Bear Hands

Notable market names: Derrick Henry RB Titans Marquise Brown WR Cardinals Jerry Jeudy WR Broncos Hunter Renfrow WR Raiders Commanders OLB/DE Montez Sweat More... https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2023-nfl-trade-deadline-primer-things-to-know-candidates-to-be-dealt-likely-buyers-and-sellers-more/

Today may have set it off. The Titans are sellers. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38727260/source-eagles-trading-titans-safety-kevin-byard

I'm fairly certain we interviewed McD and was reported he was one of the finalists back then. Point taken on the perception -- but do remember him being largely the scapegoat and people still thought very highly of him.

He understands what the defense is giving him, has fluid hips, sharp footwork, short area studder steps, and he sells really well.

Charlotte being an airport hub and close to the mountains and beach is great. The walkability, sprawl and character leaves a lot to be desired. Some decent hubs have popped up around town but it still has a ways to go. If I was a longer term higher end player, I'd probably rank something like this (blue means I've lived there): 1. New York City 2. Boston 3. Chicago 4. Minny (Mad underrated IMO) 5. Bay Area (Not SF proper) 6. Seattle 7. Southern Cal 8. Denver (Summit County & beyond is great, but not a Denver (city) fan. Would be in Boulder or around Evergreen). It's gotten way claustrophobic for my taste. 9. Miami (just can't stand the heat) 10. DC (Hate the sprawl but there are nice hubs that aren't terrible) Underrated: Green Bay (Get your own country estate, Door County in the backyard, the Northwoods, Madison and MKE aren't far) Vegas, Philly and Pitt would be fun. No complaints but not top choices. Wouldn't really matter with the rest. Whichever paid best minus Tampa & Jacksonville. Cleveland and Detroit aren't as terrible as some would think but would be pretty boring. Hard pause with any remaining city in Florida or Texas.

I could see it. Stanley manhandled Hutchinson this weekend. That Ravens OL is coming together at a good time for Lamar and whatever RB they're starting.

Not that much though. Many also wanted to hire him over Rivera during that coaching cycle. The "what if" scenario there would be interesting if we hired McD instead of Rivera with McD brought in. He may have been too young at the time but his future as a HC was kind of how Evero is for us coming in. Makes you wonder.

I think that’s a hard truth. He found a perfect role here for Rivera running practices as his AHC/DBC. He’s got some great coaching abilities but from a game planning and playcalling standpoint, he’s definitely had his faults. Also—We can’t be blind to the games we got steamrolled with him as interim. He was great for the moment but it doesn’t make him the hire that should have been. Reich was the wrong hire but that doesn’t mean it should’ve been Wilks.

Too early in the season. They have a winning record through a stretch where they haven't looked good. And Allen brought them downfield to win that game. The defense caved when all they had to do was stop Mac Jones in 1:30. Once the Bills find a rhythm, then we'll see. But let's be real, we're 32 of 32 teams right now. There's no sugar coating it no matter the stretched context.

We don't have the players or coaching to help give us an identity. Bryce is a start (to hopefully build from) but we're pretty much scraps otherwise. A speedy playmaker is a void the size of a black hole.

One of the bigger indictments on Fitt: We used 5 picks in 2022 on what has amounted to nothing-no wait and see, the players are already gone. 2022: 2 picks for Corral - released/waived 2 picks for Brandon Smith - released/waived 1 pick on Barnes - released/waived Looking at 2023, if DJ (2 picks) and Jammie (1) truly shape up to be off the roster shortly (which it sure is trending that way), then that's 8 picks used on almost instant burnt toast. Half of our capital in two years gone, just like that. It's even worse some of the main culprits were trade ups. The entire scouting dept. let us down with that, Fitt especially.

After drafting Boyd who has been just aight and then Ross who busted, it's not like the Bengals were suddenly like, nope, no WRs. They kept seeking and got Higgins and Chase. Heck, they've kept drafting WRs and landed two promising rookies in Jones and Iosivas. Ignoring a need because we haven't found the right guy will just keep us without the right guy. This draft has legit talent to pounce on. I say we need to capitalize.

With the schedule, I think 5 wins would be an attainable turnaround that would get many feeling a lot better. 4 and below would be sour.

Yep. It's just the reality of the situation and comes with the territory of what this team did to get Bryce and how they marketed themselves this offseason. Like you say, when the hate just turns into banter and one spammy liners, the critique gets lost. However, on the flipside, conflating that, and the current fandom mood into the whole "this board sucks" or pining for some long lost days of the huddle is just silly. It's a message board people. It is what you make it, we're not here to delete threads and ban people galore. That's the most annoying content you see populating. Ideally, sure, I'd love to see every thread on here like an Athletic deep dive article. But getting down to it, I'd rather see a heated debate on Bryce between two dingbats than responses with the redundant "this place is going down to tubes" nonsense. That's where the actual bans recently have come from. It's from people being all coy, complaining via PM, and then eventually losing their sh*t, calling out the guy who gives them the place to chat. We can step in if it gets personal or goes overboard. But some just need to deal with reality (not you cap'n, you cool). It's not too dissimilar to the beginning of Cam when we were getting used to all the anti-Cam accounts. It's not even as bad honestly. It's a cyclical process when you go through growing pains of a potential new QB, coaching issues, and a house flip like this team did. As a new mod, I'll be trying to help but seriously, some need to chill. We can't dictate but we can help create the environment for good discussion. That's the idea, hope more contribute.

Yep. I think it's likely given how obvious of a need any sort of playmaker on offense is. I'm firmly in the Odunze & Franklin trains. It's a stacked class and even with some defensive gaps. Seems likre it would be a disservice to go an offseason just plugging in more FA pickups and mid-rounders to support Bryce. If we want to see what he is made of, get playmakers & sign better depth for this OL.

The Ravens are one of the more ideal places out there that could legit plug Burns right in. I'd personally like to see if we could get Patrick Queen in return somehow. Queen is in his contract year, they didn't go for the 5th option, but he's been playing great. They drafted Simpson and made the trade for Roquan. An idea: 1st, 4th, & Queen. Just pipedreaming

He had a beautiful deep shot in school against K State throwing in nearly perfect coverage by JuJu Brents. He's got the ability in the right situation. Arguable what the "situation" exactly is and how much he can carry but I'm not all doom here. When it comes down to it, from what we've seen so far, I think what those who want the deep shots get annoyed about these high misses to the sidelines that are seemingly never in play. He did it in school as well, it's not just scheme, but he also turned around and still managed to crank out game winning drives with Jameson. He's a unique QB. He won't have the velocity and zip you see from the Herbert/Allen/Stafford, but it doesn't mean he can't succeed. There's always a middle ground, and right now, it's between being patient and writing him off.

Troy Franklin and Rome Odunze. Love both, they may be 1sts at the end of the day. Sure, we’ve been awful with 2nd rounders but it doesn’t matter. It’s where you should find top talent and this coming draft has plentiful at the WR spot. We have no offense, need something

Just gonna go ahead and close this one

The one that tried to leave his family for a South Park madame “associate” and constantly got into shouting spouts with those he felt were inferior? Nahh

Robert Mays and Mike Tice’s son still have the best pod out there

They definitely don’t have a smooth podcast cadence. A lot of interrupting and obnoxiousness. More on the PFT/Big Kat side of things than The Athletic.

That clip was more entertaining than any game so far hehe

Only took 6 games into his regime to change it up. We all wanted it to happen but that’s still just wild it took roughly ~1/3rd of the season for it to all go bonkers.

He was very ineffective today. Can't have too many of those in a contract year.