frankw

Defense Defense Defense You can put All Pros up and down the offense they are still at the mercy of a bottom 10 QB.

I went to the same chart. Sounds about right. Too much for me. I completely understand the allure with trading up and getting those butterflies but do we want to actually build a long term contender here? Then we need to compile picks and focus on actually drafting quality talent in the later rounds. That's the only path forward for a franchise such as ours.

I've been critical of Dave for some of his gameday decisions but it's certainly plainly obvious to anyone with eyes his offense is significantly handcuffed by the most integral moving part within.

https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/team-stats?category=downs&sort=o_4thpct&season=2025&seasonType=reg&sortOrder=desc We were also 24th in first downs and 26th in third downs despite having at one point in the season arguably the most productive RB in the league. When you actually dig into the numbers you see why Canales was going for it on fourth so often. Legitimately it was the only way he could make this Bryce Young led offense look even partially productive statistically when it was all said and done.

Ahhh touché. So if you remove half of our fourth down attempts that would put us at 76 punts which would be 3rd in the league. https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/player/_/view/special/stat/punting/table/punting/sort/punts/dir/desc What a laughably putrid offense.

Outside of rounds 1-4 we have two 5ths and a 6th. What are we trading up with? And when was the last time trading up in the first worked out spectacularly for us?

Hornets would have to practically win out and make a run to the conference finals for Charles Lee to wrestle coach of the year away from Bickerstaff or Mitch Johnson.

He certainly earned his money last year thanks to us finishing 27th in YPG. That's a lot of punts.

Given our options it is obviously one of the better moves we could have made and there does not seem to be anyone that is not in favor of adding a decent left tackle given our circumstances. But at the end of the day that is roughly what he will end up being for us. Anyone expecting him to be head and shoulders better than Icky might as well get ready to pull a complete 180 because you can bet your bottom dollar sooner or later they'll be screaming for his head.

30 point win. That's how you bounce back. Glad they gave the home crowd such a dominant performance over a bitter rival. Now let's carry this vibe into April.

Blowing out the Heat late in the 4th quarter. Now that is a sight to behold.

Or. Hear me out. We could actually draft one worth a damn seeing as we have a former LB for a general manager.

We need to defeat the Heat at home tonight. Tired of playing little brother to those fưcks.

If we were a consistently competently run franchise yes. Unfortunately we are a franchise run by the Tepper's and you just can't put it past anyone involved not to give Bryce Young an extension for playing just mediocre enough to be carried to wins that he did virtually no heavy lifting in.

Well if we are being realistic doesn't what you just lined out already tell us where we are at? If the rookie UDFA kicker was the savior more often than not and we had a bottom 5 offense despite us having a #1 pick behind center who was billed predraft as a mini Payton Manning is that just going to magically change trajectory overnight with a tougher schedule added in? If we are going to repeat as division champions then it will be with the defense doing the heavy lifting. So keep adding to it.

Unfortunately that is one area where his abilities are hindered without a doubt. That being said we have had issues with drops. But I don't think we are or were anywhere near the top of the league in that aspect. Overall I would be happy if we added another legit receiving TE but I would be of the opinion that his full potential will be squandered until we have a starting QB with the necessary physical tools. Just a matter of accepting the reality staring back at us.

You can add the TE we seek but opposing defenses still have to believe the QB can deliver him the ball at a high level particularly over the middle which is where the really good TE's thrive and that hasn't exactly been an area of the field our passing O has thrown to at a high % the last 3 years we've had a whole thread on that already. You can bet opposing defenses with nearly 50 games of tape will certainly be licking their chops waiting to see us try.

Ah yes a typical Bryce Young Defense Force post. No mention of the reigning Rookie of the Year or the #1 highest paid OL in the league two years in a row. Yes clearly our QB just needs All Pros at every position. We'll get right on that.

I have no issues with him from a personal standpoint I just tend to think he is mostly mid at absolute best as a head coach and that's if everything is going perfectly around him. If the team falters down the stretch I think it would be in our best interest to explore potential replacements after the season. Even teams like the Knicks recently fired their head coach after a playoff run. Either we are trying to turn the corner as a franchise or we aren't. And if we are we need standards.

I am all for more large men on the defensive line. I want to see our divisional rival QB's flattened.

I honestly think how well the team has played at times has been more of a testament to the potential of the young talent we have on the roster rather than Charles Lee actually moving the needle in any real capacity from a developmental standpoint. Regardless. The Hornets get two days off and then host the Heat on Tuesday night. If we play dead in that one like we mostly did against the Spurs it's a wrap.

Yeah I find myself flipping between the worst case scenario of Bryce either playing just mediocre enough for our decision makers to justify giving him a contract extension in their eyes because they want to justify drafting him. Or Bryce going back to playing poorly and us having no one else to fall back on because Pickett might be decent for one or two games but there's no one else and our locker room starts to get ugly because we went all in with our salary cap and guys careers are on the line. This scenario which IMO is the higher probability given our schedule and the amount of tape out there on Bryce is why I say if we can trade down and acquire a few more mid or late round picks we should draft a developmental QB. Not looking for a guy to be the savior but someone with the necessary physical tools and who could actually run a QB sneak. But we'll just have to see how it shakes out. I just want a competitive team but the last thing I want is the season to fall apart because we once again threw our arms up in regards to the QB room.

At the end of the day it's much easier to take this position in March. We'll see how you feel in December if our passing output is still hovering around bottom 5 or 10 in the league.

I mean I'd like to add a monster TE as much as anyone else but ultimately what use will that serve with a QB who had 54 passing yards in 4 quarters at one point last season? Defense defense defense.

It's about time? We've been prioritizing the OL. In 2024 we were 4th in OL salary In 2025 we were 1st in OL salary In 2026 we are once again 1st in OL salary That's three years running. We didn't just start doing this. So the results on the field should be speeding forward to match up with the salary cap we are burning through. But they aren't. In 2025 we were 27th in total YPG. In 2024 we were 29th in total YPG. Are any of you actually expecting us to field a top 20 offense in 2026 or are we just setting the bar at winning free agency?