BlitzMonster

James Campen getting hired as OL coach (so it's already happened ! ). Carolina's line was an utter embarrassment last season that impacted the entire offense. As a former NFL Center and long time NFL OL coach, I think he can actually fix this mess. I just hope the team supports him with draft picks and good free agent OL additions so Campen can do his job.

If the team makes a bunch of good decisions and has a much improved season next year, I'm all for it. And if most of those moves are due to Rhule then great, he's learning on the job and becoming a much better coach. It's the Rhule of the last 2 years that I don't want to see rehired. If he performs much better than that, let him keep coaching. As to Sam, he's on a 1 year deal so he's surely gone. If he morphed into some type of Pro Bowl QB, the Panthers would be bidding for his services with numerous other clubs. And if he is just a game manager in 2022, the Panthers wouldn't really want him back. At that point it's better to go with a higher upside rookie. So Sam is leaving in almost any circumstance.

I am really hopeful that James Campen, the new OL coach, will lead to much more success. Campen has coached multiple OL who got Pro Bowl invites so the man knows his stuff. As a consequence I am confident Campen can sort out Brady Christensen and Deonte Brown. Christensen has the best chance to be starting in 2022. Maybe Brown is a situational player (jumbo package short yardage) and a backup. Which would be fine. Add to that an OL draft pick at #6 - preferably an LT. It they are all gone by pick 6 (which very well could happen) draft Center Tyler Linderbaum from Iowa. Bottom line is that the Panthers add a blue chip talent on the OL who starts immediately. Then add one FA interior linemen. Two would be better but even one helps tremendously as an instant starter that Campen is confident will play well in his OL system. One FA will not break the Panthers' salary cap. Then trust Campen find one vet OL on the Panthers roster who can be coached up and become an OK starter. Not the second coming of Jonathan Ogden but somebody who's minimally adequate. All of that (which is very doable) gives the Panthers an OL that is OK (which would be a HUGE improvement over last year). And an OL that would get better over the season as the 2021 and 2022 rookies got more playing time.

Rhule my have had roster control written into his contract, but that only lasts as long as the contract does. Tepper could have easily told him "Give up some (or all) of your roster control or your contract ends today." Which would have been motivation for Rhule to sign a revised contract giving up that power. Even with all the guaranteed $$ no coach wants to be thrown out of a job and be seen as a public failure.

I thought it would be fun to make this thread pretty early, while all of us were still doing research on the college players. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the Huddle weren't re-assessing our picks on a regular basis just as you are ! But actually being asked to write things down forces one to make choices, which I believe is a useful exercise. There will be more clarity after free agency and the combine. And the individual player workouts will be the final piece. But I can already see my own vision for the pick coming together, in who I want and who I (definitely) do not want.

I'll bet we will get one or two good OL free agents because they want to work with Coach Campen. He is well respected around the league.

"Rhule initially signed a seven-year deal with the team, although Person reported in December that owner David Tepper is embarrassed by the contract. Even if the coach remains for another season, he's clearly still on the hot seat heading into 2022." article

I'm quickly falling into the worst thing for a franchise - a fan that has given up hope and just doesn't care anymore. If the Panthers continue to be amateur hour with horrible decision making, I'll find something else to do with my time.

Mac Jones would have been a bust (or never even played) in the dumpster fire that is Carolina.

Wow, I thought drafting Pickett would be the bottom of the barrel. I didn't think things could be even worse. Ugh. It will show Tepper not firing Rhule this off season was a horrendous decision.

Rhule has to show everybody how smart he was recruiting Pickett to Temple. "Look, he was a first round NFL draft pick."

I'm starting to like kungfoodude's list a lot more - if the big 3 LT are gone, trade down. I love Linderbaum, Kyle Hamilton S NOTRE DAME and Nakobe Dean LB GEORGIA as prospects. I think all three will likely have long, productive NFL careers. I just don't like them at #6 because the positional value is so poor. Drafted at #6, you'd have guys walking into the NFL who would be among the highest paid players IN THE LEAGUE at their positions. And that's not good - for the salary cap or for salary parity on the team. Also bad for the pressure it puts on the players to be "supermen" at their job. It makes it really hard on the rookie.

I second that of the Steelers possibly where Malik Willis could play right away and succeed. The team is already built out with a strong running game in Najee Harris. A thousand yard reciever Diontae Johnson. A great young TE Pat Freiermuth. And a solid defense with DPOY TJ Watt. Also a savvy and secure coach in Tomlin who would know how to gameplan to the strengths of Willis and minimize his problem areas.

Give six selections in your preferred order for Carolina's 1.6 pick. That guarantees the team will get one of your players. 1) Charles Cross LT MISSISSIPPI STATE 2) Ikem Ekwonu LT NC STATE 3) Evan Neal LT ALABAMA 4) Matt Corral QB OLE MISS 5) Bernhard Raimann LT CENTRAL MICHIGAN 6) Tyler Linderbaum C IOWA

Every day that goes by makes me more suspicious that all 3 LT will be gone by #6.

Corral is battle-tested in the SEC. He played with an imaginative and creative head coach in Lane Kiffin. Kiffen might be a horses rear end as a person but he's a bright offensive mind. Lots to like with Corral.

I love Linderbaum but don't know if the value is there at #6. Teams can find starting C in rounds 3 or 4 of most drafts. So the 6th overall pick is pretty high for him. Now if new OL Coach Campen loved the kid, I'd change my tune and happily welcome him to the Panthers' roster. Campen really knows his stuff so whatever OL he likes, I'm down with drafting.

Probably the best pass protecting LT in the draft. Don't be surprised if pass-oriented new Jags HC Doug Pederson makes Cross the 1.1 selection.

I think Corral may be the best of the 2022 bunch and actually a pretty good all around QB prospect. I'd still rather have an OL at #6 but wouldn't hate Corral being the pick.

I doubt that would be legal. A likely antitrust violation. But all the team owners already know this. So the end result is still the same.

Brady would be smart to stick with his job as the QB coach for Josh Allen for a few seasons. He could really polish up his credentials with that position and learn how to run an NFL offense. He'd likely crash & burn as the OC for the Saints.

Well, put my name on that list. I would have started Brady Christensen and Deonte Brown for the last 6 games of the season. I don't know if they would have played any better than the others (I don't think they could have played much worse). But at least now we'd know if these two rookies had a future as NFL OL or not. And that would better inform our FA and draft choices. It's hard to decide who to go after if you don't even know what's on your roster right now.

but do you want 17 games of that ?

Everybody agreed Horn was an elite talent before the draft. And in the guy's short tenure with the Panthers before his injury, he did nothing to dispute that. A great CB takes away the opposing team's top receiver. Or shuts down 1/2 of the passing area for the opposing QB. You can build a defense around guys like that. And CB play was a huge problem for the Panthers the previous season. My best guess to what happened at the draft was that when Penei Sewell got selected the pick before, the team was stuck. It knew it needed OL but the guys left had some deficiencies (short armed Rashawn Slater) and was maybe a G in their eyes. Misguided scouting but whatever. So the team went with the best "sure thing" available at that pick in a shutdown CB. The BPA at a position of team need. I can't really scream at the club too much for this decision. It is defensible in a lot of ways.

For the last 50 years the NFL has been on a steady move toward flag football or 7on7 drills. It's all for high scoring and entertainment for casual fans. This year's Pro Bowl is how the normal game is going to look in another 30 years. Ugh.