frankw

Prepare thy anuses

Eh I think we should come to the realization that Andy Dalton is not that coveted. He's certainly better than Bryce Young but he's a boom or bust aging veteran. If he wants big money then he can show himself out. I also tend to lean toward the conclusion that the huddle is overrating Johnson to a degree. The Steelers are doing just fine without him. Who in the world is giving us a 2nd and a player for a running back that has yet to add a 1k rushing season to his resume and is due his first big contract? It's as good a time as any for us as Panthers fans to be as realistic as possible about the players on our roster no matter how much we like them.

I like Hubbard. I'd prefer to keep him but not at max value. On the idea of trading him I just don't know what we would get that would make it some sort of must make deal. There have been some good players right now going for 3rd round picks at best. I want more picks too but a mid to late rounder isn't moving the needle much. If that's all we're looking for then get something for Thielen and Johnson. This isn't a one draft solution situation regardless. It's going to take at least a few really solid drafts to even get close to where we need to be.

Back in camp we thought the defense might actually be decent or at least serviceable this year. Unfortunately they were no longer able to square off against Bryce Young and had to actually face real quarterbacks. Reality sunk in quick. It is what it is we always knew we had to eventually just rebuild that side of the ball from pretty much scratch. We should have already begun doing it. But some people thought we just needed to "retool". Start the damn rebuild.

Death. Taxes. The New Orleans Saints somehow successfully navigating a salary cap situation that Panthers fans declare will be the end of them contending for the foreseeable future.

I think this conversation is a matter of what one considers to be a success. For us and what we've endured for the last 6 years or so since the second half of the 2018 season yeah we'd take what Minnesota is building 10 times out of 10. The Vikings may have found their starter for the next several years in Darnold. But the question is will he be any better than Cousins who put up some pretty impressive regular season starts but largely was underwhelming at best in the playoffs and went nowhere. We've never even seen Darnold in a playoff game. If he gets that far I'll be eager to see what transpires. But I personally wouldn't bet money on him having a Joe Flacco 2012 Ravens level playoff run with them.

With Icky this is the big evaluation year. Next season they have to decide on his fifth year option. At this point unless he finishes the season very strong they have to consider bringing in competition in the event his struggles carry over into next season. Right now the truth is that despite our needs across the roster. We could remove Ian Thomas and Jonathan Mingo from the equation and improve. I was hard on Canales following the loss but truly he is in a tough spot with this roster that our current GM has had a hand in both good and bad in his time with Scott Fitterer who was btw very high on Ian Thomas. The Panthers at this point in time IMO need to take a page out of Dave Gettleman's book and do some no nonsense trimming of the roster. It's already depleted. Get the known low effort guys and the washed up veterans out and start rolling in the youth movement. We are at least a few years away from truly competing for anything of significant relevancy anyways.

It's still a small sample size. Eventually Darnold is going to have one of those games he's known for. Not to mention I can recall several teams over the last 15 years or so who started off undefeated and faceplanted in the second half of the season. The Vikings are heading to Detroit to play the Lions tomorrow. Let's see how they do.

I love a good ground game as much as anyone else too. But it is at the end of the day a passing league. Canales was brought in here for his prowess in that area. His run game in Tampa as OC wasn't even that productive. At the same time we have to let him get his own guy. Dalton while a great guy is mid at best and he's at the end of his career. Until then there's only so much you can expect. Just please no more Bryce Young.

I try to give everyone here the benefit of the doubt. But the leaps in logic one has to make to compare Bryce Young to Derrick Brown or Chuba Hubbard neither of whom are physical outliers for their position is just too much. Yes his problems are physical and mental as in he has been no way shape or form the savant of QB intelligence that we were sold on.

Any thoughts on the first two games?

We aren't a QB away and we never have been. It's still the most consequential position on the field in this modern league though it just is what it is. At the same time it's been partly the Panthers impatience and moreso incompetence that has gotten us to this point of just unfathomable misery. And the sad thing is as bad as things are with the roster and what we gave up in the trade it still wouldn't be that bad if we had simply went with established norms in the evaluation process and selected the best prototypical QB with the clear best arm. We can't let that utter stupidity make us scared going forward though. Just draft a good damn QB who checks the needed boxes and most importantly has the necessary phsyical tools in a big mans league.

