MHS831

I see Barno, Haynes, and Burns as the "rush LBs" and Johnson, YGM, Houston, and Leota as the "edge holders" who will do more bull rushing the passer. For that reason, YGM is really neither. I was much more impressed with Leota in the preseason that YGM or Johnson, fwiw.

I agree. However, some people are late bloomers. YGM and Henderson give me the feeling that neither loves the game--not based on facts, just a gut.

RBs have long been devalued--it just took us a while to realize it!

I recall Rhule saying that they loved him when he was in the draft and when he became available after such a short opportunity, he pounced. Having said that, I do not think CJ wants to play football. His issues are not talent-based--they are dispositional, it seems.

POINTS TO CONSIDER: 1. Zavala is playing well out of position at RG 2. BC is a good athlete and that athleticism could be minimized at LG; BC Can play OT. 3. Moton's contract swells to $30m in 2024. BC can play RT If you don't look at the immediate needs, the writing is on the wall for the 12 month plan.

Charles Johnson did not break out until year 4. First 3 years--10 sacks. Next five years--52.5 sacks Mike Rucker was silent until year 3. First 2 years--5.5 sacks. Next three years--31 sacks.

THERE was talk that they were experimenting with blocking assignments. Secondly, the heat impacts big men more than smaller men. Weeks of camp, with the heat and conditioning, make your legs heavy and lethargic. A 250 lb speed rusher is going to blow by a 320 lb tackle most of the time--I noticed that Ickey was losing his feet, as if they would get planted and he would reach--but he seemed confused. These are fixable problems. For some reason, the defenses we played were active in their blitzes and stunts (the Jets played a game before facing us) while we were staying vanilla. These may be relevant or not, but my experience as a player (college) and coach (high school) is that the offense is usually behind the defense during the first few weeks of practice. I am not worried--yet.

I'd rather have Ricci.

Then his request to play olb is due to the fact that he failed at S--I suppose

That is exactly what I thought--he was not being used correctly.

I have been saying it for weeks--Zavala to LG by midseason--BC to swing OT behind Moton and Ikwonu. Next season (2024) Moton's contract increases to $30m. Knowing BC is available at a much reduced rate might allow us to release or trade Moton. Nature of the business. Imagine the aftermath: $30 million in cap room LT Ekwonu LG Zavala C Bozeman RG Corbett RT Chrisensen

Like falling overboard, getting rescued by the crew of the Titanic 5 minutes before hitting the iceberg.

Good points. I can't wait until my brain gets a third grader rating!!

Think of Corral as a rookie and understand that he is playing with people who he has no chemistry with. I think he (OVERALL) had a decent preseason and deserves the #3 QB job. With this staff and Dalton, I think a year will do him wonders.

I try to do one of these prediction threads every year before roster cuts and remarkably, I have never been wrong.* DEFENSE (25) CB (5): I am very concerned about our CB depth. Henderson looks disinterested and afraid to make contact, and nearly every opposition completion seemed to be the man Taylor was covering. I sense the Panthers could surprise us by cutting one of them--and pick up a cut player or two from other rosters. Neither Henderson nor Taylor are 25 yet, but it is time to show what their primes will look like. Troy Hill will probably get a roster spot. So who knows how this will play out. I will list the CBs as: Horn, Jackson, Hill, Henderson, Taylor--but mark my words--after watching the tape, this could change if a decent player from another team is cut! S (5): Bell, Woods, Chinn, and probably Franklin are in. Jammie Robinson (S) was not that impressive, imo--and he (Jammie) and Eric Rowe could be the odd man out if they keep only 4 S, but with Chinn's flexibility to play many positions, I think they keep Robinson but he is not activated on game days for a while. Rowe is cut. DL (4): The DL has been a bit disappointing, but the starters have not played a lot. Brown, Tuttle, D. Williams, and Anderson are locks. I think Stallworth played surprisingly well. I do not think Raequan Williams or Stallworth, however, will make the roster. OLBs (6): I look at the "pass rushers" in one group and the edge setters in another group (assuming they can get to the passer as well): Pass rushers: Burns, Haynes, and Barno. (Loving what I am seeing from Barno). They are locks. The "edge setters" are Justin Houston, Gross-Matos, DJ Johnson, and Eku Leota. IMO, Leota outplayed Johnson, but they will keep Johnson. I expect someone to go to IR or the Practice Squad because I do not see the Panthers cutting either without bringing them back. Leota could make this roster--which would mean Johnson is cut or put on IR. I doubt that happens, but it will be interesting to see what they do-if they keep Leota, Johnson will go to IR. If they keep Johnson, Leota might be safe on the PS--but I doubt it. He had a really solid preseason. ILBs (5): Luvu, Thompson, and Grugier-Hill are locks. but after that? Deion Jones--probably. Brandon Smith has special teams skills, but at LB, he is a wash, imo. Wooten seemed to play well, so I could see him getting the roster spot. Not sure about the others--I think the ILB play was not good. Bumper to PS is almost a given, but my long shot prediction here is that Brandon Smith is cut and Wooten makes the roster. OFFENSE (25) QB (3): Do we keep 3 on the 53-man roster? I think we do--While Corral sucked last night, he is basically a rookie, and he has had a decent preseason. RB (3): Sanders, Hubbard, and Blackshear are locks. I really like Brown, but he could be the odd man out. With Shenault possibly running some RB, we would not need to carry 4 RBs. WR (6): With Injuries to Byrd, Marshall, Chark, etc, this is hard to project for opening day. Byrd is probably cut. Chark, Theilen, Mingo, Shenault, Marshall, and Smith are likely to make the team. Wims, Jennings, and Wright have a shot to make the roster if someone else goes to IR. TE (4): Hurst and Thomas are probably locks, but Tremble seems to have fallen off. Ricci, on the other hand, offers the team a type they do not have in the others. Sullivan, in my opinion, is cut, and Tremble and Ricci could make this roster. If they go with only 1, it is a coin flip, because Ricci had a good preseason while Tremble struggled at times. I think they keep both, however, but Ricci is the better receiver, and we have a QB who needs targets. OL (9): Ikwonu, Christensen, Bozeman, Corbett (later), Zavala, McCray, Moton, Erving, Mays. With so many players able to play multiple spots on the OL (Christensen, Mays, McCray, Erving, etc). DiRenzo and maybe Coleman will be placed on the PS. Jordan, Brown, and McCray (when Corbett returns) will be cut. *except when I was. Seriously, usually my final prediction is wrong by 3-4 players--but injuries etc. make predicting this difficult. I am sure i missed a player or something like that--so there is a margin of error here, but I feel fairly confident with this--have at it.

this tells me that the Cards were going to cut him--so they shopped him for a 7th before cuts next week.

still mad at the Panthers over that Spleen removal.

Yet he thought Matt Corral was a first rounder

Our MLBs have been very smart. Luke, Morgan, Beason, Mills--sounds like a winning quiz bowl team

Mild strains--3 weeks (ready by week 2) Moderate Strains--8 weeks (ready by weeks 4- 6) Severe strain--12 weeks (ready by week 10)

We have been VERY vanilla--for example, not showing how we are going to use Chinn, not blitzing, stunting much if at all. Shenault (billed to be the swiss army knife--has been dinged a bit but did not show his usage week 1. Week 3 is basically the bottom of the roster dog fight.

Do not forget that we are scouting other rosters right now--I think we will sign a couple.

That happens to me--I make a positive statement about a player and the Panthers react by cutting the player.

Himself wearing nothing but a Panther hat. He had to go.