d-dave

I'm with @rayzor in that I'd rather be enjoying that dreading. I'm not sure how you can enjoy football dreading each game or season. Not for me! I expect another struggle bus season, but I do expect Bryce to play better, the defense to keep chugging along (depending on what happens with Burns). I think we'll see improvements in many areas, maybe chase .500 for the season. I think they can be a scrappy team. I know many are ready to just drop Bryce like a child at a fire station, but he was widely considered a top 2 pick by almost the entire NFL media machine, and many teams as well. So there's no question of his talent or ability to play. The problem is the system in 2023 sucked horribly. It's up to Bryce and the rest of the team to show us who we actually drafted.

If nothing else, he's seen up close and personal what bad decisions look like. I'm rooting for Dan, Dave and the Panthers. I want to see our team get better and be fun to watch again. I've enjoyed the hopeim that the NFL has spun for us. Good lord these guys make me hopeful. But I'm also careful not to get too wrapped up in that. Burned too often. Hopefully, things work out. I want a fun Panthers team again.

Funny topic. It's a pass for me. I'm not giving up draft assets for a guy we already passed up who hasn't shown that he's an improvement over what we have. This season we'll either see Bryce improve, or he'll deliver us another top 5 pick to use on our next QB.

I love Cam Newton. For his time as a player, and I do enjoy his post career interviews and youtube. Though I still hate his social media font. I do have to be critical though of some of the conflict videos that come out when he's around a bunch of other football players and coaches. For all that Cam is, he's still got thin parts of his skin. He still get's really upset at certain issues and will pop off something inflammatory. Like when he was getting ragged on by kids about the Super Bowl fumble and his response was "I'm rich." There are aspects of his history and personality that, despite him being so out there and proud, are the tender underbelly of his ego. Cam has to toughen up. Cam is rich. He's still an athletic marvel of a man. He's got plenty of businesses and opportunities that most of us could never dream of. He cannot let the mud and slings of the rest of humanity cause him to lose composure. I've been teaching for 20 years. Do I care if a kid calls me old or fat? Nope, because they are immature kids who will be just as old and fat as I am in 30 years LOL. I can't really comment on how one makes jokes or rags on folks at a 7 on 7. I know when someone does something better, I give them credit and work on getting better. Cam should remember it from his playing days: if you don't like the celebrations, stop me. Just when they do, give them their credit and congratulations. I've also had plenty of times in my career when I've had administrators or other teachers say things that embarrass me in front of my kids. I have never thought about raising my hands in anger. If Cam Newton came in and was tearing me down, I still wouldn't throw punches at him. If he puts his hands on a kid, I'm not going to fight him either, but I will get in the way. I will stop that, but I won't escalate. The reality is Cam has a LOT more to lose than I do. If Cam punches me and breaks my jaw, you know who's getting sued? Celebrity can be very fickle, and Cam ought to remember that when dealing with the common people of America.

This is hilarious. I just did one, and picked up a LOT of extras: https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/user-mock-drafts/2024/user-mock-2238722

I did like the idea of Trent Brown making two positions better. That was an interesting idea. As far shipping off Burns... I think we need to keep our really good football players. That's what it comes down to. I'd put a transition tag on Burns. Let him test the market, and we can workout the compensation with a team willing to sign him to big money. https://www.nfl.com/news/2023-nfl-free-agency-explainer-vital-information-on-franchise-tags-contract-term As I read through that, I think the hangup is in the guaranteed money. The rest of it is all made up money.

I've heard and seen a lot of great things about it. I just don't have friends, lol. I've heard its much more fun with friends. So I'll watch on and cheer from the sidelines.

Opinions are like feet, we all have a couple and think your's stinks. Will Bryce be a franchise QB? That's going to take time. Last season was an absolute dumpster fire for the entire team with very few bright spots. We'll have a much better idea how good Bryce can be after next season. Either he will improve and we'll be an improved team, or he'll escort us to finding his replacement. There's no point other than generating the clicks to keep making these kinds of statements.

Thanks for the handy breakdown @SCO96! I'd see who wants what after round 1. I can almost guarantee that we'll have a fair number of suitors for at the top of 2 and 3. Listening to Bucky Brooks the other day, he said this draft was really deep in OT and WR, but after the first 100 or so players, it all gets really thin. I'm all for more darts at the dart board of chance!

