CmC2k

5 hours ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

If he is injured okay. But this has “diva” drama written all over it. 
I find it strange that Watson is the one reporting is and not the coach. 
Feels like the coach of the Browns isn’t the coach of Watson. 
We dodged a bullet. 

100% we dodged a bullet. I'm pretty sure Watson is healthy enough to play but is sitting out because he wants the team to lose and fire Stefanski. With his contract that he's got he'll definitely have a say in the new coach they would hire. I remember at the time some Huddler said that Tepper in our pitch to Watson offered him a say in the new coach we would hire when everyone knew Rhule was going to be bad and get fired before Waston came off suspension. At the time I thought it was crazy and just another Huddle rumor but with how desperate we were for a QB and with reports coming out of how Tepper is meddling I'm not so sure. 

Couldn't of have happened to a more deserving franchise and coach. I'll always despise Sean Payton for bounty gate and the whole Denver franchise can remain a cellar dweller for the remainder of time for Super Bowl 50. It was so obvious that the powers that be in the NFL weren't going to allow us to win. Obviously, we didn't make their job hard with how bad we played but the point still stands. I hope the Waltons have to pay Russ every cent of that contract. 

Brown is part of the group who wanted Bryce and Reich is part of the group who wanted Stroud. So if Brown goes out and has Bryce looking good then you have to move on from Reich. I don't think Tepper or Scott would fire Reich, but they would probably try and nudge him out the door and have him say he's choosing to retire. Of course, in a perfect world you would like to keep the staff how it currently sits but young offensive coaches are highly sought after and if Brown has Bryce cooking, then some other team is gonna offer him HC gig. 

Honestly Phill snow wasn't that bad he was actually pretty solid. I'm just surprised he's still able to work with his back being broken from carrying Rhule's teams to moderate success for all the years Ruhle's had him on staff. 

I know everyone hates just how involved Tepper is and yes most of his decisions haven't turn out good so far, but we can at least appreciate the fact that Tepper seems to genuinely want to bring a consistent winner to the city and has shown that he's not afraid to open up the check book and make big moves in order to try and get this thing right. 

Ben MacAdoo is a better play caller than Frank Reich 

On the bright side Theilen is pretty good. 

Someone has to be fired. This whole operation is unacceptable. 

Troy hill is the best corner on this team.

Give Reich the ultimatum of publicly giving up play calling or be fired. 

Ok that's it time to fire Reich

16 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

I didn't want to trade Burns either, but it's clear that we're not going to sign him to a contract that the team thinks is fair, or else we'd have gotten a deal done before the season started.  Once the season started without a deal, he became a must trade for me because him playing out the year for us to tag him and him refuse to play on the tag is worst case scenario for next offseason.  

At this point we just have to trade him unfortunately.

I also don't think Higgins will cost that much, probably more in the 18-22 a year I think.  He knows he hasn't put up the numbers yet to get that 25 a year, but again, he's only 24, if he balls out the next couple years as someone's #1, he's going to get a huge extension at that point, and I'm fine with us being that team.

 

I understand the Burns argument and if it becomes absolutely clear that we won't be able to get a deal done then yes, we should look to trade him. On one hand I like how our front office isn't just willing to hand out a franchise changing amount of money without at least trying to negotiate the best deal for the team but on the other hand Burns has been a model player and leader the second he's got here for this team, and he absolutely deserves a big payday. It's not his fault he's been played out of position and not to his skill set but he's done nothing but get better every single year and I have no doubt he'd continue to do so once he gets paid. 

If I'm the agent for Tee Higgins I'm looking at Terry McLaurin getting $23m a year, Deebo Samuel and D.K. Metcalf getting $24m a year and with how desperate everyone is for receiver talent I'm setting my minimum at 23.5 a year and letting teams bid up from that. With the cap going up every year I wouldn't be shocked to see him get a contract in the 25-27 million a year range. 

8 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

If the Bengals are trading him for a pick this year, I'm guessing someone offers a 1st for him.

He's 24 years old and it won't require a very top of the market contract to re-sign him, that's hard to find right now and if they wait until the offseason, someone in the back half of the first round and needs a WR would make that trade in a heartbeat.

