situation in the NFL where the GM is subordinate to the head coach in personnel issues. It's hard to justify turning down a very clear career path upgrade like we offered him. So, I definitely don't agree that he should have held out for some other GM job. I am a little concerned about his wild trading too but not all of it may land in his plate. I am not trying to mount some defense for him, I just don't think we are seeing him in a traditional GM role so it's pretty hard to assess how good he is without having an insane level of access that we don't have. Assuming he gets traditional duties in 2023 after Rhule is gone, I think we can judge him a lot more accurately.

You are talking about YEARS into the future for things like hometown discounts, unfortunately. Ron had that at a certain point because he was beloved by the players, even with relatively modest success. And we are nowhere near "ring chasing" status very, VERY sadly. If Baker plays at an elite level in 2022, there might be a run on him. But if he plays at a good to above average level then I think his future will be a lot more unclear. The one benefit that he will have is being a true free agent versus late offseason trade bait, like he was in 2022. A lot of QB needy teams had already set their positions by the time he was openly available. 2023 will be a much more true look at his league wide value.

Yeah, that 40+ mark is still going to be considered the "elite line" for one more offseason, unless we see a huge cap adjustment in 2023. The only QB that probably has made it past that line that most didn't understand was probably Murray.

I don't think it's very fair to judge Fitterer yet since he is more of an assistant GM than a real GM. Once Rhule is gone and assuming he is finally able to claim a traditional GM role, then he can be judged accordingly. Rhule has final say, so I believe he does deserve final blame. I am a little skeptical of Fitterer but he isn't getting the same opportunity that most NFL GM's are.

Baker would have to decisively show he is the guy to garner a 40+ mil deal from us, I will wager. And we don't know that Fitterer or the new head coach will be sold on him to that tune. I think the real question(and this is heavily dependent on how good he looks this coming season) is will anyone else in the NFL consider giving him that big of a deal? Given the general lack of interest in him this past offseason, I have my doubts. If I had to guess, he will have to sign a "second tier" level contract on a shorter term deal somewhere in the NFL.

Jesus. I should have known.

I don't know, the guy played 48% of all offensive snaps last year and started three games but has literally produced next to nothing. His crowning career achievement has been the 7 first downs he has garnered in 13 games. I mean...that's literally it. 10-15 years ago when it was common for WR's to struggle early in their careers, I wouldn't be as concerned. But in recent memory rookie WR's have been making big contributions. Even now in year two TMJ is fading away, while a player like Shi Smith is showing he should be seeing the field.

Yeah, this dude is fighting for his job. what does he really care about a guy the GM said might be the future of the position? Don't forget that he also intimated in a PC that Corral wasn't playing up to the level that dicated he should be getting more reps. Not saying I agree with the sentiment but it does show how little Rhule cared about spending time developing him. After all he had that Darnold vs. Mayfield competition to use reps on in practice.

I don't think anyone on this team is draft against Rhule's will. He is the GM, after all. I am just not certain he was really viewing Corral the way that Fitterer talked about him. I do agree that the next staff is even less likely to be behind his path to being the "future" at QB. He's in an unfortunate situation. While he obviously hasn't looked good, I do wonder if his contemporaries from the 2022 QB class wouldn't have also looked bad or struggled if they had been in Carolina.

College stats don't equal NFL success. Hubbard is a very obvious example of that.

Chinn is exceptional but the 2nd round isn't "mid round." Shi, BC and Tremble are potential long term starter material. The book is still out on Taylor and Smith. TBD. I am not suggesting we have been incapable of drafting anyone outside of the 1st round but that their success level seems to be rather Hurney-esque.

Well considering what we fielded at backup QB this offseason, anything past Mayfield was always going to be bad news. I don't think Darnold, PJ or Corral would have been capable of winning many games. Given that fact, PJ probably isn't the worst of those options. He might even be the best of them.

That extends to last year, as well. He appeared in 48% of all offensive snaps last season(including 3 starts) and generated just 17 receptions for 138 yds and 0 TD's. Consider how many QB's this guy has had throwing to him thus far in just a year span and he isn't often targeted. That's definitely not a good sign. I think the play that he slipped on a route and fell, while Shi Smith got open for a TD was basically a microcosm of his career so far.

Jesus.....what's the scoop?

Or how about Mike Davis? Maybe we could have kept Mike Davis, who had better running ability AND the pass catching ability of Abdullah? Normally I would be all-in on bringing in a draft pick to bolster depth but Hubbard wasn't the guy, quite obviously. So, we got rid of two productive veterans for a Matt Rhule's wife experiment. What more really needs to be said?

I don't even know if Rhule sticking around will help him. Rhule didn't seem to want to give him many opportunities, so I somewhat wonder how attached he is to him at all. Does make me wonder how much he really wanted a younger QB in the first place.

TBH, outside the first round it seems like we are making a very Hurney-esque effort. We seem to be using later round "swing for the fences" strategy of recruiting outlier athletes. I'm not anti-high caliber athlete but it does seem like we often prioritize measurables over playing ability.