OldhamA

It's a calculated gamble based on him having a poor supporting cast, no QB coach and Gase as his HC. There's a lot of talent and promise in Darnold. If it doesn't work out we're not tied to him and we go again next year. You would be tied to a Top 10 pick QB for 3 years.

He's brought in guys he's familiar with to fill out the depth of the roster. Who's come in from Baylor or Temple that has let us down? Whitehead at that point was a 9 year NFL vet - he was brought in to help establish the culture and obviously the rest of the NFL thought he could still play. There was nothing lackluster about our results last year. Rivera and Hurney left this roster in a mess. I was very annoyed we didn't beat Denver, but 5 wins was a very credible return.

I'll happily ride with Darnold and Horn.

That'd be a meteoric rise through the ranks.

LOL "TERMINATED from the New England practice squad". Damn, Bill, everyone else just waived him.

They were PISSED with Bridgewater by the end. He was a poor culture fit for the team AND he played scared with the ball. Darnold doesn't have either of those problems, but they absolutely will move on from him quickly if he puts up similar stats to his Jets numbers.

I'm not a Cam Newton guy.

Because they're legitimately drafting for value. Like Horn, Marshall, Tremble and Hubbard, he was the best player on their board. If you recall they only had a board of about 160 draftable players (there's 244 Draft picks). Christensen ticked the boxes they were looking for - especially after they traded down in the 2nd round. That said, he can't be handed a job, he has to compete and earn it. A 3rd round Draft pick isn't a guaranteed starter. You'd sure love him to be, but it's a successful pick if he's quality depth and pushes everyone else to be better. The fact he played almost every snap on Sunday suggests that they're very high on him and Erving had better get healthy quickly.

Damned if you do ask a 13 year, Super Bowl winning, NFL Head Coach for advice, damned if you don't. I'm sure we'll be asked back to these joint practices next year (which are HUGELY beneficial) if Rhule goes in there and throws a strop because he doesn't get his way. It's not like they're using our players as tackle dummies ffs.

I'd rather Moton / Christensen beat him out than they're handed the job. Rhule isn't Rivera. He doesn't play favourites. The OLine is in flux right now - if Christensen continues to hold it down at RT and Moton looks like he can play LT... and Erving doesn't blow them away he'll be relegated to the swing OT job.

Exactly - so there's a 65% chance you've just wasted a 1st round pick on a QB. Even worse, teams rarely move on quickly from busted 1st round pick QBs - besides Rosen I can't think of a team that didn't give them at least 2-3 years. The Dolphins are going through that process now with Tua, for example.

I wanted Marcell Dareus too - fantastic player in his time.

LB is our weakest unit. I'm sure Rhule and Fitterer have their eyes on the waiver wire when teams cut down to 53. I'm 99% sure you could pick up two or three guys that are better than our starters. Chinn should have won DROTY last season - he plastered over a lot of cracks.

Can't make the club from the tub.

No, it's Sean Chandler. #34, not #42.

Is...is this what it feels like to have a competent GM?

The odds are high that Lawrence, Wilson, Fields and Jones bust too. You have to bring more than odds to the table in a discussion about QBs.

Randy Fasani has a 0.0 QB rating in an NFL game for us. He's not even the worst QB to ever put on a uniform for the Panthers as he at least made it to the regular season.

At the end of the day QB isn't a position you dabble in I don't think. They thought the players they took were better shots at being NFL players than taking a 'punt' on Mond / Newman et al. I'm a huge advocate of carrying three QBs on the 53 man roster at all times and drafting one every other year - unless you're supremely happy with the three you have. Darnold was the new QB this year - I bet we pick up a new one next year (if we don't pick up a backup from the waiver wire).

We might know it, but that's news to Fitterer, Rhule, Brady and Meyer who went out on the first day of FA and signed them both to decent contracts. You don't go after two veteran, ex-first round picks, that aggressively if you don't think they're the answer.

Why is it stunning? The Jaguars have gone all-in on Lawrence. Any team that's interested in Minshew just has to bide their time - there's no way you're getting fair value for a guy that's never going to start for you. Either you let him go for a knockdown price or you let him sit as the backup QB all year.

I get why some of you are in love with Fields - you're still not over Cam Newton and wanted Cam Newton .5. That's weird, but understandable. I don't understand why people seem to hate Rhule. He won 5 games last year (and made us a tough out in the rest) with, and I cannot emphasise this enough, a terrible roster. He's brought in back-to-back stellar Draft classes too. He gets criticised for being an inexperienced College coach. He gets criticised for following the lead of an experienced NFL HC that won 11 games last year and took his team to the Playoffs. He literally can't win.

Then we're fuged.

Jeremy Chinn, the true DROTY, covered up a lot of our deficiencies at LB last year. They're lining him up at S this year so the LB corps has taken a huge step backwards.

2001 - Morgan, Jenkins, Smith. Three All-Pros.