In the pursuit of the competitive edge, teams aren't making the best choices in their data sets. Data is data, but without context, it's just a bunch of numbers. I wouldn't blame players for skipping that after what happened to CJ. Now was the the only reason he slid all the way to 2? No. There were real concerns with Stroud. The overwhelming national narrative was Bryce was just a little bit better due to his creativity and playmaking ability coming out of Alabama. Bryce also carried the caveat that his size is a MAJOR outlier. The S2 nonsense didn't help, but it wasn't the whole story. There are plenty of stories of the best QBs not being #1 over all. We'll just have to see what happens with our QB. S2 is fine as a piece of the puzzle, but it's not the only defining characteristic of a person. CJ was drug through the mud, which was stupid, over leaked scores. The problem is that if a person says "no, I decline to share my secret scores with the world" is interpreted as they aren't proud of their results and think it will hurt their stock.

I hate how things turned out for him. Hopefully he can use this as a personal and professional rebound. Was a nice kid, good story, but just couldn't develop here. I wish nothing but the best for him (and honestly most NFL players). I'll look out for him this spring!

That's what I think too. I don't disagree that Cable Companies are good ole capitalistic institutions that strive for profit over all (and need to be reigned in), but there are some SIGNIFIGANT challenges to streaming the volume of data to the world.

The whole entertainment industry is completely fugged. The model is broken. Advertisers want to get their products out to people. I get it. It's a part of business. Nothing in this world is free. Production is expensive. From actors, to extras, to crew, to the artists, writers, sets, costumes, locations...the list goes on. It's not as simple as filming in a backyard somewhere. How do these companies pay for these productions? Either via subscription or advertisements. There are very few billionaires willing to burn money on a tv show. The old cable model has been discussed with carrier fees, etc. With the disruption of the pay for a bundle model that cable has relied on, channels have to figure out how to get the money to get rich and produce content to keep people paying. It's just the model is now fragmented instead of universal. Companies will now hide premium content from OTA or regular cable subscribers behind a paywall. Your left with the options of piracy (which seems great for you), until the things you enjoy pirating end up getting canceled because there aren't enough paying customers. Again, these companies make a LOT of money off the advertising, which in turn allows them to buy these expensive shows from the studios. What is the option here? I'm much more of a fan of paying for what I want to watch instead of paying for a bunch of crap I don't want. I like that if I'm done with HBO for a little, I can cancel then reup later.

This is an interesting debate. What makes a player a dawg versus a good play versus an edgy player? For me: DB is a dawg because you never saw him slack off, he played as hard as he could, made plays and set the tone. Luvu is a dawg because of his vocal leadership and charisma, his impact plays, and that he plays with his hair on fire. Chubba is a dawg because he has grown up and has learned to run angry. He was an offensive tone setter. Shaq is a dawg because of his hardwork, leadership, and playmaking ability. Bell/Woods? They are both good players and leaders. There just wasn't the production we expected last year, but I think they are definitely dawgs. You know a dawg when you see him play. Burns was one in the past, but this year with the contract and injuries, he was looking after himself (can't blame him too much when a hundred million bucks is on the line). I'd love for JC to be a dawg, but he's not available enough. Icky? Could have been, maybe still be but he took a HUGE step back this year. So where do we need more? OL, WR, CB. If we can lock up Burns with a contract (not my money, don't care about the numbers), I think he returns to form. We need some help with some playmakers, but we're not far away from making some noise in 2024. No playoffs, but interesting.

That's going to be the killer app so to speak. Being able to shrink AR into something easy to wear, fit into helmets, dash, etc to make life better. Or get people MORE engrossed in porn...whatever!

JPJ is a freak athlete. Watching some of his highlights from the Senior Bowl... Man, if he's there at 33, you sprint to the podium. Talk about a dawg! Someone takes a cheap shot on Bryce, what do you think JPJ is going to do about it?

To me, VR is a cool tool, but it's still very limited. Like, I do like being able to have a virtual desktop as big as I want, but the googles aren't high enough resolution for real work. I tried doing some video editing in a Quest 2, and it was gimicky. We're still a while away from VR headsets replacing things like monitors or experiences. Asking my 11 year old if he'd rather go visit a castle in VR or in person, and he'd rather go on a trip. VR is a fun game for him right now, but nothing beats the real thing. Now if VR can be used to make certain tasks more efficient, it will catch on, but otherwise there are still too many problems with things like clarity, motion sickness, latency, etc which make it hard to do real work. I mean, I love some of the AR things, and working with 3D objects can be cool. Like I could absolutely see a company prototyping in VR with simulations.

