SCO96

I've never understood the fascination with QB pro days. I don't see how a QB throwing to WR's under ideal conditions with no pass rush or DB's on the field reveals anything about the guy that you can't see on game tape. Great QB's can throw under duress and have the ability to place the ball into tight windows when needed. I'm sure there are people on this board who can make the throws during a pro day, but would totally flame out in game situation. Jamarcus Russel, Kyle Boller, Sam Bradford all had "the best pro day ever" at some point in time time...and I don't think any of them ever led a team to the playoffs. As a GM, I'd never make a draft decision based on a pro day performance.

Here's the funny thing about what you just said. If Sam Darnold, or the Panthers QB's as a unit had put up those numbers in 2021 we probably would have been a playoff team. As a team we had 14 TD passes and 21 INT's.

I'd be pleased. I don't know about the rest of the board. This could actually happen. Not only are we getting better lineman, but we have a well established O-line coach working to improve the performance of each player on that unit. We have a new OC. McAdoo's system will be much better suited to the pro game than the scheme Brady tried to implement the past two years. With better protection, and a better scheme, and in a contract year, I expect Darnold to do better "IF" he begins the season as starter. That's not to say we need to plan of him being our "franchise guy" for the rest of the decade. But, if he does ok I could see extending him 1-2 years until a rookie was ready to start (assuming we don't draft one this year) or solid veteran can be acquired.

I don't think the Packers would have given Aaron Rodgers a $150 mil contract if they thought Jordan Love had any chance of being a franchise QB in the NFL. The GB brass thought Rodgers was slipping. They moved up to take a QB in the 1st round even though they had just 1 game short of the SB the season before they drafted him. If Love could play, Rodgers (with all of his drama) would no longer be in GB. I wouldn't give more than a 4th or 5th round pick for Love, and I definitely would give DJ Morre away for him...but maybe Robbie Anderson.

I'd have no problems with trading for Minshew with a 5th round pick. He's had starter experience. I think he's better than Darnold. At worst, he'd possibly cause Darnold to elevate his game just by bringing legitimate competiton for the starter position. Rhule should have a veteran on the roster instead of PJ Walker to push Darnold harder in 2021. And, Minshew would be the perfect guy to hold things down in 2023 if we draft a rookie who isn't ready to take control of the offense to start the season. As someone pointed out, the Eagles may want more than that. If so, maybe we could offer a later round draft choice with the 5th round selection, or offer a conditonal choice on a late round 2023 draft choice based on playing time and/ r performance.

why? why? why? Option C is off the table. We don't have enough draft capital for Jimmy G. Option B: I don't know what Mariota is worth these days. Since he's a back up we know he's not a top 20 quarterback. I don't even know if he's under contract or a FA to be honest. Option A: I'd have no problems with trading for Minshew with a 5th round pick. He's had starter experience. I think he's better than Darnold. At worst, he'd possibly cause Darnold to elevate his game just by bringing legitimate competiton for the starter position. Rhule should have a veteran on the roster instead of PJ Walker to push Darnold harder. And, Minshew would be the perfect guy to hold things down in 2023 if we draft a rookie who isn't ready to take control of the offense to start the season.

That's actually a good point. Baker would probably do really well in NO if Payton was still coaching the team. I think he can be a viable starter for some team in the NFL. We had a bad offense last year. I don't think too many QB's would have thrived in Carolina in 2021. Having a new OC, new OC coach, and new lineman is going to make us better. Any QB we put behind center is going to be better than the QB play from last season.

You never know how a player will pan out once he's drafted, but that kid looks really promising. If we were set at every position on the offensive side of the ball (which unfortunately we aren't), I'd have no problems with us picking Hamilton at #6 and pairing him with Chinn on the backend. We'd arguably have the best safety tandem in the NFL for the next 3-5 years. If Horn and Henderson panned out, we could possibly have the best secondary in in the NFL.

Depends on the Safety: Ed Reed, Troy P, Ronnie Lott, Steve Atwater, etc are the type of players who you literally have to account for on every snap. I'd take a ball hawking Hall of Fame safety in a heartbeat in today's pass happy NFL.

Football is a team game. No one player wins the game without the other team members doing their job. Tom Brady has thrown over 600 TD passes. I've never seen him catch one those passes or block an incoming d-lineman while in the pocket. O-lineman have a profound impact on games. I'm old enough to remember the Redskins play in 4 Super Bowls from 1982-1991, winning 3 of them. Joe Gibbs won with 3 different QB's Theisman, Williams, Rypien) and 3 different starting RB's Riggins, Timmy Smith, Ernest Byner). The one constant on those teams was the O-line. Bostic, Jacoby, Grimm, Mark May, etc. I understand the cost analyst arguement. I understand the desire to trade back. Thing is, based on the way the FA signings are going, I don't think anyone is going to want to trade up to #6. If the LT we want isn't there, I wouldn't fault the team for picking the center especially since we won't pick again until round 4. With the new OL coach, new RG, BC at LT, and the best Center to come out in almost a decade...we could have the best O-line in the NFC for the next 3-5 years. Then again, none of this will matter if we get Watson. If we do, we know we won't be holding on to the 6th choice in the first round.

i get what you're saying, but He does have a point. Usually when a QB is sucking up a large percentage of the cap, that team has a glaring weakness that comes back to hurt them in the postseason. It could be a lack of depth exposed by injuries. A certain area on defense or offense is weak (ex. O-line or secondary). It just hard to make sure all of the starters are b-level when QB's (and one or two other players) take up all the money.

