Bear Hands

Given how much of a hype guy he is, not great hearing from him that the offense was “rusty” but we’ll see.

This is hard knowing what we saw last year but with a new staff, OL, and weapons...but the same QB. 1 Saints game, Giants, Denver, 1 Bucs, & 1 unexpected We're back to 5-12. Maybe 4-13. I'd be concerned with 3-14 or worse.

You nailed it with Pelaton instructor lol

Not to mention we had the pick the Texans traded for to draft Nico lol

I'm seeing what you see. A quick way to make it very apparent to even the casual is to just watch clips of Brees, Kyler or Russ and then go to Bryce. It's what makes the larger media narrative that he's fine and we didn't give him enough super short-sighted. He doesn't have a deliberate, sharp or efficient drop back. He has this shallow walk and skip so he doesn't get back effectively enough to give himself lines of sight. His demeanor and style should be reserved for a guy that's 6'3 plus. He got used to this because he would roll out so much in school and find Jameson or Burton on the fly. And because he gets lost in these shallow, collapsing pockets, he has nowhere to go and gets super frenetic.

At the end of the day, it's a no for me. The speed & quickness in NFL clean pockets is not the same and he just looks overwhelmed to be able to stand in the pocket and make basic throws. He just can't at times. Bad OL or WRs be damned. It was pretty obvious. Poor mechanics, off balance throws, bad decision making, average arm. The field felt like it was 200 yards watching him. Surprisingly tough and has a good head on his shoulders, but that doesn't just offset his poor performance as a #1 overall selection. That's where I'm at, and I'll gladly be wrong if he comes out swinging. But am I saying he can't be a guy a team like SF could insert and make work? No. He has the mentality, but it's right there for us to see now. At his best, he's a middle of the road starter that could be on a playoff squad, maybe. Big maybe. And that's just the reality. I don't see any traits that he's going to take the team on his back and win games. Personally, the Bears game was the final straw for me. He's positioned himself into "prove-it" territory rather than, the idea that we saw flashes but he was hung out to dry.

Yep. It’s that or you work him in motion and get him the ball quickly, early. With his downfield play, even if he’s got the ups, you want to be throwing him open and leading him, like any receiver. A big detriment to Bryce’s game last year and in college was his deep ball accuracy. Hopefully it can improve with a guy like XL. Because he can beat man with his speed and muscle—he’s a third down vertical threat for sure. A problem is are these going to be jump balls with no YAC potential or can we figure this deep ball game out with the kid at QB.

What we desperately needed was a quick zone beater which we got in Dionte. That was the bigger need to help handicap our chap at QB. XL is the large catch radius to make up for his strays and floaters so the team is trying to cover both ends that previously weren’t.

Both can be true and are. There’s no apologizing. The dude even lays it out.

So when his QB was inaccurate, he did the least with uncatchable balls. Being more of a body catcher and his lack of short area quickness, and Reich/Brown’s awful play designs, it makes sense why.

Zero in 2023. 4 in all of college in 140ish targets. 2.8% rate. And he was inline and out. Average is usually around 5-5.5%. Bad is 8%+ Best in NFL history catch rates (I.E. Ertz, Olsen, Reed) are sub 3.0% at their career volumes. So good indicator, but small sample size so far. But he is super reliable.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kilroyzkrystalball/

velocity discussion aside, it will definitely be interesting to see him this year, compare eye test to last, and what iffy tendencies carry over. We all will be able to tell fairly quickly if we're looking at the same guy as last season, or a refreshed prospect fitting better in a better situation. In short-It will be obvious if he's a fish out of water rather quickly after a full offseason in the big leagues long form- We saw a glimpse of maybe an above average/top-15 starter-level potential, at his best (and that was like 1 game). Otherwise, his "good" felt kind of like what you saw when the Raiders threw in O'Connell or the Giants with the Italian dude and they had their moments. The Colts and Texans were simply different teams, for the better, with their guys on the field respectively. My biggest concern is still-- let's say the conditions are optimal, what will Bryce do to take it to the next level and put the team on his back? I want to see glimpses of what that could be, not just elevated stat lines in a more friendly system. This is going to take more than mostly looking like the same guy and having a handful more Green Bay 2023-level games. This is about getting his feet and arm coordinated, footwork better, drop backs more consistent, pocket awareness elevated, throws more deliberate, reads/head movement in pocket, there's just a lot that needs to be kicked up a notch and it will be easy to see if it's the same guy or not rather soon.

