BrianS

Schrager is smoking something funny if he thinks that our team has "one big gaping hole". Perhaps he missed the fact that our OLine is nothing but a big gaping hole. Yea, I think a super QB can cover for a lot of sins on the line. But none of the guys Shrager is discussing are Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, etc. Kirk Cousins is a good QB. He can win games for you while you work to build the team. But I just don't think he gets you over the hump.

Jimmy G . . . behind this line? The guy is made of glass. He'll be IR'ed by October here.

We can't afford him, so the best case scenario for us is him signing a huge contract elsewhere and us getting a good compensatory.

Our cap is actually crap now. I'm not sure when that happened or how. I remember earlier in the season looking at it and thinking, yea, we're in great shape for 2022 free agency. But somehow, we now have only 17 million in cap room - good for 17th in the league. That's barely enough room to fill the roster with actual players. RIght now, player #22 on our roster (cap value) is Chuba. Below him it's all JAGs and futures contracts. We have no second or third round pick. Somehow, we've managed to put ourselves in position to be even worse next year than this year. It's an amazing accomplishment for Coach 1000.

Did Kalil end his career with a number of injuries? Yes, sure did. Incontrovertible. Do you know how he got those injuries? Playing his guts out for the Panthers for his entire career here and being a role model for everyone. This is a guy who we should be wondering when he goes into the Ring of Honor. Five times Pro Bowl, two time All Pro. Absolute Panthers legend.

Agree. I think even if Flores manages to win his lawsuit - far from a sure thing - his career is over. That's unfortunate. I really thought he was a good coach, but maybe a little too soon a head coach.

Certainly one possibility, but I really think that the staff was sold on the idea they could "fix" Darnold. They truly thought that he was a franchise QB who just needed a tweak. The problem is they were wrong. It's easy to see now. Honestly, it should have been before. Franchise QB's lift the team around them. They don't need everything to be perfect. Maybe it takes them a year or two or even three to put it all together. But they lift the team. Darnold never did that. He made a few flashy plays. Someone on here once commented that he reminded them of Jeff George. Spot on. He's is Jeff George for this era.

We are so dysfunctional man. It's hard to tell what's going on. Do the coaches not believe in Rhule? Does Rhule not believe in the coaches? Is the writing on the wall for Rhule? All three could be true. What a mess. The Panthers are my team, but right now it's really hard to be proud of them.

The problem I think a lot of folks have with last years draft isn't the draft itself. It's how we behaved AFTER the draft. Taking Horn? Ok, fine. If the guy turns into a shutdown corner, it absolutely changes your defense. JNo had one outstanding season as a shutdown corner in our system, and it absolutely changed our defense. If Horn provides that? Great pick. TMJ? This one, looking at it now, does seem baffling. I am not sure I felt that we gave him a real chance this past year, despite Robby being downright terrible. Either this is another example of our staff failing to develop players, or TMJ was a bad pick. And I can't tell you which is true. To me, TMJ should have been our hole card for letting Robby go, and I still don't know if we achieved that. BC in the third we've talked to death. We still don't know what we have there. Might have a serviceable LT. Might not. Very frustrating. Tremble in the third, he got some chances, didn't do badly. Decent for a rookie, though I think we could have gotten him some more opportunity by putting him in instead of Ricci. Chuba in the 4th? He got an opportunity, turns out he's not much of a pass catcher. As a runner, he did ok considering the OLine he was stuck with. Might be a long term contributor. Was our draft really the problem? I'm not sure it was. I think the problem was how we behaved after it. In a bubble, CJ Henderson for a third isn't terrible. But did we REALLY need another CB? I know Horn was out by that point, but we had somehow convinced ourselves after three games we were a playoff contender. Jury is still out on Henderson, and honestly I think I'd rather have the pick NOW. All of the moves afterward that didn't allow us to properly evaluate that draft . . . that was an issue, to me.

