OldhamA

Good post. I'd just argue Sean Ryan is the most important guy in Darnold's life right now. His footwork was his biggest problem. Not his processing. That lead to his inaccuracy and 'slow' processing - ie he didn't have his feet set so he couldn't release the ball on time.

QB, LB, Rhule, Newton, Fields, the turf, Tepper, the potential new stadium, leaving Spartanburg, the in-house media team.... I mean, probably.

Yeah, well, show me another young ginger QB from Orange County who has struggled and needs significant development who is healthy and basically not playing in the preseason.

We've played two of the deepest teams in the league and we're in the middle of a rebuild. We can hang with anyone with our first string in there - albeit they're mostly young - but once you start comparing our seconds and thirds to theirs the lack of quality depth on this team shows. Thankfully most of those guys will be gone / asked to play sparingly come the season.

Y'know the people who keep on stating that spending a 2nd round pick on Darnold was 'putting all of our eggs in one basket'? This is why I keep directing them to Trey 'three first round picks' Lance for a true definition of that idiom.

Yes, I'm a Miami Hurricanes fan. I think something needs to be done to cut the SEC off at the knees. Whether this is the answer I don't know.

Man, the Jets should have thought about getting him a QB Coach if they were going to properly coddle him. A competent OC would have been nice too.

The skill isn't being able to hit a 50 yard FG. The skill is being able to hit any FG at 50 yards or shorter come rain or shine. Evidently not many can do that.

There was a comment around earlier that he has a clause in his contract - he gets a bonus for every snap he takes at LT.

His story about buying out the team store of Smith jerseys when he was traded made me chuckle. He's nuts.

Trending how? I'd really love to see the working out of this madness - if there is any.

I mean teams change kickers during the season. They don't have to learn any plays - just kick the ball. Go follow Pat McAfee - he's got hilarious stories about how he and Vinatieri were just goofing off every practice because they have so few responsibilities.

So this is basically all about you falling in love with a QB (I assume Fields) and not being able to get over the fact that the Panthers FO / Coaching staff thought that Horn and Darnold were a better gamble? Cos there are no facts backing up your arguments, just conjecture. Like going 'all-in' by using a 2nd round pick in a trade. For reference, going all in is sending 3 first round picks to a team for a player / Draft pick. If Darnold doesn't work out this season we roll the dice next year on someone else - we've already shown we're happy to move on from failing QBs with average starting contracts.

If Fitterer gets trade value out of Grier or Miller I'll crown him myself.

So why hasn't Stafford played any pre-season snaps? Is he above that? Is he being coddled?

A former Top 3 pick traded to a new team? Pretty similar, yeah.

I mean most of our fans are morons. They stuck by a flailing franchise for a decade because Rivera seemed a decent bloke. Rhule is a significantly better HC - it's clear to see already. The honeymoon period was over for the Cult of Cam guys on 24 March 2020 - Rhule is never going to win those guys over.

As I understand it, Matt Stafford hasn't played for the Rams either. Surely he needs game reps to learn a new system, right?

Jose. Borregales.

So if you've followed the offseason closely, and I'm sure you have, you'll have seen the fluff pieces before the Draft about the acquisition of Darnold. This isn't some reclamation project that was "one of the worst starting QBs in the NFL" and boy do they hope something good can come out of it because he was a Top 3 pick once upon a time. This is a calculated gamble based on their own evaluations (which only started because Phil Jones was scouting an opponent who happened to be playing the Jets and said to Rhule "Damn every now and then this Jets QB looks like Matt Stafford") and the accurate conclusion that the Jets were a joke franchise with an awful HC. If it works out we've made out like bandits. If it doesn't, we roll the dice again in the Draft next year. It's essentially a 2nd round pick to see if we can steal a 'franchise' starting QB. It's barely an egg in a basket in the grand scheme of things. Evidently they weren't too enamored with Fields / Jones. Based on the last two Drafts I'm backing their talent evaluation skills.

I don't like to openly question the intelligence of people (especially those I don't personally know), but it's difficult at times on this board. So you don't think Darnold would have played without the INT. Even though both sets of starters (on offence and defence) played one series this game?

Trey Smith being the guy with medical red flags, right?

Rhule was directly asked the question here:

One thought I missed: Luvu might just be our best LB.

I suspect what they've done, and correct me if I'm wrong, is bring in veteran competition at key positions so the rookie isn't handed the starting job. At the end of the day, if Christensen and Brown are good enough, they'll play soon enough. If Erving and co are as bad as many of you fear that may be sooner rather than later. You've seen what happens when you don't have depth the last two weeks - I'm glad we brought in Elflein and Erving. Depth and competition are key. Right now I think Plan A is Erving at LT, Moton at RT. Plan B is Moton at LT and Christensen at RT. They don't see him as a LT in the NFL (at least not as a rookie) as they've not played him there all camp.