Icege

incoming videos! Not as many this year but we got a cpl

The stuff being reported about Demani's comfort and communication at the top of the shell is giving me life ngl

Super eager to see this rebooted DL + EDGE group show us some promise during preseason. The LB group is going to need all of the help that they can get.

Gross

Agreed re: injuries. I think that there's been enough done to where the team has starting talent at almost every position group (except LB now), but some of those groups are incredibly top-heavy without much depth (ie: DB + LB imo). I think that the roster has been built out enough to where losing a guy in the trenches isn't going to be as devastating as it has been recently... but maaaan if Jaycee gets hurt right after signing his new deal that's going to suck even worse than it has before. I've heard rumours that Hubbard might have patella-related issues (didn't he have a subluxation last season towards the end?), and if that's true I don't doubt we're going to get a much healthier dose of Dowdle than we did Miles Sanders during his tenure. As much as I want to see the pass game take off, it's got a lot of young and unproven commodities that it's depending on to work. I'm expecting growing pains, but with actual growth rather than just the pain.

merged/duplicate - though credit to both for the info

Not really. Just with you and mrcompletely11. Even though CRA is not a big believer in the team currently, he at least engages in good faith debate regarding them. Trying to have a rational conversation with you where you don't crash out and start being dismissive is outright impossible, so triggering you with poo emojis and pointing out your Bryce hate is the most effort I'm willing to put in until you figure out how to be a person.

Get well Josey

*taps the sign*

The LB and DB rooms have a lot of question marks going into this season... I won't be surprised if the defense is better but not completely turned around. At the same time, this has been almost a total rebuild between this season and last... a group or two had to be the weak spots while other areas get shored up first.

Ah, I see. You're saying he's just a short game guy... but wouldn't the team still have needed a deep threat to keep those safeties from creeping down like they were when Reich/Brown had him dinking and dunking? Who from this list is preventing that from happening last season? David Moore? Then what about this season? Darius Slayton? I'm not saying that weren't better moves to have been made, but I don't think that AT is the half-in, half-out mindset as suggested. He came in under Reich, was a dependable veteran for a rookie HC that has a background with WRs, and is now set to make $2M less than the aforementioned Darius Slayton. What I am saying I guess is that when stepping back and looking at all of the available data points, the Adam Thielen signing was one of the few moves that this team has made that has worked out. Going to be fun seeing if Jimmy Horn Jr can contribute right away as that quick-twitch slot guy the team has been looking for. I don't see Thielen playing the entire season, so the sooner Jimmy picks things up the better.

I'm all for having developed Ladd under AT last season, but that still doesn't address WR1/WR2. Even if we add Diontae to that mix still, who is the other WR? I'd rather give AT the $9M and draft XL than pay DJ Chark (or Diontae Johnson) and draft Ladd, especially when drafting Ladd doesn't give the team a deep threat to take the top off of a defense like XL does.

Kon vs. Sacramento

For a moment I thought you were talking about Michael Jordan the football player and I got so irrationally angry thinking about him starting until I got to Clyde Drexler.

Missed the final 8min but seeing the team up by 32 at one point helped me cope. My favorite comments on the Hornets subreddit following the win last night:

My friend, you are already here.

I'm veeery interested to see how this affects team's draft strategy going forward. Guaranteeing a majority of that second rounder's contract is going to make it even more important for teams to not whiff. Marty Hurney is thanking his stars that he isn't a GM anymore.

It looks like the team agrees with you to some extent: TMac and Jimmy Horn Jr both provide a dynamic X as well as a slot, which allows XL to be the Z which might be a better fit for him. Ja'Tavion Sanders was drafted for his receiving chops as a TE. Jonathon Brooks was one of the better pass catching RBs in his draft class. I don't think Ladd makes any sense because the team had several slot WRs already and he's never going to be a perimeter guy which was what the team had lacked Bryce's rookie year. Adam Thielen was already signed as well. Ladd does make much more sense than throwing away Andy Dalton in the name of "competition" though, I'll give you that.

My reaction when I see opposing fans chalk up Carolina as a free win for them in the upcoming season

That's a much fairer point worth exploring as opposed to seemingly blaming him for producing more than what a team would usually want from a 34yr old WR. It also allows us to look at who was available then as well: The same season AT was brought in the team experimented with DJ Chark as the X. Would they have been better forgoing both players and signing Nuk for $13M/2yrs? Maybe... but I don't think that exactly changes anything about the final results at the end of the season. In fact, looking at who was signed (and for how much) makes the AT deal look even better in hindsight. $8.3M avg for a dependable, veteran slot... especially when also looking at this most recent free agency: Yea, the previous front offices whiffed horribly on building the WR room. Marty Hurney and Scott Fitterer did horrible jobs there. However, this is a different GM, HC, OC, etc. The HC + OC are WR coaches. If there's a time for the team to go young and develop, it's now imo.