KSpan

Man, I haven't thought about the Olympics in decades.

That sounds good in theory but in today's NFL you have to have a top-tier QB (along with other things) to have more than a snowball's shot at winning the Super Bowl. As such, the limited pool of guys that appear to have that kind of potential require a cost to get, either outright sucking or paying to get in that draft range. Some teams pay an external price, like Carolina did, for their guy, like the Chiefs and Mahomes. The problem arises when the pick is wrong, and in Carolina's case they picked a guy who is a physical outlier on the wrong end of the curve to not only reach that status, but to do so when damn near no one else at his size ever has. Just an extra-thick additional layer of risk in what is already a risky proposition.

There were absolutely people that felt this way, and the number was not small. I know because I (and others) spent last offseason trying to temper expectations and were called haters, told to "get on board or gtfo", etc. It was absolutely silly. This year, expectations seem to be much more realistic.

I understand the why and how behind the numbers. It's just like dang, that's 10% of the cap going towards numbers that barely crack the top 30 receivers in today's NFL. Even as the cap climbs that number will climb as well, so the sentiment remains.

90/1000 are the stats that Theilen had last year, force-fed as he was... feels crazy to pay $24M for that kind of output.

I don't care all that much about stats. What I care about is how did he look on the field, and that was poor-to-average for everything but the second half of the GB game. Carolina was losing every game... of course there were some passing stats generated. What is missing here is quantification of how many times these QBs showed something worthwhile justifying the #1 pick. That Manning season gets tossed out a lot, and while there were a lot of interceptions and not many wins, Manning absolutely looked like an NFL QB that just needed some seasoning to take the next step, which he did that following year. Bryce had little to none of that on an individual basis. While this is an interesting table, it tells only a fraction of the story.

And he looked terrible individually too, just like the entire offense. Outside of the 2nd half of the GB game it he was entirely forgettable at best and downright crappy at worst. I am skeptical that he will ever more than an average-at-best NFL QB, but it's all speculation until they hit the field again for real.

As someone who watches zero college football, and this is an honest question, how did Bryce 'elevate those around him' at Alabama? Haven't they had a number of offensive guys drafted in recent years? I understand that not all of those guys are NFL-caliber stars, but you don't really have to be in college to be good or even dominant. As a Carolina example, Cam very clearly was the 2010 Auburn team. Those guys would have been much less successful without him and Auburn has had a whopping 2 years with 10 wins or more since 2010. Can the same be said for Alabama and Bryce? I'm going off of what was said in Ellis' tweet in asking this.

I never thought Bridgewater's arm could look strong, but after watching Bryce last year it turns out I was wrong.

Yeah, but it's lost development that could have gone to a player ready to play. I don't' really have a problem with it conceptually, just preferably not on a player drafted in the second round. Who knows though. Maybe this turns into a McGahee situation and he comes right in after all.

3 very different games, but all highly enjoyable.

He's already under contract, so no.

Three first rounders, of course.

You expect otherwise? Of course it will be, in a general sense. That said, as long as there is steady improvement from beginning to end and we see young players developing, it can still be a successful one.

Same situation though. Smith was traded for a 2nd and next-year's 3rd and then a CB and 3rd. I'm sure the Dolphins could orchestrate those deals if they wanted to. With respect to Tua, it still blows my mind that they didn't travel to KC until the 11th/12th for that polar game on the 13th. Like, get there early and start acclimating... they just withered as that game went along.

The 'Alex Smith Purgatory'.

The deep ball or at least the threat thereof is an absolutely essential component of success in today's NFL, and not the '20 air yard' nonsense that the NFL likes to push. Teams have to account for the field-flipping, immediate TD play or else they just sit on things. We've seen it for years now. And with respect to Brees, the latter half of his career has him as the ultimate short-game QB... and it still wasn't enough to overcome the best competition when it counted most. When that element went missing towards the second half of the 2010s they were still a deadly team when they had superior defense, but they ultimately fell to the best defenses.

No, it's that he's not underappreciated at all, with a side of responding to the comment that made it sound like he's been here forever. Will be interesting to see what they do with him after this season.

Deon Grant is the second-best (excluding one year wonders) safety Carolina has ever had. That says more about Carolina's abysmal safety history than is does Deon, but he was a quality player in the league for many years.

What are you guys talking about about? Dude has been on the team for 2 years of a 3 year, $15M team-friendly contract at half the cost of Vonn Bell. You make it sound like he's been toiling in Carolina for years... dude hardly underappreciated by anyone that pays attention.

Lot of roses and sunshine in that cherry-picked video. We'll see what happens on the field.