Watching Sanders, I see a lot of Evan Engram to his game. The nice thing is he has a slightly bigger build and better upside as a blocker - so could line up in a few different spots. I really like his potential. Also - he's young. I'm telling you, a big playoff caliber program like that, with an up and down QB, doesn't just target a TE 139 times in his 27 college games before the age of 21 for no reason when they had Mitchell, Worthy, & Wittingham out there. Young, great ceiling, I really hope this kid can produce for us.

Thanks - good stuff

Good mentality, I've liked what I've seen in interviews between him and Brooks as well. Both of those kids should be good for this offense.

Thanks for this. Good to hear this stuff from the player himself instead of guesswork prognosis. We’ll get him out there when they think he’s ready, and sounds like it could be sooner than some think.

Having a guy who should be our RB1 moving forward in JB (that can pass catch) allows for us to just grab guys they think can be good fits. Penny at his pro best looked damn good to close out 2021, much better than anything we’ve seen recently, so I welcome it. I’m not content with much on this team and offensive skill positions need some damn competition. Tired of presuming content just bc we filled a need before we even know what they bring. Make them fight.

If there’s any year to be aggressive with it, it’s this one.

I saw an interesting point the other day about our type of situation. It could have been wise to hold him off for 1-2 weeks, but that would not have anything to do with Bryce and you could easily communicate that from a PR standpoint. Why? Well, we just brought an entirely new staff into town, new offense for the returning OL, and had wholesale turnover elsewhere. So just run Dalton out there the first game or so to see how things are shaking out. Dry run to make sure we won't kill the kid. We weren't eyeing the SB. Get a sense of the line, the receivers, the playbook. It gives you a glimpse of what Bryce would be stepping into and a good barometer on where things stood sans him. I suppose we sort of did that with Dalton, but that was a reactive switch and like @Ricky Spanish mentioned, it was against an injured SEA defense where we threw a ridiculous amount. Who knows, maybe we could have at least won a game or two more that way. You can adjustments prior to Bryce stepping in, better tee it up for him, and maybe we end up winning game 1 or 2. Last year was such a sh*tshow. One of the worst seasons I've ever experienced in any sport for any team. Absolutely nothing made sense together. Happy we cut the cord early, but should have never hired that crew in the first place.

I'd say one of those relatively short ~5-6' ones with some buoyancy in the thread so he doesn't hurt his neck.

Let's get to the hard stuff Panthers.com... I want to know where they stand on Kendrick vs. Drake lol

Exactly this as well. Beyond age concerns--by the time they find out if they have something in Penix, they'll need to work on a new contract not long after. The newer league winning QBs have gotten extensions by year 3 (ie. Burrow). So, if Penix somehow lights it up year 3, he could turn around fairly quickly, probably by year 4, and ask for an extension. ATL has really no buffer time in easing the bucks off the QB room to build a team around him. Not to mention, they'll be needing to make decisions on Terrell, London, Pitts, Bijan, a lot of high end investments BEFORE seeing Penix through, and that's IF he works out. Lindstrom's contract is backloaded too and they can't cut Matthews until after 2026. Just a terrible use of resources as it relates to timing & salary allocation, no matter how you look at it. You're in win now, so get a talent to win now.

Sometimes it’s obvious that we made a ton of reaches, panicked, got fleeced in trades or on the rare occasion got great value and nailed a draft. This year, we landed promising talent, mostly around their projected spots per consensus. Made some nice dealings, gained a pick back next year and ended up with a draftee in every round 1-7z I like the guys we drafted, we got every offensive skill player (RB, WR, TE) for the worst offense in the league. Landed a a really high ceiling LB fitted for our defense, and some developmental DBs and a DL. Not bad. First draft in a while where I’m not walking away scratching my head.