45catfan

I'm not sure if this has been posted...and this is not a total defense for Darnold because he was his own worst enemy at times, but his top two WRs did him no favors. Anderson and Moore tops in NFL in dropped passes

Dabo is a really good guy, but I long have maintained he stuck gold with his OC and DC picks year ago. He lost his OC going into this season and Clemson's offense struggled. It remains to be seen if their defense stays a top 5 unit as they have been all these years with Venables. In short, we get to see how Clemson looks without the two guys that kept them a top program in the nation. Dabo has his work cut for him in 2022 if this year's offensive struggles are any indication. As for OU, it's a smart choice. While their offense is usually high octane, the defense is what has held them back for a long time. It makes sense to go get one of the top defensive guys in the nation.

We ride with Cam and Darnold next year and look to the 2023 draft for our next franchise QB. This draft sucks for QBs.

Venables to OU is nearly a done deal. We are stuck with Rhule.

This is the dude we need, but in all likelihood will be gone before we can get him unless we go full tank. Ikem Ekwonu

Taking a QB top 10 in one of the weakest QB classes in recent years is the ultimate Panthers move.

Yup, hoping some teams ahead of us buy into the skill positions like CB and WR.

Problem is with a lack of top-notch QBs, there's going to be a run on OL and DL early. If we stick around the 10th spot, we may have to settle for the 3rd or 4th best O-lineman.

Z-E-R-O. Corral...MAYBE.

If the top two OTs are gone, sure. As good as he is, he doesn't solve the LT problem.

We need to draft Ikem Okwonu. If we stay where we are at, he may be there. Neal should already be gone.

We need to trade him for some draft capital. As much as I like CMC, we can't keep building this offense around him. Plus this is a DEEP draft for the OL and we need those 2nd and 3rd round picks back.

Howell strikes me as a more accurate version of The Golden Calf of Bristol. When your QB game is more centered on how well you scramble, then that's not the QB I want. Mobile? Absolutely, but as not the top attribute in my preferred QB.

Anyone thinking this is the year for us to draft a QB in round 1 is delusional. There's not even a consensus top 10 QB at this point. Three may go in round 1, four if someone wants to trade back into the first out of desperation. ALL these guys are projects.

Oh, but this is major. When you have personnel leave (flee?) a large organization like an NFL team to take a demotion for the worst FBS team is pretty major.

Start PJ; we are looking for draft position now. Beating the Dolphins was the last best chance of making the playoffs. Anyone still clinging to us playing late January needs psychiatric help. Winning a couple of meaningless games does nothing but help Rhule and company make a case for keeping their jobs and screw us out of valuable draft position.

A one-year loss. Dude, you are acting like this is setting the franchise back decades. He's going to be an overpaid backup next season to finish up this deal. We are not going to cut him because you incur dead cap AND have to fill the spot. It was a stab at a potential franchise QB when Teddy didn't work out. The 5th-year option came along with Darnold. They chose to pick up the option which now doesn't look wise, but it's not a franchise busting mistake. Dude's get overpaid all the time in this League, why you are so fascinated with Danrold is beyond me? I mean if your so bored you want to continue on all day, I can go to OTC and cherry-pick tons of contracts that overvalued (I actually have to get some yard work done at some point). Why? Teams take a risk at extending, re-working, offering new deals based off what they value that player to be for that organization. Does that backfire? Oh, heck yes, many times over. Best case scenario at that point is take your lumps and move on. LUCKILY for us it's just...one...season.

Did the coaching staff ever run to the DBO sign? Nah, otherwise Rhule would weigh around 180 pounds.

If Darnold had worked out, then they had the leverage and Darnold's trust to work out a long-term deal down the road. You have the benefit of hindsight. If Darnold had worked out, would you be on here laboring your point about this option? I doubt it. Yes, Cam does have something to do with this. You can't cherry pick deals. This organization pulled a dude...that no other team wanted anything to do with, off the coach and yes, literally hugged him (picture with Tepper) to come save this team. So if the Cam 2.0 experiment implodes, was it a dumb deal that had a bunch of risk? Indicators were (cut in favor of a rookie and couldn't get a phone call from other teams) this signing has little chance of success. Both obviously had their risks. We could have just rolled with PJ, saved the $6M-10M and still manage to finish out of the playoffs. Only thing now is Cam might actually win 1-2 games and worsen our draft position.

They couldn't spread it out unless they reworked his deal. Secondly, it's only a bad move now because it didn't work. If Cam goes 0-7 or 1-6 as the starter, was that a bad move too? Sure seemed like a good move at the time up until that 5.8 QBR, right? The only guarantee is that our OL is and has been garbage that would make just about any QB look bad.

LOl...that was funny! My point being Brady had his pick of places, sure, but he was going to pick a place that had a competent, proven staff. That said, the Panthers were never an option.

He's overpaid for only one season. This season is what it is. Even if he went on IR day 1 with a ruptutred ACL, his salary for this year is what it is. I agree, he's overpaid next year as a backup, but it's only one year and he'll carry no dead cap unless he's actually cut. We carried so much dead cap and had so many bloated contracts in the past that Darnold's 5th-year, while expensive, is by no means going to hurt the team long term. I'll say int one more time, it was a short-trem calculated risk. Hind sight is 202/20 and had he actually continued to play decent like his first few games, it would have been worth it. It's like Cam's deal. If he came off the couch and actually got this team winning, that would have been worth the money. Right now he's 0-2 as the starter. His base contract comes out to just under $1M/game for the 7 games he has/will start. Darnold's 5th-year option next year would be a little over $1M per game if he were the starter every game. Difference?

Again, I doubt Brady would have "picked" Tampa if say, a Matt Rhule-type of HC was there. Way over simplifying it, man. Is Arians a great coach? Nope. Is he head and shoulders above what we have here? Abso-freaking-lutely!

I'm pretty sure Arians had a little bit of input in that. Do you think some green college coach would have had the clout to make that happen? Edit: In 9 seasons he's only had 2 sub-.500 records, both 7 win seasons. We can't even get to this man's worst record.

It's not a $19M wash. He's not getting cut. He's at least going to be a backup and I get you are throwing low-end numbers out there for backups with his experience to emphasize your point. Yes, we will lose money on the transaction for one season. What teams doesn't have an overpaid player? This team has a history of deals that hampers it for years down the road. Matt Kahlil is one of many, many, many instances that's comes to mind. Darnold's option is not going to burden this franchise for the long term and it was worth the risk. Again, I take MUCH more issue with the Anderson deal and trading for Henderson.