LinvilleGorge

The trade up really put Bryce in a huge spotlight. Yeah, the Bama/SEC effect definitely played a big role too.

If WR is our biggest strength that will be HUGE. It basically means that T-Mac showed up as a legit #1 WR from day one and XL developed into a legit starter over the off-season. IMO, the strength of the roster is obviously OG. We have one of the best pairs of starting OGs in the league with some decent depth behind them. The biggest issue we face is that there are numerous compelling arguments to be made about our biggest weakness. LOL

Hadn't really thought about it because he's been so out of the spotlight so far, but yeah...

It's a message board. Discussion is what it's meant for. How does this require explaining? I'm not "running to his defense" as much as I'm pointing out that your take is dumb and you should feel bad for it. Like I said before, you're the equivalent of a failing business blaming your top sales rep who while not putting up stellar numbers is still your top guy and is meeting expectations all the while seemingly giving everyone else in the organization a pass to focus on one of the few things that isn't abjectly broken. Adam Thielen is the least of the Panthers' issues. That's the whole point. You're missing the forest for the small bush. You're blaming an aging WR with a mid-level contract for not being a good #1 when he was brought here to be a veteran presence and solid #3. That's not an Adam Thielen problem. You're blaming the wrong entity.

The primary person who is going to make or break Bryce is Bryce. The OL is solid. Probably as good as most of our historic best units. The WRs are unproven but we've spent a ton of draft capital. We have a proven RB behind him. It's put up or shut up. You don't trade up to #1 overall to draft a guy who has to be carried. That type of guy should be doing the carrying.

Draft better. That's the solution. The rookie wage scale was a culmination of years of teams sucking at drafting and GMs getting their asses kicked at the bargaining table by players' agents. Now it's happening again albeit at a smaller scale because it's within the framework of the rookie wage scale. There's less room for negotiation but the agents are still carving out wins and setting precedents. It is what it is. Draft better. These 2nd rounder contracts are still a bargain if you draft well and they aren't cap killers even if you draft a bust. It only matters if you Hurney it up and draft 2nd round bust after just after bust.

Bully? LOLOLOL Nice victim turn. Of all the issues facing the Panthers in the Tepper era getting hung up on an aging WR making mid-tier money who has performed as expected while being forced into a role he's no longer cut out for is weird. No one is trying to argue that Thielen is an elite caliber WR at this point in his career and I think virtually everyone accepts that the whole situation was a result of poor roster building and over-reliance on young, unproven talent. But to pin that all on Adam Thielen? I mean, yeah it's flat out bizarre.

Yeah, it's bizarre. These dudes act like Thielen banged their wife or something.

I honestly hope not. I hope T-Mac is a big time impact rookies and that Legette makes a big jump from his rookie to his second year. Wouldn't mind for Coker to eat into his snaps and targets too. The best case scenario for the Panthers as a team will be for Thielen to play well in spots but largely give way to the youngsters.

I get what you're saying but I'm a proponent of drafting the best players and then getting them into camp and figuring out where they fit. Passing a better player for a better "fit" just isn't a good idea. That's how you end up drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because you already had Clyde Drexler on the roster.

Wild West Extravaganza is a fun one if you enjoy 19th century western history

Like a lot of things in today's economy, market concentration is a huge issue in the vet space. Mars (yeah, the chocolate company) owns roughly half of them with their control of Banfield and VCA as well as numerous smaller chains. Oh, and all that Royal Canin food the vets are prescribing and recommending? Yeah, that's owned by Mars too. Don't even get me started on the racket that is "prescription" dog food and how incredibly uneducated the average vet is on basic pet nutrition. Back to the actual clinics... private equity ghouls who care about literally nothing but profit own another 30%. Now you're down to roughly 20-25% of clinics that aren't under the thumb of Mars or private equity.

Bingo. Weirdly this stuff always only applies to athletics.

This is the pearl clutching college sports fans held onto for decades. Glad to see it still going strong, just shifted to HS now. LOL

Prior to NIL and the transfer portal you at least didn't have the open free agency that has existed at the HS level for years.

There's a spectrum like in all things. But honestly by and large vets aren't making the type of money most people assume they are. Most of them have a poo ton of student loans and running a clinic isn't cheap with the rent, utilities, staffing, etc.

How is he catching 77% of his targets? How is it his fault that he's being asked to carry more of a burden than he should be at this point in his career. I already said it was a result of poor roster building. But for people to be mad about Adam Thielen for this is just misplaced. Don't be mad about an aging veteran signed to be a steady presence, mentor, and probably #3 option at WR on the field for not being a stellar #1.

Where we tank in cap spending for the 2025 season by offensive skill position group: QB - 25th RB - 16th WR - 21st TE - 27th Folks, there's PLENTY to bitch about with the Carolina Panthers but bitching about overpaying a veteran backup QB and a veteran WR when the entire rest of the roster in those positions groups are on rookie contracts... I mean... LOL

The guy caught 77% of his targets last year. Jalen Coker was #2 among WRs st 69%. Legette #3 all the way down at 58.3%. But yeah, you're right. Our anemic passing offense is all because of Thielen and our obsession with forcing the ball to him. LOLOLOLOL What your doing is akin to a failing company blaming their lack of success on their top sales rep who while not knocking it out of the park is actually hitting his numbers and meeting expectations while everyone is trailing far behind. Actually, Coker too. Thielen is meeting expectations, Coker is exceeding expectations considerably for a UDFA and everyone else is basically contributing dog poo while turning in expense reports way over budget. But it's your vet leading sales rep who most people expected to be retired by now but is still delivering to expectations who is ultimately to blame for it all. It's an absurd argument.

We should stop throwing to the guy who gets open and catches the ball. I'm sure that'll help the offense.

Pretty much. His draft status revolved entirely around his measurables and athletic potential. Another year of trash college production would pour a lot of cold water on that.

This might get really interesting. Evidently he's back at TAMU working out with the team and might just try to play college ball again this year. Wild. If he could win the ability to play college ball again after entering the draft it's gonna turn the draft upside down. Basically anyone who doesn't like their draft position or landing spot or whatever could basically just say screw that and go back to college again, cash another NIL check and try again next year.

Oh for sure. I think it was always an effort of poor roster building relying on unproven youngsters and an over the hill vet. But here we go again. It's the same story again this year. Hopefully it works out better this go round.

You're still blaming the one guy who was producing. It's not Thielen's fault that at 34 years old signed to be a #3 option he was forced into a feature role because no one else in the receiving corps stepped up. That's the massive piece here that some of y'all are just absolutely whiffing on. No one is acting like Theilen is a top tier WR at this point in his career. Y'all are trying to argue against something that no one is saying.

Why in Minnesota? That's bizarre. Not like we have a vet WR who played his college ball and the majority of his NFL ball in Minnesota that a few room temperature IQ Panthers fans want to poo on who was obviously brought in every bit as much to mentor young WRs as much as he was to play who has still managed to put up decent numbers in awful offenses in the twilight of his career. Anyone who thinks the Panthers haven't gotten everything out of Thielen that they signed up for shouldn't be taken seriously.