BrisbanePanther

Moved to draft thread

At risk of collecting piles of poo, a stupid question--how well does Madden's AI account for actual playbook and coaching? I ask because I've recently gotten around to playing '24 more (refuse to pay for it since it eventually comes with GamePass), and with Canales' playbook, the Bucs run a LOT of play action. Is that realistic? Is that what we can expect here as well? Given the draft investment in the RB position and Bryce's..."dimensions"...maybe so?

I see what you're saying, but to use this board's favorite word, I think it's a large dose of hopium/copium to place our fortunes on a hot hand that emerges from the shadows all of a sudden. There's way more Zach Wilsons than Joe Burrows. I understand sometimes players get buried on a bench at some schools, but ideally they would assert themselves accordingly in camp to be the starter. I would need to see at least two years of increasingly better play with more big plays and fewer stupid plays against top competition on bigger stages to start to feel more comfort.

Disagree. Other than not being Bryce, he's not it. The very definition of change for change's sake IMO. In fact all the '25 QBs are. Trade the #1 pick to another QB-desperate team like the Giants for their 2026 #1 and take our chances.

This video left me extremely discouraged and was eye-opening. We're doomed this year. I think we need to be ready for a 3-14 season.

All this talk about Bryce and confidence makes me miss Cam even more. Doesn't help that I just had another one of his videos pop up in my socials. He had enough confidence to donate leftovers to the armies of small countries. Those were the days.

Yeah the few times that Jags games were on TV, I saw nothing about him that matched the hype. In fact, if both their careers ended today, I would argue that Watson was a significantly better NFL QB from Clemson than Lawrence, despite his stupidity. Of the current ACC QBs, he's definitely in the Daniel Jones bracket IMO. Which goes back to my point. Bryce has to be better than him next year to have a chance to win over the local fanbase, but I suspect that won't happen.

Wow, Lawrence was literally a meh QB based on those numbers, and he had legit weapons and a great coach. I'm still on the fence about the value of QBR, but this "generational" QB had 16 QBs better than him based on that metric. We're fooling ourselves if a meh QB rating like that from Bryce will be good enough for this fanbase. Blood is already in the water and well is poisoned. I stand by my requirement that he has at minimum 8 games like or better than the Green Bay game for me to be satisfied...but I honestly think he needs 12 games like that or better to satisfy the bulk of the fanbase. IOW, he has to be better than Lawrence was last year. Plus, if Stroud makes the playoffs again and Bryce doesn't, even if he somehow posted 4500/35/10 there will still be momentum to move on from him.

The answer here is easy...if he can play at least eight games like already did against Green Bay--a playoff team--that would be a good sign to me. He doesn't need to show that he can do any one thing, but he needs to show that he can be consistent in playing at a high level.

Maybe I haven't kept up, but how do we know he set our to deceive in order to keep his stock high? That's a strong character-indicting accusation. Especially when it's not all that different than what others have done in the past. The only potentially eyebrow-raising is not being weighed again. Otherwise, he didn't do anything in the draft process that others haven't done and won't do in the future. In fact, the fact that he put all his eggs in the basket of his own pro day (which he didn't look great at) actively opposes the idea of setting out to deceive.

Just so I have this right...this board keeps wishcasting Dalton's ONE game (a loss while scoring 27) while ignoring Bryce's ONE 300 yard game on 36 passes (also a loss but while scoring 30)? Why not wishcast that one too? Maybe a better question is what did Bryce do differently in the Green Bay game and how can that be repeated? Instead it's like mental gymnastics to say that the Green Bay game was a fluke (or ignored overall) and the rest of season was the trend...while Dalton's game would have apparently proven to not have been a fluke if given the chance? Make it make sense. From now on, IMO any mention of the Seattle game should be balanced with the Green Bay game.

The premise of this question is a strange one. What makes this year any different than last year for Bryce in the surrounding talent category? This time last year he supposedly had an all-star coaching staff, a great offensive line, a top RB free agent, and WR drafted to grow with him. ALL of those things fell apart, and a not-so-insignificant share of the Huddle would say it was Brycefault alone with a straight face. This year he has a new coaching staff on the other end of the experience category and new vet players on offense that on paper should also be great adds. This is all situational. He gets this year and next year only because the '25 QB class is so mediocre. You don't throw him aside because "better must be out there somewhere". I could see if there were a sure thing QB prospect for 2025, but there aren't. Every QB at the top of 2025 question marks and nothing about Panther draft history assures that they'll pick the right guy. Like @Jon Snowsaid, being desperate for a QB is what got us here. Dumping Bryce without a sure fire plan is like quitting a job without knowing the chances of success with what you're doing next. Short of Mahomes magically becoming available, he'll get to play out his rookie contract.

