LinvilleGorge

I said before the draft that the Panthers fan in me wants us to draft him but the Sam Howell fan in me wants him to go pretty much anywhere else.

This. We had a helluva pass rush and our cover 3 shell zone allowed him to mainly sit back and read and react. That's what Norman had in spades - great reaction and ball skills. We always complained about Ron's D always playing CBs with a 10 yard cushion but it was exactly what allowed Norman to excel.

We're shook because of the Corral injury. We were planning to run a wishbone offense with Darnold taking the snap and Mayfield and Corral flanked out behind him so that the defense didn't know who would actually be throwing the ball. Now we have to decide a whole new game plan.

Yeah, we were in continual talks. Why wouldn't we be if we knew we may end up actively pursuing him? Seems to me that we assessed that the market was soft. So why not be patient and A) negotiate the best possible deal and also B) get a chance to get a better evaluation of our rookie in the meantime? I think if Corral had looked like another Russell Wilson in rookie camp our next conversation with the Browns would've basically been, "If we have an injury we'll give you a call but as of now we're out."

Yep. Pretty much what I'm thinking.

Yeah, I'm not saying it's definitely correct. I'm just putting two and two together and making a leap in assumption.

It seems like we were keeping tabs on the situation and keeping dialogue open and then after rookie mini-camp we significantly ramped up the active pursuit.

IMO the timing suggests otherwise. Seems like we wanted to assess where Corral was in his development to see if he could legit compete for the job and when it was clear he was nowhere near ready then we shifted gears to go get Mayfield.

Good grief, man. I agree with you that Rhule is trash but you're just not being at all objective about your man crush Corral.

This is pretty much my opinion too. Legit talent is optimized by good coaching but legit talent finds a way to show they belong even when surrounded by idiots.

Both things can be true. We could've handled his integration poorly and he could've not been very NFL ready. Honestly, I think that's exactly the case. Once we saw he wasn't ready he was put on the back burner.

How pro ready did he look in his preseason action?

Very possible. If I remember correctly, our ramped up interest in Mayfield seemed to roughly coincide with rookie mini-camp so that would make sense.

Yep, self awareness definitely lacking.

How is this defensive? I'm just mocking people who can't understand that we're just talking football here. Meanwhile, that seems very upsetting to you. So who's being defensive here? It's hilarious you come into this thread calling other opinions "fuging stupid" then have the nerve to accuse others of being defensive. Self awareness seems to be a tad lacking.

I remember Butch Davis commenting that he'll take all the 220ish pound athletes he can get because once you get those guys on campus they can potentially end up just about anywhere he it RB, LB, TE, DE, S, whatever.

It's almost like this is a forum for discussing football opinions. Crazy.

The only thing Rhule has proven as a coach is that he can take a floundering college program and quickly make them competitive. He never even proved he can take the next step from competitive to contender. He lost virtually every game he coached vs. actual good competition.

It's dumb to force a square peg into a round hole. Just like it would've been dumb to try to play Chinn at S as a rookie. If Ickey is better suited currently that's where he should be playing. It's very possible the staff doesn't think he's better suited elsewhere. We'll see how it plays out.

I think he would've potentially stood a better chance of being able to compete next year with a retained but hypothetically relatively lukewarm Mayfield or possibly a drafted rookie of the next staff. Sidelined for a year missing reps for a QB badly needing NFL development is major speed bump.

If his current skill set is better suited to playing OG and Christensen is currently better at LT then it would be dumb to play Ickey at LT simply because that's where we see his future. The guy claiming I have a tendency to get overly defensive sure is being mighty defensive.

Very possible. If Rhule is retained Mayfield likely played well enough to warrant an extension. If Rhule is fired a new staff will want their own shiny new QB.

I don't understand this copium of trying to convince yourself this is a good thing for Corral. He almost certainly wasn't going to play this year anyway. Now he gets no practice reps. That is NOT a good thing. Everyone talks about a "redshirt year" but that was being on the active roster. Not playing but being able to practice. That's a redshirt year. Redshirts can practice in college. Sitting out of practice for an entire year is not a redshirt year.

Now put yourself in Matt Rhule's seat. If you don't win this year you're gone. The future doesn't matter. You have to put your best group on the field. And plenty of future great LTs didn't play LT as rookies. Our best LT on franchise history did not play LT as a rookie. The same is true of other positions. Chinn played LB as a rookie. The best way to handle a talented rookie is often playing them where their current skill set is best suited regardless of your eventual plans for them. You're better off letting a guy get game experience where he can be successful rather than play him where you eventually see him but where he may not be currently suited.

Put your best group of five on the field. If that means Ickey at OG, so be it