tukafan21

With the new number rules, retiring numbers isn't quite as bad anymore. Someone like Smitty 100% deserves to be retired, greatest player in franchise history and will be in the HOF, and as far as I'm aware, nobody has worn 89 since he left, so it they might as well just make it official by now. Although I could see Tapper having told Smitty that they're going to do it, but wait until he makes the HOF so they can do it all at once and have an amazing pre-game, since I really don't think it will take more than 3 or 4 more years till he gets in. 1, 59, and 58 should all be done too, but I can see the argument of retiring 4 numbers before we're even 30 years of a franchise and without a SB win might be a bit much. So I'd be okay if they stopped after Smitty for now and maybe/hopefully unofficially retire those other numbers with nobody else being able to take them and then revisit in 10 years.

Butker is the easy answer here, we could have had an all pro level kicker for 15 years, but no, just HAAADDDD to keep freaking Gano

Blake Bortles, Sean Mannion, Cooper Rush, Nathan Peterman, AJ McCarron are all guys I'd probably rather roll with as our backup right now over PJ, and that's saying something, as none of those guys are any good either. In reality, I'd like them to IR Darnold, cut PJ, keep Eason on the PS, and just sign Cam as a gadget player who also would be our backup QB if Baker gets hurt. Line up with Baker in the shotgun with Cam and CMC on each side of him, feel like we could run a lot of great plays out of that set, toss it to Cam with multiple eligible receivers running routes on that side of the field and make the defense either stay back to defend the pass or attack Cam expecting him to run.

I haven't really looked at the available QB's out there, but there just HAS to be somebody better than PJ out there, the guy is not good

I'd still rather have PJ on the practice squad right now while signing a better backup. Then if/when Darnold comes back, cut said backup Or if I personally had my choice, just IR Darnold and let that terrible experiment be over, he's of no value to us anymore.

Don't hate it, but was hoping we'd somehow sign a better backup and throw PJ on the practice squad. I like having PJ on the practice squad given his scrambling ability as he can help us prepare against the more mobile QB's, but the guy has proven that he isn't much more than that, he's not a viable NFL QB unfortunately. Rhule's fascination with his former players is not a successful strategy in the NFL, that needs to be stopped.

On top of my CMC blue jersey for reference to the actual blue it should be closer to The picture makes it look a little more grey here than it actually is, it looks a more of a very light baby blue in person, but either way, nothing close to the color of the shirt in the image on the website.

https://www.fanatics.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/christian-mccaffrey-carolina-panthers-fanatics-branded-player-name-and-number-tri-blend-hoodie-t-shirt-light-blue/o-4638+t-36712491+p-2530342776+z-8-2553461403?_ref=p-SRP:m-GRID:i-r4c1:po-13 It's a cool shirt, but it's NOT the Panthers blue color, it's a light baby blue shirt, pretty frustrated to see that when it showed up.

Also why do we keep trading future draft picks for guys who aren't wanted by their current teams? Anything more than a future conditional 7th rounder and this will be even more frustrating given Shi being a similar role type of player already on the squad, but why do I feel like this is going to end up being a 4th rounder or something

Yes, Laviska is a bigger player, but he plays a similar role as Shi, just not as fast. They're both players that you want to get the ball to in space and let them make players miss, Shi is more likely to make someone miss while Laviska is more likely to break a tackle, but still a similar role on the field.

Sure, but Laviska isn't a 6th WR, he's our #3 right now (well maybe in a few weeks once he gets fully up to speed with the playbook and Baker). My issue isn't with adding Laviska, as I like him as a player, my issue is that we're adding a player that I feel like we already have on the squad. Not so sure Laviska has any more upside than Shi does, so why give up draft capital to add someone we already have and has looked great in camp this year?

Haven't read through the thread, but I really just don't get this move. In general, I like him as a player, but the guys is a possession receiver, get the ball to him and let him go to work. Isn't that basically what Shi is supposed to be for us? That Curtis replacement that we've been looking for? The guy has looked great in camp and pre-season, so why make this trade and now make Shi basically a pointless player for us at the moment? Unless we're trading/cutting Robby, which I'd LOVE, I don't understand this move given how good Shi has looked this year.