No! Only trade back if a future 1st is on the table. Otherwise hang up the phone.

There's gotta be something to this. Almost every mock that I've done includes us getting offer packages that include a 2025 #1. There has to be something in their algorithms that make this a realistic possibility. If that happens, no one would criticize Dan and he should take such an offer first and figure it out later. EDIT: Case in point, I started a mock literally right after this post and got 2 offers from DEN and SEA, both of which included a 2025 1st. The SEA offer was vastly superior:

Suncorp would be good. Would never happen though! I actually relocated to the Middle East though, so I'm actually closer to Munich now! I was actually surprised that the NFL International markets don't include any Middle Eastern countries. Seems strange given the wealth.

Do we still have people with ears into the front office? Any whispers on when the Munich game will be? Totally selfish question for planning purposes! There seems to be nothing online yet.

This all the way. Stroud worked out way better than anyone thought--including Houston. This revisionist history on this board about Houston somehow being so much smarter than Carolina leading into the draft is just strange. The dumpster fire that we all see the Panthers as today? Yeah, Texans fans thought the same for their team this time last year. They wanted Cal McNair to sell the team. "They can't even tank right" was a common theme. No intellectually honest fan was thanking Lovie Smith for winning that last game. In fact, they all hated him because he cost them the chance to draft #1, which was for all intents and purposes was going to be Young, especially with an Alabama head coach and a front office well-connected to Alabama through Belichick, BOB, and Saban. We can talk ourselves out of it, but Houston got lucky before it got good. Stroud (and to a much lesser extent, Anderson), makes them look like a model franchise to the Huddle, but all it proved is how quickly things can change for a team in 12 months if they take the luck that they're given.

This is not a debate. If they'll take a deal the starts with Burns and maybe next year's 3rd (if we still have it), make the deal and don't look back. Even if Bryce fails, QBs will see him as a draw. Don't overthink this, but it's all academic. He's not leaving the House of Skōl.

No, they should not unless they have one at the top of their board, and they should only have one there after they've addresses all of the holes in the team's talent and depth. Even Hekker got a scary hit to the knee, and he was the team's best player this year. If Bryce plays again like he did this year, throwing in a 5th round QB in week 13 or 14 "to see what he has" does nothing for the team but set up the back-up QB off-season competition between he and Bryce after the #1 pick in '25. The odds are greater for Day 3 picks to make impact elsewhere on the field. Picking your future backup should not be a draft priority.

I know all about his rookie season. Doesn't change my opinion nor does it change human nature. The local fanbase wants the high-pick local kid on the local team to be part of the answer and will give him more opportunities than normal to succeed. That's to be expected. You can't say that across this entire board some of the hesitation to be hard on him has nothing to do with him being local. Maybe for you it doesn't, but it absolutely does for some.

I wish Ickey wasn't from NC. Then we'd get people being more honest about how he's been very not good. Who cares about situation. He was picked high enough to be the unstoppable anchor for a decade. Too many excuses for him.

Well if these are the same anyone's who we all think were wrong about Bryce, maybe they were wrong about Houston too. The biggest overlooked market in American sports, so of course everyone got that wrong.

Nope, didn't miss it at all, hence why I led with, "Not disagreeing". The yardage you mentioned by Stroud reminded me of Russell, which reminded me of the fascination of him throwing from his knees. It was just noting Russell had a next level cannon (and went #1 because of it and ONLY it, btw), but I don't recall his accuracy and for that matter I don't recall there being such a focus on accuracy back then anyway. Maybe I should have led with, "it sort of reminds me when"? Not sure that would have made it any clearer either, but mentioning Russell shouldn't be seen as a flex against Stroud or for Young.

Not disagreeing with you, but I'm pretty sure Jamarcus Russell wowed people with throws even longer than Stroud's...but was apparently throwing from his knees.

Agree on all that was said, but curious about this one. Source? Teams like the A's, Rockets (NBA), and Cardinals and Jets seem like they'd be in that conversation.