Probably because you didn't look very hard. Instead of assuming things about people or situations, how about if we assume the best or do our research? Am I crazy? As far as Sparano going? I dunno. The tweet above sort of makes it sound mutual? That's about all I get out of it. In all fairness, our line was terrible and we failed to learn nearly as much as we should have about our younger players. If that had something to do with the line coaches, yea, let's move on and do better. It doesn't change my current opinion of Matt Rhule at all. The guy has too much power and too little to show for it.

Jake wasn't always good, but man there were times when he was GREAT.

In light of all the reports, truth is we don't know a thing about Fitts. Rhule has complete and total control. Fitts is only doing what Rhule tells him to do. I'm not sure it's really fair to judge him positively or negatively until he's allowed to do the things a GM is typically allowed to do.

Yes, he would net us a pick if he moved "up".

If you're Aaron Rodgers, you probably look at the 49ers and go "Yea, I can get that team over the top". Unfortunately for us, if you're Aaron Rodgers you probably look at the Bucs and think the same thing.

And why not week 1?

This is false thinking. I understand positional value, but you cannot talk about it when you are looking at QB's. It just doesn't apply. You evaluate every QB, and if your evaluations tell you "That's a franchise QB" and he's on the board when you are on the clock, you take him. First round QB's are generally a coin flip: 50% chance of success. But it beats the ever living heck out of QB's from every other round where the success rate is about 10%. Now, if you're on the clock and there isn't a franchise QB, then absolutely, positional value becomes part of the equation - as do a myriad of other factors.

According to Washington Commies head coach Ron Rivera, the new name was "just another missed opportunity."

Not sure we should be surprised the Panthers met with Pickett. I would hope the Panthers would meet with every first round QB prospect.

If that's really his strategy then either they had some serious dirt on Fields or Fitts ain't callin' the shots. Incidentally, I agree. If you find a QB you believe in, you draft him if he's there. Doesn't matter where you are in the draft.

Stop. Just stop. Campen is a good hire. Sam is not going to be good. Honestly, I'm more worried that the line improvement will be enough to get us seven wins, make someone think "maybe next year Sam and Matt will get it together". * Barf * Stop the madness.

I can't think of a team with a worse QB room than ours. I really can't. In terms of drafting a QB this year, I'm for it . . . except that there is no one here for him to learn from. Darnold? PJ? These are the guys we want to see helping a rookie learn? Yikes. As far as Jimmy G goes, there is no way we can get him with sacrificing our future completely. SF is in the drivers seat. JG's contract next year is NOT guaranteed. They can cut him and his 24 million dollars with only 1.4 million in dead cap to show for it. Sam's contract is fully guaranteed. We all know that the only way we bring in an NFL starting QB of any stripe is by making Sam part of the deal. That 18 million has to go. I don't see how you trade 24 million non-guaranteed for 18 million guaranteed with some sort of make weight coming from our side.

Bringing in Colbert as the Czar of Football Operations would be ideal. Not fussed about what title we actually put on it. But allow him to be the final say on the structure and composition of that side of the house. Make Fitterer the CLEAR GM. He owns the roster. Make Rhule the coach. He coaches the players and creates the "identity" of the team. The President of Football Operations should hire and fire both independently. Do we have a problem with the roster? Low talent level? Cap a mess? Bye Fitts. Do we have a problem with coaching? Failure to execute? Below talent performance? Poor atmosphere? Bye Rhule. In my mind, that's the way it should work. It seems to make sense. I'm sure it's not that way now.

The real problem with making any assertion in either direction is the lack of clarity. Numerous sources say that Rhule is the decision maker on roster. If those sources are correct, then none of this can fall on Fitt. If you want to blame Fitt for poor decision making, then it needs to be clearly and definitively stated by someone in the building that he has final decision on roster. I think it's clear Fitt has influence, we certainly have never seen a draft like the last one. But I don't have any confidence right now on who I should blame or applaud. That problem falls squarely on Tepper. He needs to state clearly and for the record where responsibilities fall. Then we can place the plaudits and blame where the should be.

All I got out of it was . . . coaching may have been lacking, and there is something there that may develop. I mean, yea, exactly.

Super Bowl 16 re-match. No young Montana to end the Bengals dreams this time. Is Collinsworth calling the SB? That would be all kinds of epic.