45catfan

Yes, but the seasons leading up to that weren't spectacular. His Junior year was decent and he barely saw the field his two years at Washington. Point being, there are some stats there that shows he had some potential, but hardly enough to reach on day two. That's why teams take flyer picks like this. There are hundreds of kids each draft that have had at least one solid season, especially their senior year, but had a mixed bag of results otherwise.

Fitts has done okay. Not great, not horrible. My thing is to see how this year and next pans out without Rhule AND Tepper meddling. This draft was--meh--for me. Zavala was a solid pick on day three. I did like re-signing Luvu, snagging Jusitn Houston late in camp, signing Dalton as a bridge or mentor QB, bringing in Hurst and Thielen. Vonn Bell was a solid signing. As much as we dislike to say it, this is a rebuild on the fly. Not a total rebuild, mind you, as the defense and STs were largely intact. Starting the offense over from spare parts with a rookie QB was never going to be an easy task. That's not totally on Fitts. I will say that I didn't mind the Sanders signing in FA, but as it turns out, we paid too much. That one is squarely on Fitterer.

The kid was pretty good in college. Nobody had him as a second day, though. Some rookies just get it, but also have to find themselves in advantageous situations with the staff willing to give them the reps--that wholly trusts them, especially as a low round pick. That's the reason it's pretty rare to see something like this. It has to be a perfect storm type of scenario.

16-13 Panthers. Both defenses will be locked in. This game will come down to field position and one key error.

What? Not a corner, LB or guard??? That's crazy! Seriously, I was wanting another RB, but he isn't it. Actually, just the opposite...a bulldozer.

Burns has two options to stop seeming petty. Re-work the last year of his deal to get some extra money like Chris Jones, Jacobs and Barkley did and wait to the offseason for a new deal or just drop this crap. Either way he's going to get paid in the spring, here or elsewhere. Unless Mrs. Cleo told him he's going to have a season ending injury, I don't understand the urgency to get paid RIGHT NOW. Take a reworked deal for this season, which I'm sure is an option since several other players have done it and stop being distraction. Prove he is worth Nick Bosa money with his play this season.

Maybe Stroud can break the OSU curse with NFL QBs. It's real.

He's under contract and has rebuffed the Panthers offer for a new deal, which they DO NOT have to give right now. If Burns wants Bosa money, he can go to a team that wants to pay him that. If he's betting on himself, call off the negotiations and hit FA signing with the highest bidder in the spring. Obviously he's testing the Panthers and I hope they call his bluff. Dragging this into the season is complete BS. Again, this is BURNS causing this distraction with his demands, not the Panthers.

Hopefully we do the same with Burns, a short term bump. I DO NOT want a long term deal with the way he's handling this and on the heels of the Bosa deal. It's not like the Panthers aren't at the table, Burns' camp just ain't biting at what the team is offering. Amend his current contract for a pay raise this year and revisit before the onset of FA. If he's still sniffing around Nick Bosa type money, let another team pay him.

Eh, Boas is getting paid now, and his twin brother Nick Bosa. Seriously, once these dudes get paid, it seems like they aren't hungry anymore. His stats were pedestrian at best yesterday. That's what scares me about Burns. I'm cool with him getting an extension, but he's probably looking for a monster payday.

No, just the past couple. I was willing to see the Darnold experiment, at least year one, through. What I have been harping on for the past several drafts was OT (check--Ickey) Safety (Chinn?) and TE. Add WR to that list now along with edge rusher. With the M*A*S*H unit at corner, might as well get some insurance there too.

Wouldn't have to tank and the QB class is much deeper than this one. I hope Bryce works out, but several teams are getting some great QB prospects in next year's draft. I was in the wait camp, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Snap counts: https://www.panthers.com/news/snap-counts-week-1-at-atlanta You can see why we signed Wormley, the defensive front is THIN...basically 4 guys held down the D-line all game (Ray got one play). For those big boys, they had to be gassed. Kudos to Brown for playing all but TWO defensive snaps at 320 in the game. You know his butt is tired today.

At this point, take a swing at some veterans since we are not on the hook if they don't work out. There's few guys on the 53 that can be cut and will most likely clear waivers.

Hopefully not. There's an open PS spot and we are really heavy at 3 positions when looking at 53 man and PS. I've already stated my preferences.

If, big IF, that was the way to go, we should have done it game one and then eased Bryce in after a few games. At this point, there's no going back.

So starters play 100% of the snaps and all the STs reps? Cool to know. Thanks!

Yup, and it's largely not the backups with the hammy issues, but the starters who were held out most or all of preseason.

I used to go to Panthers camp every year until recently and yes, some dudes don't take stretching seriously. Maybe it was just at camp. While stretching doesn't prevent hammy injuries, it sure does lessen the risk of one. If coaches are letting these guys go into week 1 without going full speed at least some reps during camp or preseason, that's on the coaches.

Injuries happen all season, but to my recollection, I can't remember this many hammy injuries even for week 1.

Yes, Ridder did look timid, but in that timidness took what we gave him. Don't get me wrong, I think Ridder sucks, but the dink and dunk game can be effective even in it's boring simplicity.

On a side note, what is with all the hammy issues around the Leauge? Do the trainers not really enforce pregame/pre-practice stretching anymore? Sure they go through the motions, but are they really stretching. I remember my track coach busting our balls for not stretching properly, especially the sprinters. He knew they were the most likely to pull a hammy and watched them close during warm ups to ensure they actually stretched properly.

The Falcons had no problem with the dink and dunk passing attack. I think Ridder only had one completion over 20 yards himself, the one to Pitts.

Not having a first rounder is going to hurt especially with the crop of WRs coming out, but we are hardly pick poor. I'm looking at FA for WR because in year two of this evolution of the Panthers, we can ill afford having a guy whose not an immediate WR1 as a rookie. Plus, our track record of 2nd round WRs is very suspect. Moose, I think, is the most accomplished and that going WAAAAY back and there's not a close *pun* second. That second round pick would be great value for a RB, DL, CB, edge or TE. For the sake of our sanity and Bryce Young, we need a FA stud at WR.

The first INT, yes, Bates jumped the route. The second one was thrown pretty much right to him.