Peon Awesome

It's the epitome of Huddle arrogance to think as a fan you've got your finger on the pulse of the league better than a guy who spends his life analyzing the NFL. If you read the rest of the article the assessments seem pretty on cue. I think we need to acknowledge how much we undervalue our players. DJ Moore and McCaffrey are recent reminders of that.

The article is just trying to assess players' values. He's not factoring in whether the team would actually make the player available. To drive the point home, he has Patrick Mahomes on the list for the Chiefs.

Barnwell trade tiers Good read on which players on every team he thinks would net a 1st round pick or more. His assessments seem quite reasonable. To summarize: Burns - 2 1sts Bryce Young - 1 1st and change Jaycee Horn - 1 1st Has Moton, Ekwonu and Derrick Brown slightly missing the cut. Acknowledges that Bryce hasn't played close to that value but some team would probably give that much off his potential. And Horn is "only" a 1st due to his significant injury history. He has Surtain as worth 2 1sts for what it's worth.

Sadly there's probably no winning in the Burns situation. We either trade him and get picks that have a 99% chance of being less productive than Burns while we watch him put up consecutive 15+ sack seasons on a contender. Or we make him one of the highest paid non-qbs in the NFL, he continues to play solid as a pass rusher without reaching the heights expected of someone taking up 15% of the cap while we lament his overpaid status on a team with so many holes. I'm still leaning towards resigning because I see the crap return on the CMC and DJ trades while they light it up for their new teams and think with a rookie qb, almost no big contracts, and the ease that the cap can be manipulated, we can easily afford to overpay for one of the only pro bowl level players on our thread bare roster.

Finally some logic on the Huddle. The idea that a 1st time offensive coordinator who's never called plays before might get a few weeks to acclimate to the job before being thrust into play calling duties seems pretty logical. And that the bye week, where he'll have 2 weeks to prepare and install his scheme would be the obvious time. I realize the offense couldn't be much worse so far, but last time we took for granted our wunderkind new OC would be immediately ready to transform our offense from jump street, we got Joe Brady. I'm excited to see what Brown will do and it can't be much worse. But he's still working with the same raggedy Oline, meager receiving corp and rookie qb taking more than his fair share of lumps.

If we're playing hypotheticals, it wouldn't even be close to the worst even if Bryce colossaly busts. It's not even in the running just for the last couple years. Trey Lance, Russell Wilson, probably throw in DeShaun Watson unless he completely turns things around. You can even consider a trade like Jamal Adams with 2 1sts for one of the least valuable positions in football who has barely stayed on the field and got a record setting contract l. At least it's defensible to give a lot for the 1st pick for a team desperate to find a qb. The Wilson and Watson ones are important because they hamper their franchises for years with their albatross contracts. Bryce is dirt cheap and we could reboot easily by 2025 if needed. We basically traded an extra 1st and DJ Moore who was getting $20 million per year and not moving the needle with our overall putridness. I honestly think Bryce could definitely pan out and it's stupid to write off a rookie qb after 3 games who has been hampered by some of the worst oline play in the league, the least athletic receiving core and bad playcalling. But I humored you with this response.

I dont love that Burns is one of the only players we have worth a damn. But unfortunately you can't rebuild an entire team from scratch. The salary cap is like $250 million. You fill out your entire team with a bunch of rookie contracts and you basically have to overpay a bunch of cast-off JAG free agents just to hit the salary floor since great players almost never make it to free agency. I'd rather overpay for a proven commodity at the second most important position when we're flush with cash than have a couple more darts to throw at the draft board when our track record has been god awful there.

Did you watch the game? If Bryce held the ball for more than 2 seconds, he got hit or at least majorly pressured. And the majority of the times he had a few seconds, the defense would have everyone covered downfield since we don't have any threats. I can't really fault the inclination to try to get a bunch of quick passes before the pressure comes.

This is also a good warning to those pounding their fists to trade Burns. Is There any doubt we trade Burns and he becomes a perennial 15+sack per year pro bowler for an actually functional organization? And then we draft the next Kony Ealy and DJ Johnson with whatever draft picks we get for him.

It's kind of funny to think we basically traded him for Mingo, DJ Johnson and Jammie Robinson. And not even that exactly cause Mingo was our own 2nd, not the one from SF. I'm not sure he would be transforming this team right now but he would've made a nice safety blanket when Bryce is running for his life every other play.

Is it just me or does it feel like there's a non-zero chance that Pineiro ultimately retires as the greatest kicker in NFL history?

Man this defense has been super impressive. Missing 2 of our best defenders, Horn and Shaq while getting no favors from the offense each week, and they've been really good.