Young has a functional NFL arm with the added benefit of the creative arm angles he can throw from when off platform. There's my best NFL draft pundit impression. We all know he doesn't have a rocket launcher. That's ok. In college, we saw that he can make throws down the field. In the NFL, he rarely had the chance due to the absolute poo show that was the 2023 Carolina Panthers. Some fans are just not convinced. So that's up to Canales & Co. to fix. They need to build a system that allows Bryce to maximize his talents. And if he fails, then he's done. Another QB bust. But I'm choosing hope. It's better than wallowing in misery.

I think if they can start putting up some points early, that helps a lot. I like what Person tweeted about Tepper saying he's going to stay out of the spotlight. Hopefully that means less meddling. I think we can look at year 1: being competent, maybe not the most talented. Year 2: Being competitive, meaningful December. Year 3: We need to look like a playoff team. I'll say in the NFL, with its year to year variance, three years is more than enough time to see if it works. Ideally, Tepper got it right on the 3rd try, and Canales is able to lead a competitive and feisty team. If they are just fun, then that's a step in the right direction! I have no idea what will happen, but I can see Tepper firing him in year 3 if it still looks like poop.

Generally, I'm pretty positive about the whole dog and pony show. Seems like we have some serious football people. Good. On the other hand, we have David Tepper. So I bet if you gave Dan and Dave some time and room, they could probably help the Panthers develop a winner. How much room will David Tepper give the team to perform? Or did he freaking learn to let people do their jobs? Or does he want to pay out more buyouts, and continue to be made fun of around the country. I'm hoping, but I'm not full in. I'm positive, looking on the bright side of things until the ugly side comes out in droves. I'd rather look forward to enjoying the season than hoping to be internet right about the team. Here's to hope!

Solomon Wilcots was on Locked On Panthers this week, and it was an interesting segment. The big points are: 1. Don't waste a dude's time. 2. Score points to save your job. So with Burns, we have a 26 year old pass rusher who is respected in the NFL. There's value there. It's about time to trade him to a contender. We're not winning any time soon, and the assets can be used to improve the offense. By scoring points, you'll get fans in the seats. The NFL is an offensive league. You can maintain interest with a good offense. I can really see those points. Though I hate the idea of sending MORE good players to other places to find success. What do the Panthers do if they trade Burns, or Brown, or any other defensive piece? You can only add so many pieces. To me, there's a tremendous amount of scary in trading our best players on D for unproven rookies. With the lack of news about Evero, I'm starting to get concerned that he's leaving as well. Lord, then what? The defense would have to be rebuilt as well. Or heck, maybe it's time to just rip the bandaid off.. Fire sale the defense, get what we can, and call it.

I'm a fan of the draft, yet not being deep enough into the process of evaluation. I do enjoy this time of year (since we suck), and this year looks to be a deep WR draft according to the draftniks. I've seen some stuff about Legette that makes him sound like a faster Mingo. Would that be accurate? Considering the "struggles" of Mingo this year, is that a good idea? Since y'all are higher on Legette, what makes you higher on him?

I'm pretty sure the Huddle is the last place in the world good ideas would come from, so hopefully staying far away from us dumdums! Realistically, I don't care. It's up to him to do what he needs to do. I'm sure he probably has a pretty big network of people to assist him in improvement. Private coaches, nutritionists, all the things. But that doesn't matter for poo. What matters is if he gets better. That's going to be on him. On the coaches. On the other players. If Bryce has a repeat year, then we dump him and go find a new QB. That's the NFL. The business. Bryce strikes me as someone who knows what's at stake with his actions on and off the field. He also is smart enough to know how the NFL works, and I imagine he's probably working to improve himself.

Given what we've seen of Tepper over the past 6 years, I have no idea if he's learned his lesson. The start to the off season right now is going better. Now If he can allow the football guys to do their job... That's a really BIG IF! I'm not sure he can tamp down on his own ego enough to do so. I'd love to see Tepper fade into obscurity or stick out as a big dorky fanboy. He needs to get his name out of the news for meddling. No more owner spies. Sit and enjoy the dinners, but don't ask football questions. It's fine to be a rich fan with access. It's another to sit here and try to run the team like Jerry Jones....

LOL yeah! I play for a bit, into act II, then I'm like "but what if I did this instead?" so I start another... I have five saves... LOL