MHS831

I know what you are thinking--are you CRAZY MHS? Yes, but crazy people get good ideas too. Here are my points: The main problem with the OL was in pass protection. (We are going to adopt a system in which the QB has a clock of 2.7 seconds. Investing in stud pass protectors is not a wise use of limited moves and $$. Here is why:) 1. Campen is gone. He sucked and the OL actually digressed under his watchful eye. He was a Tepper snitch. Nuff Said. With a new system and a more hip and groovy OL coach, players like Ekwonu, and the reserves should respond. More ground and pound with quick QB releases will make Ekwonu elite--trust me. 2. We get BC and Corbett back. 40% of our offensive line was missing up the gut, and that is where defenses attacked us. A 5' 10" QB standing in the pocket with facial pressure and WRs who can't separate. Not a recipe for success. 3. We can use some inner OL depth, but Mays and maybe Zavala need some development. (I know, Zavala really sucked--but he was decent at NCS--I recall a G named Evan Mathis who sucked here and went to become a pro bowler at Philly. Maybe they can come around with a new coach, new system. 4. Ekwonu, Christensen--if Icky sucks again and needs to be moved to G, BC is a stud athlete (see combine #s) and he might very well be the LT--find who does what the best and possibly flip flop them. 5. In 2022, the OL was decent to OK, and that was before Ekwonu. The OL if healthy, can get it done. We need 2 or 3 reserves, and I am guessing we pick up a vet in free agency. So, MHS, if you are wrong, we are screwed!! Yup, but if I am right we are screwed as well. Our resources need to go to WR and (in my unpopular opinion) CB (Jackson could be gone and Horn is hurt so much he gets great parking. We need 4 CBs who can step up. We have 2 who are made of glass. Not even sure a third round CB can play, but the second rounder has to be WR. I also think we might double dip at WR. CMC's brother is a deep sleeper from Rice. Washington from UVA is interesting. Lotta options deep in the draft--maybe we should double dip. Just stirring the pot to get some thoughts going so I can see under your receding hairlines.

I want to make the #33 pick even more complicated than this.... After round 1, lotta teams try to trade up and the phones will ring between day 1 and day 2. Since we have mulitple needs, I wpuld not be too surprised to see us trade down to about #40 and add a third rounder. Heard it here first! The WR group is really good, and if a no brainer first rounder does not drop to #33, I would consider a trade back--not too far---8-10 spots.

Sure is. I don't think we can do better than what we have---we improve with Hurst getting better and maybe prospering in a new system. Tremble was showing signs of becoming a solid #2. Ricci from IR could help as well.

I would add CB to that list. Don't know about Dante's contract and both are injury prone.

And yet you opened the thread and contributed. Interesting. Very Interesting.

I was in a bit of a rush and may have missed a detail or two, but the big picture is DAMN. I have not given up on Bryce but this demonstrates how big the hill is-

I missed it, you got me!!!--man, we appreciate you!!!

If we pay it, they will rake it. The NFL is heading toward this kind of arrangements--I imagine, in a decade from now, the NFL Network, Amazon, Disney+, etc. will outbid network TV for broadcast rights.

prepare for Anxiety and Depression The WR we traded to the Bears had 96 catches and over 1300 yards--considered a Pro Bowl snub The QB we did not take last year in the draft was in the Pro Bowl The RB we traded is the NFL Offensive Player of the year. The QB we let go to Tampa Bay to draft Bryce Young was in the 2024 Pro Bowl. Basically, to swap picks with the Bears for Bryce Young, it cost us a 100 reception, 1350 yard WR in DJ Moore, QB Caleb Williams (in all likelihood), OT Darnell Wright, Gervin Dexter DL, and a second rounder in 2025 . For CMC, we got WR Jonathan Mingo, Edge DJ Johnson, and G Chandler Zavala and a 2024 5th rounder

Whatever happened to good old fashioned common sense, I wonder?

We will get 2 players in this draft if we are lucky. This is going to sound crazy, but I see WR and a CB on day 2. On day 3, BPA all the way. In my mocks, there are a lot of DTs, WRs, and QBs who could tempt Morgan.

Tepper has earned it. His billion dollar investment is now a punch line. We are the Boston Shamrocks now (That team that used to tour with and play the Harlem Globetrotters).

Ickey has bad mechanics but tremendous upside. Campen was a joke while here, and he did nothing to develop our OL (I focus on OL because I coached it in High School in a very successful program) He, Mays, and BC have tons of potential. If we get the right coach, the OL will be fine with Ickey at LT, in my view.