Just guessing here.... but these guys have worked their whole lives for a shot at playing in the NFL, I doubt they give two shits about paying for gas to get to practice if it gives them even a 1% chance of impressing the coaches on that last day to earn a spot on either the full roster or even just the practice squad. Hell, even if you told them they would be cut the following day, I'm guessing they'd still be willing to pay that gas money (and their time) to show up to a final practice to hopefully look good so the coaches might think of you if they need to sign someone later.

Had no issue taking the player, still think he could be a solid back up if he has the time/ability to develop. But I'm still furious at trading away next year's 3rd rounder to get him, especially after we then went out and got Baker, just a terrible decision there.

Sure, Humphrey I'll kinda give to you... Yes he would be nice to have, but it's not like he was some lock that we for sure would have taken, dude was the 15th OL selected last year, the third center, and not even the first Center selected after we picked in that round. So the odds of us having selected him specifically are pretty low, and frankly, if you told me before last years draft that we would come into this season with the OL that we have right now, I'd still have passed on an OL in the second last year and gone with a Safety or LB instead. And Smith doesn't help your argument here at all, pretty clear he wasn't even on our draft board due to his health concerns or else we'd have taken him at some point before he fell all the way to the 6th round. That one is an anomaly where everyone knew the skill, but it was non-football related health issues that kept him off most teams draft boards or he'd have been selected much earlier. You're picking and choosing the best players to come out of the draft in the middle to late rounds and expecting us to have selected them and for them to still have earned the starting spots to show they are solid starters (something we clearly know Rhule wouldn't have done, just look at what he did with BC last year). My point in all this is that we would have been rather unlikely to have selected Humphrey, there were 9 other OL selected before him in the second round, odds are we'd have ended up with on of them if we took an OL there, but the odds would have been rather high that we took someone like Moehrig if we went with a Safety (a position of need last year) as he was one of only 3 Safeties taken in the second (with one of them being taken before our original second round pick anyways). No, I wouldn't have taken TMJ if I could go back and re-do the pick, but I still also wouldn't have selected an OL given who we would have most likely ended up with, i.e. not Humphrey and definitely not Smith.

To be honest, given how things have shaken out with our OL since the 2021 draft, I wouldn't even use that pick on an OL if we had the chance to go back and re-do it. Moton was always locked in at RT, I wouldn't trade Ickey for anyone we could have taken in the second round there, BC is going to be a very good to great LG for us for years I think, Corbett is still only 26 years old and was the starting RG for the SB Champions last year, Bozeman started for the last 3 years for probably the best rushing team in the NFL over that span, and then I really believe in Mays, his versatility will make him a super back up until there is a place for him to slide into our starting lineup at some point in the next year or two, which I think he will. Could we have gotten a Center or RG with that spot? Sure, but would they really have been an upgrade over what we have with our current starters? Highly doubtful. Instead of wishing we could go back to take an OL there, I'd have loved to not trade back in the second round and stuck there to take Trevon Moehrig to pair with Chinn as our starting Safeties.

Oh for sure, Robby will probably end up costing someone around $7-10 in our auction draft, I'll be happy to take Shi at the end of the draft for $1 as nobody else in our league will even know his name. I think in a PPR league, he is a great sleeper candidate at the back end of drafts, wouldn't shock me to see him get 2 or 3 jet sweep tosses a game for a few cheap PPR points each week on top of anything else.

Crazy hard pass on Lamar Even if you don't consider the cost it would take to get him, either the trade value or the contract we'd have to give him, I wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole. He's never been a great passer, his one big passing year was just wide open receivers all year long, their OC was outstanding that year. If Cam's body couldn't hold up to the rigors of being a running QB, Lamar is going to breakdown even faster. I think the Ravens believe this to be true too, because if not, there is no way they wouldn't have already locked him up to a long term deal, they want to see what happens with him this year both in regards to health and his passing ability.

