Captroop

I like the XFL kickoff rule. Incentivizes teams to kick a returnable ball, but no one can build up a full head of steam for a neck-breaking collision. And here's an opportunity for Special Teams coordinators to get crafty, and for fringe special teams players to shine.

There's a lot of talent playing in the Championship game on Saturday, after which time the players are available for NFL free agency. I expect a lot of teams (and hopefully the Panthers) talk to Abram Smith. I don't think he's an "invite to training camp kinda guy," someone will sign him to a contract. He looks like a solid second string RB to me, with a nose for the end zone, who could help us out a ton in red zone situations.

Abram Smith has been outstanding here in DC. I don't know if he'll make his way to Carolina, but he should absolutely catch on in a RB 2 or 3 role in the NFL. Kid just can't be kept out of the end zone. Occasional fumbles, but a quality RB coach can fix that.

Agreed, and I will enjoy watching the friendship/rivalry between them throughout their careers.

Corral is unironically the kind of player who could benefit from a stint in the XFL. He was never going to be the guy here after the regime change, and there's not enough tape on him for another GM to make room on their roster for him. His prospects in the NFL are dim right now, and he'll have a lot of trouble shining as a backup to a backup somewhere. So, in my opinion, like Rick Dalton, he should go to Rome and star in Westerns, so to speak. Go, actually start, and if he's the star he thinks he is, shine. And with some solid tape, he maybe gets a shot on an NFL team.

Looking that way. If Levis doesn't go to Detroit, he could fall to the second round.

I wonder if Levis tumbles now.

Keep showing me that DeMeco Ryans cake. Mmm! Must be my birthday!

That's my quarterback now. Wishing him all the success in the world and a title run.

Sure, some people won't be surprised now. But the flip side of that coin is if it's left a surprise, half the fanbase is going to be disappointed. I'm okay with leaking it (telegraphing it , bat-signaling it, whatever degree of transparency the FO goes with) now so deniers have at 4 days to cope and at least accept it by Thursday night, so we don't have a bunch of whiners in here bringing everyone down.

Like all 3. Want Stroud, and I believe he'll be the best at the NFL level. But acknowledge that at #1 you have to go with the closest thing to a "sure thing" and today that's Young.

That's arguably worse. That means only 18% of test takers scored worse than him, and this was his second attempt. So in a room with any random 10 college football players, only one player has a lower cognitive processing ability. Ouch. I still like Stroud a lot, and if we'd stayed at 9, I feel like there's now a solid chance he would have tumbled to where we could get him. We don't need a mental giant at QB. Cam was never going to get into MENSA. But when you're picking #1 overall, the stakes are way too high, and a score like that is whatcha call a red flag. I concede. Can't take the risk. Not only do I agree Bryce is the pick, but I actively don't want Stroud at #1. Hooray.

I've seen D3 schools with better looking uniforms.

Bad example. I said I'm NOT into it... *edit* but I see what you did there

I was more excited for Stroud. But I'll believe in our the former QBs in our FO to be making the right call here. Let me go watch some Bryce highlights and see if anything gets me excited. I gotta be honest, this is like trying to rub one out to a video where the star just really isn't your type. That's Bryce. My semi-flacid fantasy QB.

Valid. Also valid. Would be interested in his take on Stroud. If he want on the air just to talk about Bryce, I agree with SPV; it's a lock we're going with Bryce and this the start of that uniting the fanbase effort that was alluded to earlier this week. No Panthers fan in their right mind is gonna question Luke.

This is a very interesting take that I hadn't heard before, but it makes all the sense in the world. In marketing terms, it made sense that you'd want to play up the rooting interests for Bryce and CJ and tease the mystery out until draft day. And in business terms it makes sense to do the same to ensure that pick has the highest value possible if you're entertaining the idea of trading back. But in emotional terms, this 50/50 split is terrible fanbase management. You don't want people so dug into their camp that half the fanbase is booing when the pick is announced, and rooting for the guy who isn't their guy to fail to prove themselves right. In terms of driving ticket sales, the team needs to start telegraphing and hyping up the guy they intend to pick, starting now so everyone is either excited or at least warmed up to the idea by the pick is announced.

It's just so painfully 90s and so painfully Cowboys. I'm glad to be rid of it. That said, I hate the idea of white helmets. We're named after a black cat. Why the hell would it be white?

Could be the next Kyle Boller.

I'd love to see it. Seems like a good, dumb California kid, who has been run through the wringer of some of the worst situations in the NFL to start his career. He wasn't a bad guy or a locker room cancer. I don't know what his ceiling is, but I know the Jets and the Rhule Panthers sure as hell weren't the way he was going to find it.

The 2015 NFL MVP is also available... Just sayin is all.

I prefer Stroud, but enough people seem to think Young is a no brainer. That's not what the Huddle thinks, it's what analysts, former players and talking heads think. Believe me, the Huddle's talent evaluation factored exactly 0% into this thinking. If another team absolutely is head over heels for Young, then we have an enormous bargaining chip if we're threatening to pick him. Hell, we could even pull an Eli Manning and draft him at #1, and then trade him to Houston for the #2 pick plus plus. There's a scenario where we wanted Richardson all along. We knew he wouldn't last until 9, and we ran the numbers and assessed that the net cost will be less to move down to 1 and back to 4 than to move from 9 to 4. I don't necessarily think that's the case, but if you believe any of the "Carolina loves Richardson" rumblings, it makes sense.

I'm sure they'll tell anyone who will listen they want to take Young at #1 as long as their sure word gets back to Houston and Indy.

His last game in the NFL simply can't be for the Rhule Panthers. That's just sacrilegious. So for that alone I'm rooting for him. The other side of that is his last game was with the Rhule led Panthers. Behind that historically bad line. He just needs a Baker to the Rams stint when a QB inevitably goes down this year to prove that he's worth a 1 or 2 year hitch as a journeyman QB with some team.

I have a suspicion that we're not done trading yet. Fitterer is a savvy wheeler and dealer, and it could be that trading up to 1 was a move to have our pick of trade-back partners. It's possible that if we figured at 9, we wouldn't get any of the top 4 QBs. But trading up from 9 to where we could get ourselves a shot at them would cost multiple firsts. But now, sitting at 1, if we trade back to 4, say, Indy gets their QB of the future, we get our pick of Levis or Richardson, and we probably take a future first in the deal, and we're effectively getting the QB we wanted for just DJ Moore.