Which is why I've always felt Burns (who I think is worth 2 firsts) for Higgins and a 1st makes a lot of sense for us and in a vacuum, but I think the Bengals will want a 1st back to get a good player on a cheap deal after giving Burrow that contract and still needing to pay Chase.

With Higgins being a FA at the end of the year any team that trades for him is going to have to be comfortable with paying a contract that gives him 23-25 million a year and I feel that with Bryce on his rookie deal we are in the best spot to pay that. If another team comes along and out bides us, then that's fair I could live with that. What I won't accept is us giving away assets for another band aid fix like trading for an overpriced Jerry Jeudy or under preforming but good story Van Jefferson. I'm also in the camp of not trading Burns or anyone on the defense. Our defense is on the cusp of being an elite unit if they could be given any sort of help from the offense. How often have we seen the same song and dance for the past couple of years where the defense plays well and keeps the score close till late in the 3rd quarter where they eventually break due to being exhausted or being figured out by the other team's offense by being on the field majority of the game.  

The only WR that is worth trading anything for is Tee Higgins. The Bengals simply don't have the room to pay Burrow, Chase, and Higgins. I think the offer of our 2nd round pick this year makes sense for both sides. For the Bengals our 2nd round pick is better than the late 3rd round pick comp pick you'll get when you lose him in free agency. Then for us I don't trust our front office's ability to identify a WR talent in the 2nd round that would be anywhere close to the talent level of Tee Higgins. 

Admit you made the mistake Tepper and hire Wilks for the full-time gig. We all got caught up in wanting the guy who's great with the x's and o's but lost sight of if this person can effectively be the leader of a football team. While Reich might be a good play designer his play calling in games and his lack of leadership are not looking good so far. You can just feel the vibe is to laid back and that's a representation of Reich's leadership. Just go back to last year and you can just feel how deeply the players wanted to play good for Wilks.

On the bright side if Frank is fired or steps down Wilks would still be available. He's doing a good job for the 49ers at babysitting that crazy talented defense. I still believe that he would just be Ron Rivera 2.0 but at least we'd be good every couple of years. 

Both Stroud and Richardson have coaches that understand that they took QB's with high picks and they're just letting go out and play ball and letting them make mistakes and grow naturally. Whereas we are putting such a rigged bland system in and forcing Bryce to only operate in said system instead of turning him lose and just letting him play. It's like this staff doesn't realize that they hand selected Bryce with the 1st pick in the draft and yet they call plays and force him to play like a perennial back up QB and are just trying to manage the game with him. 

Chubba is such a better fit for this run scheme. 

Just now, Proudiddy said:

I liked him from the first time he was active for us.  You could see he had great instincts and good enough athleticism.  He plays rangy...

I think it was the KC game in 2020 when he stood out to me. 

Sam Franklin is the one Matt Rhule guy who's been good in his role. Excited to see what he does as a starter. 

Other than the lack of consistent winning I feel that a big part of the lack of enthusiasm in the fanbase can be attributed to the fact that there's no personality to this team whatsoever. I hate to be the guy who brings up Wilks again but even in his short interim term here as head coach you saw that he was building a culture and personality to this team. Most NFL fans both inside the Panthers fanbase and out view us as the Carolina I hope Bryce Young turns out good Panthers and with Bryce's early results being as mixed as they are then you're left with a dull and neutered fanbase. 

What if in 2015 we played the Patriots in the Super Bowl instead of the Broncos? We matched up a whole lot better to beat a team like the Patriots than the Broncos and with the whole deflate gate scandal maybe we would've been on the right side of the biased officiating as the commissioner and the league would've wanted to stick it to the Patriots instead of wanting to give their golden boy Payton Manning a feel-good story send off. 

What if Rhule didn't stop Hurney from trading up in the 2020 draft and we ended up with Justin Herbert? 

I can't give an honest evaluation on Bryce because of how inept every phase of the offense looks so far. From receivers not creating enough separation, the Olines trouble in pass pro, the turnovers and Reichs vanilla play calling. That whole side of the ball has to get it together quick, or this will be another year of wasting a really talented defense. I think in time the offense will get it together let's just hope that we aren't too far out of running for it to matter. 

This is Rhule level of offensive incompetence.