You can win titles with a young QB on a rookie deal. The relatively low salary allows you to build around him while the cap figure is low. As you pointed you can win a SB with a great veteran as well. You just have to make sure you're getting contributions from your young draft choices while they're on their rookie deals and/or you can't have more than 3-4 guy making top dollar. Seattle was great as long as Wilson, Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas, and Wagner were making peanuts in terms of salary. Once those guys started getting paid they lost of a lot of depth and solid contributors (not superstars, but good role players). When Peyton won in Denver, Von Miller and several other starters were on rookie deals were on a rookie deals and a lot of the veteran players had affordable contracts. Either scenario works if the the GM/Front office is drafting well and know how to properly allocate the funds to the right position/players.

Thank you for posting this. It should be pretty obvious though. If you have a cap at approximately $200 million to pay 53 players on the game day roster pay, you can't let one guy take up to 20-25% of the roster and expect to be balanced on both sides of the ball. It should be easier to win a SB title as a QB matures. NFL economics actually make it harder. These days we actually see post ( TV pundits) say you gotta build a team while your frsh out of college QB is on his rookie deal. Crazy. If the owners hard balled the agents and union in the next bargaining session by saying we aren't paying any QB above a certain percentage of the cap, I'd actually be on their side... as long as the cap was increasing at a believable rate over time.

I think he's the first WR to get a "big deal" this off-season, Kirk's contract may very well set the market for the rest of FA in 2022. $18 million for a guy who has never eclipsed 1,000 yards in a 16 or 17 game season isn't the wisest investment. Kirk has 16 TD's in 4 seasons. Cooper Kupp had 16 TD's in the regular season last year. I wonder what Kupp's value would be if kirk is worth $18 milion a year? https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KirkCh01.htm

It didn't take Reddick long to find a new home did it? He played well for us in 2021, but I don't know if he was worth $15 mil per season. I can't say I'm that torn up over this news.

https://www.nfl.com/news/top-101-nfl-free-agents-of-2022-who-are-the-best-nfl-players-available I looked over this list before I pasted it. There are some good players still available. But, I don't know if any of them are worth blockbuster deals. Many of the most interesting ones/well known players are getting up there in or coming off of injury plagued seasons. There are some solid offensive lineman still available that could help our team. But, I can't say I'll be surprised or even that disappointed if we don't make in huge splash in the FA market in 2022.

Agreed. That amounts to one more week of games (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5). Then, you're down to the final 4, and then the final 2.

This is exactly how I feel about NCAA football. Every season you know Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, ND (although that could change with the Kelly departure) and one or two others will be in the top 8; four of those teams will make the playoff. Those teams may still dominate an expanded playoff, but the season would be much more exciting if a few more teams were given a shot at competing for the NCAA title.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Derrick Brown. He was the 6th or 7th pick in the draft just two seasons ago. I guess that means no one here (including me) thinks we could get a 1st round pick for him. I'd consider moving him for a 2nd round choice. I don't think our defense would be dramatically different without him and a pick in the 2nd round would really help us in the 2022 draft. Now, if we could find a strong 3 technique DT to play next to him, giving him less double teams, I'd feel a little differently. But based on what I've seen the past two seasons he hasn't made the impact expected from a Top 10 selection.

Do they also need a DT? If you put Derrick Brown in place of DJ and kept everything else the same, I'd be ALL IN FAVOR of that deal

I would advise Panther Rhule to separate some of the text into smaller segments/pargraphs the next time around. It makes it easier to follow. I did too. I think we need to go O-line and get our QB next year...but I understand the rationale of grabbing Pickett if he's there at #6 and we're unable to move down to pick up extra picks. I only saw Pickett play in the ACC title game. I thought he looked fine. I wouldn't write off the season if we picked him. I think he'd have a good chance, as pointed out, of taking the starting job by seasons end. The new offensive coaches alone will make us better from Day 1. PS--I still think even Darnold has room to improve with a better O-line and an experienced OC calling plays. He has a low ceiling but I don't think he's as bad as looked in 2021. In all honesty, no one on our team looked that good last year. We need 2022 to be a do-over for everyone from the GM, HC, and the players on the roster.

I don't see why any legit QB would want to come to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. 1) Our offensive line is among the worst in the NFL. 2)Our offensive scheme has been one of the most predictable and unimaginitive in the league for the past two seasons. 3) Our best offensive player can't stay healthy and is rumored to be on the trading block. 4) We have few draft choices so we won't be able to draft all the players we need or move the picks for players. 5) Our receiving core has 1 legit starter at WR, and he's never had more than 4 TD's in a sesason. 6) And, you can make an argument that we have the worst HC in the league. Most of us on this board, and the pundits in the media, all agree that unless we have a miracle season or at least finish .500, Matt Rhule is pretty much a "dead man walking". He has a 50/50 chance of being fired by mid season. Whoever would come here needs to consider that he'll probably be playing for a new regime in 2023. Why would any good QB want to come here? At Seattle has extra picks to begin a rebuild this offseason and DJ Metcalf lining up at WR.

I just heard about this while listening to Colin Cowherd. If we had not been in such a hurry to move Teddy for Sam Darnold after one season and pick up CJ Henderson (a player we really didn't need), then we could have offered a 2nd and 3rd this offseason and significantly uprade the QB position heading into the 2022 season. Wentz isn't elite, but he's a lot better than anything we've had in Carolina since Cam was in his prime.

I wasn't just referring to Russell Wilson, but to QB's in general. I can't count the number of post on this very board where posters say "You've go to build a winner while you're QB is still on his rookie deal". A great QB is usually better in his late 20's and early 30's than he is between the ages of 22-26. The way the cap and NFL are currently constructed the QB's have less to work with as they get older. Sometimes 4-5 players can take up 50% of the cap space on a 53 man roster. That's ridiculous.