KSpan

Then what is gained by saying it at all?

Seasons like Darnold's 2021 would qualify as 'Holding the ladder.'

It goes beyond Rhule though. Rhule is a symptom of Tepper's incompetence and, arguably, arrogance. From the nonsense with Rivera and Hurney to being so fixated on Watson, Tepper has dug himself quite a hole and Rhule, no matter what the outcome this season, is only a part of that hole.

Of course he was, to some degree anyway; Rhule is a hack at this point in time and needed to give the appearance that he was doing something/had some kind of strategy. Considering that the offense got worse from there on out and STILL didn't run the ball like Rhule claimed he wanted to, it seems clear Brady took at least some kind of fall.

Was Brady dealt a tough hand with Rhule and the personnel? Yes. Was he also (predictably) predictable and overmatched by NFL defenses? Also yes. These things are not mutually exclusive.

And funny enough that outside of some outlier years and him being carried by generational talent, he's still an average football coach. Better than Rhule if we compare their first two years, sure, but his conservatism and lack of strategic vision always hampered the team, and he and the coaches are the major reason the team lost a very winnable Super Bowl. If Rivera is your metric, then your bar is too low, and Rhule doesn't even reach that.

I think they traded for him for the exact same reasons they traded for Sam - seemingly low cost (wayyyy lower for Baker) for a high draft pick that positions them to retain a quality QB is he can be coached up. If he flops, and this is the part where they messed up with Sam, they move on with no further mess.

Or it shows that they have been paying attention since the mastermind of the teams that have been 3-14 in one-score games since 2020 is still in place. Until he proves otherwise on the field, Rhule has 2 years of showing nothing indicating he's an NFL-caliber coach and it's completely fair to always have that 'but' at the end when analyzing the Panthers. Will that change this season? Perhaps. Until then though, to quote John Fox, it is what it is.

What is there to analyze? Seems pretty straightforward.

Would be really entertaining if they got a killer offer for Mayfield (relative to his cost) now that his salary is down and Carolina ended up trading him again, putting Sam back in the driver's seat. Won't happen of course, but would be entertaining.

At least this one has legitimately and singularly not sucked at points in the past. That's progress, right?

I'm pretty neutral on this whole thing, but not a huge gap between those two and some other pretty big names if just talking about interceptions in a 4-year window.

Rhule's still the coach, right?

While I was fine with not getting him at all, this salary is not prohibitive if he flops and the team sucks. Corral could still play just like he might've before and Carolina has someone who has shown way more than Sam. Bit of an eye-roll at Rhule, but a much more friendly move than their other boneheaded QB pickups.

Already posted here, so perhaps threads can be merged/managed accordingly.

Well yes, and I've not said otherwise.

It's Ultimate Team - all of the recognizable rookies will have cards ranging from the 70s to 90s. Means nothing.

Missouri's football program is certainly better than Duke but they're just conference fodder at this point, and the other sports programs are right there as well. I really couldn't care less about college sports and can't comment on any other schools outside my region, just making the point that if there's a perceived gain somewhere then a move will be made.

The SEC took Missouri. They'll take Duke.

I'm not meaning to imply that, more so that he settled back into good-to-very good range in 2015 before the injury but not best in the NFL. I agree completely that Bene was a quality player who had awful injury luck.

He was only credited with 5 targets during that time so my guess is quite a few could pull that off. I'm not downplaying his potential at all, simply saying that the sample size is too small for any kid of rating. Hell, Bene Benwikere and Mike Remmers were among the best at their respective positions at the end of 2014 and we know how that worked out. I can't find the Remmers rank at rhe moment but here's Bene. Only point here, again, is about sample size and drawing conclusions.

95 coverage snaps against bottom-tier (at the time) teams. He has potential for sure, but I don't see how he can really be rated at all based on his season being cut short, let alone underrated.

Yeah, that's not the norm at all.

For a less obvious build: $3 Beuerlein, $4 Stew (assuming this is Double Trouble Stew and not 2018 Stew), $5 Smitty, $1 Samuel, $2 King Beuerlein can make all the throws and drive the ball when needed, Stew and King give a power running element but Stew is still elusive/explosive and a major tackle-breaker and King never drops passes while making some clutch catches, and Smitty and Samuel take the top off and are good for some highlight-reel grabs.