Am I missing something? The guy started 13 of 17 games last year. He missed 2 games from bruised ribs and 2 games when he broke his wrist. Neither injury is prone to recur and he showed no serious signs of lingering issues from the foot fracture that ended his rookie year. I know we all wish he could play every snap but at least there's nothing in there to suggest he's going to continue to miss major time. Hell long term, if the early issues deflate his 2nd contract value, it might be a blessing in disguise cause a healthy Horn has perennial 1st team all pro potential and that is going to cost a fortune.

I'm a Panthers homer but Derrick Brown isn't in the same league as Quinnen Williams. And the reality is, even if they're arguably as valuable in the game as pass rushers, space eating/run stopping DTs don't command the flashy contract numbers. A better comp would be Dalvin Tomlinson who also signed a new contract this year, 4 years $57 million. If Derrick Brown takes another step forward this year, he might be in line for something in that ballpark.

I'm not going to lose one minute of sleep over paying a slight premium to help ensure Bryce's success, especially considering we're near the top of the NFL in cap space even with that contract and the "overpayment" is maybe $2 million, barely enough to pay a couple minimum salaried veterans. Even if Sanders is an average starting rb (basically worst case scenario), you could find a lot worse ways to spend $7 million.

You can't consider the Rams picks in a vacuum. Let's say Burns puts up absolutely monster stats lined up next to Aaron Donald, his presence and the front office's demonstrated commitment to go all-in galvanizes the team and they pull off a few wins and challenge the Seahawks for that last wildcard spot. And having lost their 1sts for the next couple years, the rebuild is put on hold and they become big players in free agency, combined with Stafford's resurgence, extending their window for relevancy in an otherwise weak NFC an extra year or two. Maybe nothing remotely close to that materializes but assuming the team will be exactly the same as they are now is similarly improbable.

The other point to keep in mind is that we have tons of cap room and a rookie qb which will set us up nicely capwise for the next 4 years at least. If you're not going to spend the extra money on your best players who also happen to play the most premium positions, what's the point?

Garrett and Bosa both signed their contracts in 2020. With the steadily rising cap, figuring something near that ballpark is a realistic expectation. I don't think mimicking Garrett's contract 3 years later is at all unreasonable. If that's the ceiling on contract talks, we should be taking a sigh of relief.

Great talent but it is kind of concerning that multiple organizations now have chosen to move on with little to no compensation. I realize Houston and Arizona aren't exactly model organizations but still. Kind of reminds me of Antonio Brown; all the talent in the world but multiple teams quickly deciding its not worth the hassle.

I'd love to see Corral get some premium reps in the preseason. Ideally I think Bryce should play a quarter with the starters, Dalton play maybe 1 series and Corral play the rest of the game. Don't send Corral out there only with the 5th string offensive line and receivers. Give him some meaningful reps with guys like TMJ and Mingo

Another consideration: if Bryce Young's elite processing translates to the pros, it helps neutralize the need for a true #1. He can quickly scan his top 5 options and find the open receiver. Think about Mahomes. I realize Kelce is one of the greatest tight ends of all time, but Mahomes actually had a better year without Tyreek Hill.

I doubt I'd really miss the kickoff if they got rid of it. As far as the issue of onside kicks, they could adopt the XFL rule where the team can elect to try a 4th and 15 from their own 25 yard line. Way more interesting than an onside kick that's going to fail 98% of the time.

I feel the same way as OP and am glad someone is saying it. I think we need to keep an open mind on our evaluations of players and see who rises to the occasion this year. We have what on paper seems to be a far better coaching staff, with new schemes, and on the offensive side, hopefully an infinitely more promising QB. Unfortunately the reality is that TMJ and Tremble both breaking out seems unlikely; there are just too many mouths to feed. But I do think they both have the potential and at worst, I'd love to see them continue to show growth. In some ways, this team's weapons have the potential to resemble our 2015 juggernaut team: no #1 option but collectively keeps defenses on their toes.

I'm pretty sure this is irrelevant for us. I doubt we are anywhere close to a comp pick. We signed way too many people and lost barely anyone of value. If we really wanted to sign one of these players we should've done it already before other teams who were waiting to protect their comp picks jump into the bidding.

The pick and trade up make sense if the Panthers were dead set on drafting a 3-4 OLB and felt like this guy was the last one left worth a damn. But in general trading up rounds 3+ is usually a risky gamble cause those picks are too much of a crapshoot and you're better off having more chances to get it right. But not being in the draftroom nor having the scouting reports, I'm not going to get too critical. Time will tell.