Scott Fitterer is the antichrist.

Back to back years the Hornets make an unpopular pick and so far both are studs. At least something is going right in the QC.

As for TMJ. At this point you just have to marvel at the Panthers knack for drafting the biggest deadbeats imaginable at the WR position time and time again in the 2nd round. These bums make Brandon Lafell and Ted Ginn look like hall of famers.

After we fired Fitterer we left the scouting department on the draft side basically entirely intact. Didn't understand it then and I definitely don't understand it now looking at the state of this roster. I wanted a full house cleaning. Scorched earth. Sigh....

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The sooner we can get him out there the better for all involved. It will be good to give the fans something to feel positive about from the selection. We really need it.

I've got a lot of catching up to do on college football. The Panthers being trash has cratered my interest this go around but I'll get there. I'll get back to you on that at a later date.

Like a draft mock? I haven't looked at all that yet brother I'll dive into it over the next few months.

I will say I really look what Chuba brings to the offense. He plays with a edge and we need that on our roster. Unfortunately this goes back to what we just talked about. We really need to see Brooks this season to get a true sense. Him not playing at all is worst case scenario and forces our hand in the offseason. As for Johnson. It all depends on how he finishes the season. But he is going to seek maximum value and hold us over a barrel if need be. I would do the same in his position. But unlike Chuba who is only 25 Diontae will be 29 next season. Inking him to a big extension is really risky regardless of our need. We should consider the Steelers approach to the position. As I said in the other thread about taking a QB next year. We should go BPA and stop forcing picks based solely on need. Let the chips fall where they may. But that will require Dan Morgan to operate differently and at this point no matter how much I like him on a personal level I cannot at this juncture say just how different he is from Scott Fitterer. But we need him to absolutely nail the next two drafts or we're toast.

At this point I'm fine with BPA.

You already know my feelings on the Tepper's. The only hope I have is that maybe they finally back into something that works out and they step away more. Trust me I'm trying to maintain perspective and retain a certain level of rationality here through some dark times. I said all along I don't necessarily mind losing if we're doing so seeing bright spots from our young talent. I'm not arguing for firings because either way for the time being it won't solve anything. The replacements will just be worse because the only candidates who will want to work here will just be for the money and being sycophants to the Tepper's. That being said. When we lose and embarrass ourselves I'm not going to whisper sweet nothings in anyone's ear. I'm tired of seeing this franchise continue to be a joke within the division that IMO is really not very good at all. I think this whole situation would have more of a silver lining if we had maybe done some things differently. We've invested a ton in the oline and we could have a young Center on a rookie deal too. But we traded up for an injured RB. Now I'm not writing his future off yet and I just as much as anyone want to see Brooks become a baller for us. He didn't draft himself I'm not blaming him personally. But it was a luxury move plain and simple. Now we're mulling over giving high cost contract extensions on the offensive side of the ball after the season and the current offensive output is not at all consistently lining up with any such notion. This team needs a true rebuild in the offseason. Fully embrace the youth movement and close the door on the past. Yes that means guys like Shaq Thompson and especially guys like Ian Thomas. Draft and develop talent. It's going to take minimum at least a few more years sadly. But it's the only way.

Ian Thomas with a worse grade than Jonathan Mingo is so fitting for this franchise. Three regime changes and still going strong. The Panthers in a nutshell.

I felt Bryce was cooked before preseason. I saw the same Bryce Young that Dave Canales did in camp. Throwing awful picks in shorts into double coverage without even scanning the field and then looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. This after showing up to camp looking every bit the same physically. Then on top of it all the distinct lack of deep ball that certain people here went to ridiculous and comical lengths to rationalize. I think we should be careful to give Canales too much credit for the benching. I think there was turmoil in the locker room. Players were simply tired of the way Bryce was being coddled and handed his position. If fans like us could see it and tire of it how do you think his teammates felt? Regardless Dave and Dan rebuilt the offense and they knew doing so meant taking even more away from a defense that was already not up to Panthers standards. Now look at the results? All this hand wringing about the defense is just insulting in my POV. They knew what they were getting into. Start scoring some damn points. That's why you're here.