frankw

I just don't align with this penchant to make him something he's not. I mean teams like the Texans weren't sitting around building their offense around a 35 year old WR. And they've won playoff games in back to back years after being one play away from the first overall pick. I think where Thielen is helpful is 3rd down and red zone situations due to his hands. Other than that in any critical game situation I prefer to see one of our other young offensive players emerge. They are here long term. We need to know what we have in them so we can continue to build accordingly. Especially with Legette who was very up and down last season. From there we also have two promising young TE's while Tremble is out. And we have a very solid backfield. Canales has plenty of options.

For sure we could have a lengthy discussion about wealth inequality in this country and whether or not politicians corporate executives celebrities entertainers and athletes should realistically be paid what they are. I'm sure we would find ourselves in agreement on most of it. In a perfect world these issues wouldn't exist. Unfortunately we are a heavily flawed society and we look past a greay many things that ultimately make absolutely no logical sense on a daily basis just because it's what we've been told capitalism is supposed to be. But we'll shelve it for another time and another subforum.

It's just comical that accurately describing the aging veterans of this roster for what they are despite them being nice people (Jerry Richardson just happy to be here vibes and hey while we're at it let's hire the kid who cuts my grass to be a WR) after years of complaints of Ron Rivera being overly loyal to his aging mediocre vets to a fault warrants such angry flailing while we have had the worst W/L stretch in franchise history. Not to worry though. These same folks will be screaming to burn the stadium at some point in the season. That's why I keep coming back here. The laughs.

For any criticism I may have for Adam Thielen he does at least have a minimal semblance of contribution. Andy Dalton on the other hand while being a great guy is absolutely horrendous. We could have signed literally anyone else and it would have been a significant upgrade. The New Orleans Saints who are in complete disarray at QB rejected him. That was a poverty franchise signing that we made to appease our starter. Nothing more.

I missed the part where the league office forced us to sign Adam Thielen. What teams were clamoring to sign him and make him an integral point of their offense? So far we're the ones trying to convince other teams Thielen actually has something left in the tank. And what's our win percentage the last few years? Worst in professional sports?

Thielen got hurt and only played ten games last season but had 62 targets. That's 6 targets a game over the course of 17 games that would have been 105 targets. That would have put him well ahead of Xavier Legette who led our receivers in targets with 84. For comparison sake David Moore played all 17 games and only had 57 targets. We've been overvaluing Thielen in the passing game the last two years any way you cut it.

I can't speak to whatever underlying issues there may be with Shemar off the field so to speak. But in terms of the responsibility of the franchise. The Bengals had ample opportunity to study interview assess and identify the draft prospects they were interested in. They made the choice to draft Stewart. They should face a steep punishment for allowing this to play out the way it did because they got buyers remorse. The league should make an example out of them and deservedly so.

Of course. But they already do that. The billionaire owners hold cities ransom and force taxpayers to fund their stadiums. For me. I'd rather see a young rookie athlete who will be risking themselves every time they take the field receive a fair contract. At the end of the day these are low end contracts compared to some of the MLB level deals given out to other big name players. I'd certainly rather see that before seeing another billionaire owner receiving taxpayer funds while pocketing tens of billions in annual shared revenue and whose franchises only increase in value even if the teams in question are good or bad.

Two wins bud. 2 wins. Accept it.

Some folks get a tingle in their plums over older veterans and call other folks dumb over it. I'm just glad we made the investment in WR. Tetairoa Xavier and Jalen are the future and I look forward to seeing them bring a resurgence to their respective position group. Simple and plain.

If the shoe was on the other foot and a divisional rival fanbase was trying to prop up someone like Adam Thielen the way some folks here are these same people would be viciously mocking them.

Man you have dug in so hard on this I don't think you even know which way is up anymore. Knueppel is 19 years old. Nineteen. Bryce Young is going to be 24 years old in about a week and getting set to begin his 3rd season as a pro. Adam Thielen is going to be 35 yesrs old in August. Do I really need to stop and hold your hand and explain to you the striking difference between the players you're trying to draw situational parallels to because you're in your feelings about fans having expectations for Bryce Young? Get a grip bud......