This was during my Senior year of High School, was watching at home in the family room which was a square shaped room with a big L shaped couch that took up almost the full length of two walls. As soon as he caught the pass and was clearly going to pull away from the DB's, I jumped up and started sprinting in circles around the couch while screaming my head off. But that's not even my favorite memory of watching Smitty in the playoffs actually, for me it was the game in Chicago a few years later..... A friend of mine said he knew someone getting a keg for the playoffs games that day and he asked if I wanted to go with him, partially cause he didn't have a car and I did. So of course I put on my Smitty jersey, toss on my Panthers hat, pick him up and head over to his friends house. As we're walking from the car to the house he goes, "oh, I should probably warn you, the guys who live here are from Chicago and all their Bears friends are coming over for the game, hope you're not mad about it." And he wasn't kidding, there was probably 20-25 Bears fans there with only a handful of people with no rooting interest. We had the second game that day (it was after that wild Colts/Steelers ending) and by the time our game rolled around there was already a lot of drunk Bears fans and lots of poo talking about our upcoming game. Of course we all know what happened after that, Smitty opens the game with the long TD where he stepped over the fallen Bears DB on his way to the end zone, finished with 200+ yards and 2 TDs. So very unexpectedly being the only Panthers fan in a sea of Bears fans to watch such an epic Smitty game, it's a memory I'll always cherish, what a day!

Gotta flip BC and Ickey We took Ickey with the 6th pick of the draft, if BC was going to be good enough to be our starting LT, then we completely wasted the 6th pick of the draft on someone we're using as a Guard. If the plan is to play BC at LT for a little while and then move Ickey out there, then do it now, there is no point in bringing him along slowly. Even if he has to take some lumps early on, he was the 6th pick, he's our LT of the future, stop playing him at Guard.

Wasn't able to watch the game and curious what the starting line was?

The problem is that he needs to be playing ahead of PJ right now so he's not playing with those scrubs. Corral isn't getting cut over PJ, not after we traded next year's 3rd to go and get him, would be the dumbest move of all time. Only way PJ doesn't get cut, is if we're able to find a sucker to take on Darnold's contract before final cuts need to happen, and if so, we'll likely then roll with Baker and PJ on game days with Corral inactive.

In theory I think they're great, however I do wonder if they will lead to more injuries once they're taken off. Read an article the other day where one head coach (don't remember who) was concerned that the players will get into bad habits early in camp because they know they have that added protection there and thus end up using their helmet a little more than they should. So when they come off, there is a potential of injury if you've built up some bad instinctive habits while going through camp with them on.

CTE much? Good lord that was absurd. Hopefully he's angry enough about the Baker move that he asks for a trade or something, I'm so sick of his crap for being such a bad player on the field. Dump him, roll with DJ and TMJ as our top 2 and have CMC act as the defacto #3 (as I don't want him taking more than 10ish carries a game anymore, have him play more out of the slot than the backfield to keep him healthier).

Do NOT bail out the Browns for screwing this up so badly, the entire league knows they have absolutely ZERO leverage as they owe Baker every penny of that contract even if they cut him, and everyone knows they can't have him at day 1 of training camp given everything that has happened. Plus, there are only a couple potential teams out there that would want him, and even less that will trade for him (such as the Lions, I think if Baker is cut, they'd go after him, but they aren't trading any asset for him as they'd be fine rolling with Goff in what is going to be a lost year anyways). We're basically competing with ourselves for him, no reason to pay a cent of his salary in a trade. To me, there are only 3 acceptable options for Baker to be a Panther this year...... 1. Browns cut him and we sign him for the vet minimum and not a dollar more (he'll get $20 million from the Browns, if he demands more than the vet minimum, no team should be willing to pay it). 2. We send them a 5th round or worse pick (seriously, I wouldn't do it for a 4th rounder) and they pay all but the vet minimum of his contract and not a dollar less. 3. We swap Baker for Darnold straight up (this is also assuming that since they basically have the same contract for next year, there isn't any kind of dead money hits associated with it, but I'm not fully sure how all that works, if we'd have to take a cap hit along with paying Baker's salary, then it's a no go for me) Anything other than one of the 3 scenarios above, and I couldn't say no fast enough. This team isn't competing for a championship this year regardless of who is at QB, and Baker isn't anything of a sure thing for a franchise QB moving forward. We've screwed up the QB position for 2 years now, I'm fine giving Baker a shot to see what he may be outside of the Browns, but not if we're paying above the vet minimum to do so. At that point I'd just rather roll Corral out there and see what he might be, and if we don't like what we see, break the bank next year to trade up in the draft to get a QB we like. Oh, and if we can dump Robby in any trade for Baker, then I'm all in on that too, so sick of that guy and his act, we pay way too much money to have him out there as our #2 but playing like a #4 and dropping passes left and right. I'd prolly increase it to give up a 4th rounder in a trade for Baker if it meant them taking on Robby too.