Initially, I wanted Stroud, but my point is the challenge of taking a small, cognitive QB like Young requires a dedication to building a stellar OL and the right weaponry. We tried, I suppose, with Chark, Hurst, and Sanders--but they did not work out, and now everyone is blaming Young, who does deserve some of the credit. Young has always been the golden boy and does not seem to have faced any challenges he could not overcome. They way I understand it, even his high school was dominant, as was Alabama. Maybe he is nothing more than a manager on a front runner, but he proved to me that he needs weapons. I watch his college tape and then his Panthers tape and then I say, OK, what are the biggest differences between his task at QB? At Bama, he was in the lead, he had a stud OL, and his WRs were awesome. The running backs were stallions three deep. And if you go back and examine every QB who busted in the NFL who was a high draft pick, they share some common obstacles. If we want Young to succeed, this is what we have to do, and it makes no difference at this point what Stroud had. I mean, before Stroud, Davis Mills completed 65.5% of his passes for 3,468 yards with 18 TDs and 8 Ints in 14 games. Watson before him was effective. At Carolina, our QBs have struggled miserably and that was before Young arrived. Davis Mills had better numbers that Darnold, Mayfield, and Bridgewater. So it is only a theory because neither of us know if Young can play or not, but Stroud had a better rookie season, without a doubt.

We are past the draft, and now we have to play the cards we dealt ourselves--We had a #1 draft pick QB and we did not give him the tools either. His career lasted about 8 years and he was 6-5 250. Any small QB needs to protected and any QB needs people who can get open. It is like those elite musicians who play the triangle. You need all three sides--QB, Pass catchers, Pass protectors--to make the most harmonious music ever heard by mankind.

I am saying a person who was picked 262 can succeed if given the tools to be successful, while a person picked #1 will fail without the tools. Are you saying that a QB picked #1 does not need talent or weapons around him?

Here is what we know. The Huddle is known for overreactions. This is one of them. I am not happy with the situation, but I go back to the same question I use to help me frame this--would Brock Purdy do well here? No. But he is doing well in SF. He is the NFC Super Bowl QB. But he would suck here. Give the kid some time and support--I hope he balls out next year--Repost heaven.

He needs to prove that he can get through pregame warmups without breaking a toe or pulling a hammy. He reminds me of Gordon Hayward of the Hornets. He has the best seats in the house and gets about $400,000 per game to watch the game from them.

A late first-round talent will fall to 33. While it is very possible that 9 WRs go in the first round, it is probably more likely that number is 7, in my humble and uniformed opinion. Good read, Natalie.

CMC is probably heading that direction. Was injured a lot here in his last 2 years, but goes to a grass surface and good OL, and he stays healthy. Funny, but that would put Horn and Surtain in the same defensive backfield. As with QBs, we should have taken Surtain and not Horn. This hypothetical trade depends on your willingness to keep Horn on the field. Someone said no to the trade, and yes to a third rounder for Horn. JJ had 52 catches last year and over 750 yards. He has improved each of his three years in the NFL--now, for him and considering his draft position, that is underwhelming, but most third rounders never get to that level. So how good is that? The average NFL passing attack in 2023 averaged 219 yards per game. Jeudy averaged 44 yards per game. Considering that the running backs catch some passes, subtracting from that figure, I will use Chubba Hubbard's numbers--pretty average (14 yards per game). The rough average for TEs per game is 41 yards. Breaking that down, Jeudy had about 27% of the yardage for WRs on his team, based on these overall NFL numbers. Expecting him to improve in year 4 due to his progression and the fact that it is a contract year, I would expect that number to rise above 30%. What would a third rounder give you? It is all about projecting the future, but people on this board and in general treat contracts as rewards for past performance. While the past is an pretty good indication of future performance in business, it is more complicated in the NFL. For example, would I pay Derrick Henry a boatload of money? Heck no. He has been a beast and his track record is strong, but according to the statistics, he is past his prime and should decline rapidly over the next two years. He will want a three-four year deal. I think I would keep Horn the more I think about it,. but I would also worry that this soccer turf might be injuring Horn. I would want to see the data, and if Tepper is unwilling to change it, we should predict more time on the IR.

Jeudy had 54 catches on 84 targets. Over 750 yards. Has improved every year. Horn has missed most of his games. He is about 25, entering the 4th year of his contract. Horn is solid, but man, he is often injured. FWIW, I said the same thing about Thomas Davis and CMC. They recovered pretty well.

yup. And then JC would be healthy for the next 10 years and earn a gold jacket. That is what happens to the oft injured Panthers that we trade. But as of right now, I would probably pull the trigger without fully knowing the new offense.

I understand why someone would rather be a coordinator. Ego in check, make the call.

$$$ will be the issue in CIncy, but Chase has been vocal about the team re-signing Higgins. That could mean some contract structures that include both players to accommodate it. The Bengals could tag Higgins as well. They are not likely to want to reduce the weaponry for their star QB. On the other hand, they could look at the cost and realize that they can draft a good WR in this draft--WR is loaded. But you really aim for consistency and Higgins is between 25 and 26....So I think they re-sign him. As a GM, I would be circling the skies like a buzzard over these cities that are going to have to bend and stretch to sign their own marquee players; that usually means letting a lesser player or a good player at a lesser-need position walk. That is really how you build a roster. I am a frugal person, so I would stay out of free agency for the first three days--90% of the time you overpay. Then I would go into it like a red neck at Wal-Mart on black Friday.

I think Mitchell would be ideal but I did not think he'd be there. I think so much elite talent at the top will push productive talent down a round. I think we will need to draft a WR early in the second and fourth, (at least that is what I do in my mocking, and we all know if I do it in mocks, that is what should be done!) I believe a projected first rounder will be there at 33. I just hope it is someone with a skill set that will help Canales the most.