When AT has more targets than Mike fuging Evans and barely cracks 1k yards and we win 2 games and finish with the worst passing O in the league I think it's safe to say if the goal is increasing the win output the ball needs to be in someone else's hands. AT being the focal point in any capacity is not going to win games. That's simple reality.

Certainly there can be value in veteran mentorship. I think that's more relevant and valuable on teams that already have an established culture and identity. This franchise just isn't that. And let's be realistic. The better and consistently competitive franchises aren't making older fringe washed up veterans a priority the way we are. It's not a personal slight on anyone. I think Thielen and Dalton are great guys. But this is a franchise that hasn't had a winning season heading into 8 years now. We aren't going to change that making mentors out of aging players other teams have virtually no interest in regardless of how much we may like them personally. Just an honest assessment.

Me and you clearly have different definitions of production. If you remove the 2023 season where Thielen had just over 1k yards he is 43rd on our all time receivers list just ahead of Jonathan Mingo. And before you ask why would we remove that season? Well a couple reasons. For one thing we won a whopping 2 games. And for the biggest. Thielen was 14th in targets in 2023. We absolutely force fed him the ball all season and finished with the 32nd passing offense. For comparison sake 33 year old Jerricho Cotchery eclipsed over 1k total yards in just 2 more games and with 67 less targets than Thielen did in that 2023 season. He has above average hands. That's it. We overpaid him because we were desperate and overvalued him. That's the reality no matter how many times you or anyone else wants to quote me and get defensive about it.

Why is he so different from any other below average WR we've trotted out over the years? You act like he's your brother in law. These are just conversations. It's not like any of us has any say. You're entitled to your opinion same as anyone else is entitled to theirs.

I'm glad you're wowed with winning the shortest midget contest. But some people have higher aspirations. Blaming him for what? Not wanting to pay him 9 million a season to be borderline mid at best is not blaming him for anything. It's a simple acknowledgement that we settled and going forward we need to cut that out and actually develop talent along the whole offense.

101 in YPC and 54th in touchdowns in 2023 with 1k yards. In 2024 when our passing offense supposedly showed growth he was still 43rd in YPC and 50th in touchdowns. The only thing odd and bizarre is thinking that justifies 9 million a season bud. It doesn't. We can accept it because we're Panthers fans but that's about it.

Interesting some people are against Scourton getting a fully guaranteed rookie contract which would max out at around 9 million but if you wonder aloud if dinosaurs like Thielen are worth 9 million a year you're a pariah lmao.

Produced to what end exactly? We've had a bottom 3 offense at best each year he's been here. Man you guys crack me up. Carry on.

Contract is already signed can't unring the bell. I just don't want to see us taking important reps from our young receivers and tight ends. Barring a literal miracle this is only a development season. Make the most of it.

You guys are entitled to your opinion but I'm not letting our staff off the hook. We have coaches who are paid to develop receivers. We have an offensive minded head coach. We do not need to pay 8-9 million a piece to aging WR's and QB's other teams would scoff at signing just to develop our young roster.

Bruh we had one of the ugliest passing offenses of the last quarter century with Adam Thielen as our focal point. Even as a 3rd or 4th option he isn't going to make or break any games. This staff needs to develop young talent.

I just don't view Thielen as that consequential to our season. Absolutely if Canales is the QB guru he has been hyped to be he should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time by developing more than one QB. At the end of the day the Dalton contract is for our starting QB's comfort level whether we like it or not. Let's just hope our #1 pick makes us all forget about these little things with at least a fringe elite season.

With the positive press the team has been getting I've forgotten we are paying AT $9 million for the one season. That's fuging insanity. And in 2023 when he eclipsed 1k yards we had the worst passing offense in the league lmao. Then we're paying Dalton $8 million hoping we never have to watch him throw a football again under any circumstances. Yeah let's hope these young guys are ready to elevate the team so we don't have to think about these issues.