tukafan21

I wouldn't hate giving Hilton a call. Has a history with Reich and honestly didn't look terrible in his couple games with Dallas last year

I love what Thielen will be to this team and to Bryce, like I said, the second we made the trade, Thielen became my #1 wanted FA at any position. But that doesn't mean he's a #1, because he's just not. He's a slot WR at this point in his career who can make a significant impact in that role, but if we need him to be our #1 playing an outside WR spot, than we're going to be in a lot of trouble this year.

Okay then, who was the team planning on having as their #1 WR this year then? I'm not saying what your saying here is dumb, because I clearly agree that signing someone with his injury history to be our #1 was a bad idea. But it's clear that it was their plan as he was the best WR on the roster, health aside, hence why I was never happy with the signing as I thought it was a stupid plan. And as bad as a plan as it was to have someone with his injury history be the #1, having TMJ or Mingo be the planned #1 WR is an even worse plan.

How? In what way? Just think it through logically Thielen, while I love what he will be for this offense and he was my #1 wanted FA once we made the trade for the #1 pick because he'll be perfect for a rookie QB, is unequivocally NOT a #1 WR at this point in his career, he's a possession/slot WR who will make his value most apparent on short 3rd downs. Mingo isn't a #1 WR to start his career, if he was, he wouldn't have been a 2nd round pick. Shenault? Byrd? Smith? All clearly not even starting WRs, let alone a #1. So again, the plan was clearly for it to be Chark or hope for a prayer that TMJ would make a massive leap this offseason and be the #1, which in itself never seemed likely to start the year anyways.

It 100% was their plan to have him be the #1, nobody else on the team made any sense as a #1 (not that Chark did either, but he's closer to a #1 than anyone else on the team right now). MAYBE they were hoping that TMJ would show out and take it over, but that certainly wasn't what they would have been planning for.

And this is exactly why I was against signing him, making your rookie QB’s #1 WR a guy with his injury history was never a good idea.

If we went through the entire offseason process, FA, draft, training camp, preseason, working on a base 3-4 and then switched to a base 4-3 because we couldn't find the right DT, then I'll have lost all faith in this staff before the preseason is even over. It almost doesn't even matter anyways though, in today's NFL, most teams are running 3 or 4 WR on most snaps, thus needing an extra DB or 2 anyways, nobody plays base defenses much anymore unless their base has 5 DBs. If we're not already there, within a few more years, the NFL will mostly have base defense packages that are 3-3-5, 4-2-5, or even 2-4-5, with the LB's in the non 4-2-5 defenses being pass rushers, like we have with Burns. This is why having Chinn be successful this year and signing him to an extension is so important, I think his versatility is what's needed in today's game.

So... your solution to our RB injury concerns is to sign someone who has only been able to play in 42 of a possible 82 games in his career due to injury issues? I'd like to see us go and get Hunt

That one is on Mingo and he’ll learn from it, he slowed WAY down there for no reason, if he kept running it would have been a perfect pass to let him keep going. Frustrating to see, but at least the rookie QB made the right play, moved in the pocket and made a good pass

We don't have to make the playoffs, but anything short of finishing outside the Top 10 in next year's draft order will be an utter failure of a season on multiple levels. First, as others have noted, we had a 7 win team last season and have improved at literally every position on the field except for #1 WR, and even then, our WR room as a group is much better than last years. And sure, you could make the argument that it's a new staff, but this "new staff" is so much better than the garbage staff we had last year, especially seeing as our winning streak came after we fired out HC and DC. If we finish with what would have been a Top 10 pick in next year's draft, imagine how much better that pick would have been if we were playing Corral at QB this year instead of Young, would have been all but guaranteed to be a Top 3 pick, if not #1 outright. I don't care how much of a Bryce supporter you are, I don't think anyone is going to say he's a better prospect than Caleb Williams and maybe not even Drake Maye. If we're so bad of a team with that we'd have been in a position to draft one of them next year without trading away Moore and all the other draft pick assets, then we'll be in a much worse place moving forward than if we had just not made that trade. And that more than anything is why we have to have a successful season, giving up next year's pick in such a good QB draft will look like a terrible mistake given what else we'd have been able to keep to build around that Top pick in next year's draft.

Seriously NFL Network? Still showing the final 30 seconds of a preseason game instead of cutting to the first snaps of the #1 pick of the draft? This is gonna make me so angry if they don’t cut to it in time

2 drives in game 1, halfway into the second quarter in game 2, not dressed for game 3. Between that and the Jets practices, he'll get what he needs to be ready for Week 1, no need to risk him anymore than that.

This is an outstanding signing, basically the equivalent of Thielen on offense. Thielen will be a rotational guy who can't play every snap at this age but will be an effective vet when on the field. Plus, Thielen is a pro's pro and part of his job is to take the young WRs under his wing and teach them how to do things. Houston has 111.5 career sacks and according to the ESPN article on him, has earned the nickname "Yoda" and "Sensei" due to him staying after practice to work on pash rushing moves with young players. He's here to give us situational pass rush (which he had 9.5 sacks doing last year) and to help mentor all our other pass rushers. Can't wait to see how much he's going to help Burns take his game to a whole new level.

