WhoKnows

No he wasn’t. He had multiple good games after that Pittsburgh game but he had 45 TDs in 2015. He finished with 28 in 14 games in 2018. That TJ Watt hit is glorified in here but his shoulder was already a problem. He had shoulder surgery after the 2016 season and he was added to the injury list the game before Pittsburgh. The hit didn’t help but Cam threw for 357 yards and 3 TDs the week after the “hit” and was 25 of 30 for 256 and 2 TDs the next week.

You are correct. In 2020, ESPN had us 32nd in terms of continuity. All the coaches were new and we lost tons of starters like Luke, Cam, Greg, TD, etc. CMC played 10 games in Rhule’s first two years. Rhule wasn’t good but we came close to beating both #1 seeds in 2020 with Teddy and we started 2021 3-0 and there was talk about playoff byes. Again, bad but much better than the coach and GM we empowered. The Cowboys game really threw ice water on the 5 game feel good run, but it still feels way better than the we got lucky to win 2 games last year.

In my dream, we somehow luck into a top 2 pick and someone wants a QB bad and doesn’t want anyone else to jump them. Somehow we’ll probably screw up the picks anyway, but it would be nice to do even partially what Chicago did to us. We’d have to lose out, which is a decent possibility unless Tampa is resting. We need Atlanta to stay within a game because Atlanta beat Tampa twice. The rest of the draft slots are who knows because Jax plays the Raiders and then Tennessee and you never know who will rest starters. I think we are top 7 unless we somehow pull out 2 more wins. The 4 win teams have higher SOS and there is only one 5 win team with the same SOS. If we win 1 of 3, we still should stay in top 7. If we lose out and the Jax games work for us, we can easily be top 3.

Not sure who would end up at QB but could you imagine a front 7 of Star, Short, Ealy/Addison, Von Miller, Luke, TD and Shaq in 2015? Miller would have been deadly having 11 sack Short on the interior with Star. That would have been a crazy fun D to watch.

I won’t say it destroyed us because we could have taken Stroud and just made better picks like not DJ Johnson and Matt Corral and Mingo and so on as well. It just put us in a position to trade up and make the wrong choice. Young could be OK and we could eventually win but it still set us back a lot because we spent so much and he doesn’t look like a stud. It does suck to look at the picks we gave up and the selections we made and see obvious choices that were thrown out in the draft threads: Young over Stroud Humphrey over TMJ Frazier over Cooks Downs/Dell over Mingo Cross over Iky (for pass blocking prowess) De’Von Achane over DJ Johnson - Actually looking back at the 10 players picked right behind DJ, you will see a bunch of contributing starters. Crazy how bad we are at drafting.

We would have made the playoffs and had a pick in the 20s. We wouldn’t have been able to trade up for Young. We might have kept Darnold another year and picking from Tampa’s spot and the pick for CMC, we could have picked Kinkaid, Flowers, Smith-Njigba or Addison in the 1st, Reed or Rice in the 2nd and Dell or Downs in the 3rd. Could have solved the WR issue and seen if Darnold was worth it while also still having Moore and our 2024 1st and 2025 2nd. Instead we lost all those picks and have Young. We also could have ignored XL and taken Frazier at C or DeJean at CB. Team would be a lot more talented and likely winning the division.

I’m sure the hit didn’t help but the shoulder injury/surgeries started in 2016/2017. According to this article about his 2019 surgery, it says he was added to the team’s injury report for the week 8 game. The Pittsburgh game was week 9. It was a bad hit, but he was already experiencing shoulder problems again before that game. If Newton missed the next week or separated his shoulder or broke his collarbone, I might agree with you but a bad hit doesn’t tear a rotator cuff. It took years before all the wear and tear got to him and after that he had shoulder issues from 2016 until his career ended.

Baker has improved and gotten some nice weapons too but I think you are right on Darnold. Even last night, we saw interceptions/almost picks, but with Jefferson, Addison, Hockenson and Jones, Darnold has weapons he never had anywhere close to here.

Sorry, but Cam’s shoulder was already hurt. He’d had surgery pre 2017 for his injury in 2016. That injury was completely avoided if the ref blows the play dead when it was obvious that KB touched the CB. The ref was 5 feet away and if a Tom Brady type QB was potentially going to get hit on a dangerous interception return, whistle blows. Cam was not protected in any 2016 game.

Been saying that in my comments about a bunch of us draftniks wanting Frazier over Brooks. I kept getting replies that C was fine and we had it covered. Mays is a decent backup but when the rest of the OL can’t help him, he’s not that good. We should have drafted our decade long Ryan Kalil twice already instead of TMJ and Brooks. C is a need and has been since Kalil’s shoulder/neck became an issue.

Dude was down anyway, but LOL at 4 Panthers knocking the ball away from each other on a fumble drill. It wasn’t a fumble but how did we not at least get the ball.

Welp, when we don’t play over our heads we are the soon to be 3-11 team that our record says we are. We beat a 5-9 team and the only two 2 win teams. We have to play perfect to stay close with good teams.

No Lawrence and no Overshon and they are destroying the OL.

I know we have Brown but I’m high on Graham as well. Pearce was supposed to be the top edge guy in this draft at the start of the season but when I watched, I wasn’t really impressed either. I think the edge guys this draft seem really risky. Graham was on the top 5ish list in this draft since the earliest 2025 mocks which makes me less concerned because he was thought of as a top 5 pick at the end of his sophomore and junior years.

Since 2017, which was a much better draft. It’s progress in that we didn’t just waste picks on guys who had no business being drafted, but it doesn’t even have a marquee guy like Burns, Moore and Brown (for the drafts since 2017). Brooks was the only guy until this week that we weren’t sure about in terms of maybe elite. Losing two years and not knowing what he’ll be makes it a bad pick. The best value we got was Coker and we really do need to do better this draft. It’s nice we’re competitive but if we actually want to be a playoff team, we need better drafts.