Except he'd be a project who also would be an instant contributor, that's rare to find, I wasn't happy that we didn't take him when we could. His blocking will put him on the field immediately as essentially an extra OL, they've said he's absolutely dominated the Steelers defense in camp in the run game already and he always was talked about that way in the pre-draft process. I think his upside at how much of a mismatch he could end up in the passing game was way too great to pass on him when we did, seeing as he'd have immediately got on the field both as a run blocker and as an extra blocker in the passing game to help ensure Bryce stays upright.

Well damn… I know I used to have a bunch of those hologram type of cards as a kid, no idea if I ever had this one, but now I have to go look hahaha

Never can be a 3 down back in this league, but he looks like he could play the Darren Sproles role and carve out a spot on rosters for a while.

Yea, he couldn't make a play on the ball, but he absolutely could have made a play on Chark if it was a game. But no DB is trying to make that play in any practice as they're not going to risk injury to their own teammate just to try and make a tough play to look good themselves, let alone the first day of camp. I think there will be more than enough things to praise Bryce about from even today, let alone the rest of camp. I just don't think this play is one of them given what likely would have happened if that same pass with the same coverage was thrown during a live game. That's all, not bashing Bryce or his potential in the slightest.

I'm watching this, that's the ball in the circle and the DB is already pulling up here because he's not going to break his own teammate in half on the first day of training camp. The pass itself is a nicely thrown ball, but everyone praising the ball placement makes zero sense to me as the placement would have lead to Chark likely getting injured if this was a game, which in turns means it's actually terrible ball placement. Guys, we're Panthers fans, but it doesn't mean we have to look at everything Panthers related as "the best thing ever" and not be able to look at things objectively. I think Bryce is going to be great for us (as long as he stays healthy), but I just don't think THIS play is something to go all gaga over, particularly if you're using it to praise his ball placement.

In what way did I say anything remotely like that? Everyone is praising his placement of that ball, but the placement of the ball was actually very dangerous and in a real game would have more likely resulted in an injury to Chark than a completed pass. I'm not trying to be a debbie downer, but I just don't see the same thing when I look at that play that everyone else does. If that DB isn't there and the only DB in that play is the one trailing Chark, then yea, it's an outstanding pass. But that wasn't the case, looks to me like he just never saw that other DB there or else he wouldn't have thrown that pass.

Am I the only one not totally impressed with this play from Bryce's standpoint? Great catch by Chark for sure, but this is not a completion in an actual game, if anything, Bryce might have just gotten Chark killed on this play. The DB clearly pulled up there seeing as this is the first day of training camp, if this is a game, he's blowing up the WR there. Was more of a medicine ball than a well placed pass

For a guy who started 16 games with only 4 penalties last season, if he's going to be healthy before the season starts and we can get him on a cheap contract, then I'm absolutely interested. He was cut so they could clear his cap room as it looks like it would have been his last year there anyways as they apparently have some young guards they like, not like he's washed up. He can start the season as our RG and then when Austin is healthy, let the best 2 guards take the starting spots and we have a high end backup in case of any injury.

5th year option won't matter with Bryce. He's not going to be like a Daniel Jones who struggles to pick up the game and they need the 5th year to evaluate. Bryce is either going to be a smashing success and will sign an extension long before then or he's going to have injury issues and we'll be looking to replace him by then.

The article makes total sense, but it also then makes it seem very odd that Bryce isn't signed yet for a couple reasons. First, we have one of the richest owners in the sport, so it's surprising that when he pays out Bryce's signing bonus would be a sticking point for him, hard to see cash flow being an issue for him, so whether you pay it all to him at signing, 2 weeks later, or a month later, what's the difference to him? Second, Bryce has already seemingly done really well with his endorsements, the kid isn't hurting for money right now. So why is it a big deal to him if he gets his money as soon as he signs or has to wait a few weeks to a month or so to get a portion of if? I always thought the sticking point in these was the offset language, that agents hate because it can cost their clients money if they end up getting cut before the rookie deal is over. But this article makes it seem like it's more about when they get their bonus money, which is even stranger as it seems like it's either immediate or in installments a few weeks apart. So why delay the signing? If they signed right away, they'd already have their full bonus by now with how most of these contracts are structured it seems, very odd all around.

I'll admit that I was always 100% a Stroud guy, right up until they announced Bryce as the pick and then I turned to backing our guy (and just praying his frame can hold up to a 10+ year career). Pre-trade I wanted Stroud first, AR second, and Bryce third. Once we made that trade it eliminated AR from my board, but was still Stroud first with Bryce a distant second. His mental side of the game was the only reason I was ever going to be accepting of him as the pick, as it always was known that he was truly special in that regard. But I'll never stop being concerned about his frame holding up (and no, has nothing to do with height).

It's nonsense Stroud going to a super exclusive party for one night doesn't mean he isn't working hard between now and training camp. Just as Young doing this 3 day camp with the guys doesn't mean he won't go out to any parties between now and training camp. No player is studying and working out every minute they are awake right now. This is a time for guys to get some work done, but also to relax and have some responsible fun before the grind of camp starts up in a few weeks.