MHS831

I am not satisfied that we have the front 7 to compete.

Baker is an upgrade

This didn't age well!! (ha--I have some head scratchers too)

The Panthers did not offer a long-term contract and Baker was not in position to ask for one-- If he plays well, the thing to do is tag him for a season before investing in him. At that point, he will be 29 and we should know what we have. I am hoping that Corral develops this season and we can move on--giving us 3 years with a QB on a rookie deal. If Baker plays well, it is a good problem to have.

There is at least some reason to expect the offense to be better this season---If Baker gets his mind right and McAdoo uses him correctly, he has the skills to win some games for this team--- Not since Jake Delhomme have the Panthers used a QB correctly. (I think they abused Cam Newton) Even Darnold would be better this season. The OL should be good, but we are set up to run and play action. Play action requires the QB to turn his back to the secondary at times, and I just don't see Darnold doing that well. He sees ghosts--but I see Baker being very good in the offense--and we can tell by the OL we brought in and drafted what we hope to do--run the ball.

yup

Thanks for sharing John. Looking forward to it.

If Corral balled out during the OTAs and minicamp, would we have pursued this at all? I realize some of you think Corral was destined to be the day 1 starter, but those Huddlers not on crack thought otherwise. All kidding aside--I seriously like this move because it takes the focus off Corral and allows him to develop in a system that should be akin to his skill set.

I think Mayfield starts day 1, and I think his style really benefits Marshall. We shall see how adjustable McAdoo is.

With Baker, we need to run the ball. Ickey, Bozeman, Corbett--maybe Christensen--will be important. CMC's health is also important. Keep Baker on the roll outs, play actions, and drop backs with slants and outs--I think he can be effective. Let's not forget the mental impact this offseason has had on Baker. I think he will be slightly humbled, slightly pissed off, and very competitive. He is not the only option, and he knows that. I expect to see Baker as the #1 and by the end of the season, Corral as the #2. If they are used correctly, that is a good thing.

At the end of the day, we will have spent 4.85 million and lost a day 3 draft pick to take a flyer on a QB with some youth and upside. Well worth the risk.

Which means to run the ball, you better have a good D---I worry about the front 7

That is what I was saying--college football games are decided during recruiting. NFL games are decided by game planning.

Hopefully, we will have a good OL this year--to evaluate QBs behind that shtshow last year is not fair to anyone.

He seems to have good pocket awareness. Slides without breaking eye contact with the secondary. Sam used to start staring at the rush on some plays.

And he could get away with it at LSU. Knowing what's coming and not being able to stop it is still problematic.

throwing from a lot of clean pockets in this video

At LSU, Brady simply had better players. It is difficult to gauge how strategic he was when countered with resistance. He got figured out and we had no answers. Sure, a bad OL made that difficult, but all I heard from other teams was a boastful and condescending attitude that they knew (based on formation and motion) exactly what play we were running. DBs broke on the ball before WRs did---so I am not buying that he was a scapegoat. He never proved he could outcoach anyone.

Smitty needs to remember Waterloo and shut the hell up--talking hypothetical smack during an interview? Looks like 2 munchkins getting into a fight at the start of the yellow brick road.

Last year, we put Darnold--who struggled in NY behind a horrible OL---behind a horrible OL (30th in NFL pass pro). The offseason, we added 3 starting caliber OL and BC should be ready to take the next step. We can trash Darnold all we want--but he had a terrible OL, no real TE threat, WRs with the dropsies, an OC just out of high school---not exactly a recipe for success. There are few QBs in the NFL who could have prospered here-if any. Baker had a good OL in Cleveland last year, but he was playing injured for most of the season. His stats were still better than Darnolds'. In 2020, with a good OL, Baker was above average, winning a playoff game in Pittsburgh. My point? Expectations are pretty low right now, but I think conditions have drastically improved for both QB prospects. I feel the OL will be very good--when is the last time we could say that? I think our WR corps will be better, expecting improvement from Marshall. Play calling should be better, now that we fired Brady, all agreeing that the NFL is not the SEC, and you can't win by simply having better players. And then there is Corral---a bit raw, but a very talented steal at the end of round 3. He is the type of player that is succeeding in the NFL now, and he has promise. Personally, I think we could have a really good QB room if all works out. While it is not Cam Newton/Derek Anderson, it potentially could be much better than in 2021. The key will be to see how the Panthers develop talent, control the locker room, and make wise decisions moving forward.

It is not when we traded for Mayfield that is important, it is that we were in communications with the Browns throughout OTAs etc. If we were really high on Sam, I am not sure you bring in a rather controversial mouth in the locker room to sit the bench. And do not think his agents agreed to drop about $3.4m in guaranteed salary unless the Panthers planned on playing him--Baker is confident that he will get the starting nod here. Frankly, with the first game vs. Cleveland, I think he will be starting then. Baker for a fourth rounder (high end of deal) and $4.85m is a no brainer. I think there will be a battle for the job throughout the preseason, and I think Baker is named the starter before the Cleveland game.

Lotta people are not high on McAdoo-- The fact that all parties involved--head coach, QBs, OC are probably on one year "prove it" deals is interesting.

Or if Baker plays well, we give him the franchise tag...

third quarter shows the adjustments---of course the fourth quarter ends with the final score, but if the game is lost before then, as often was the case, I disagree.

To give you some idea of Darnold's worth: The Browns knew that DW is going to be suspended for a year or more. They had Baker on the roster for 2022 but were not playing him--so essentially, they are without their top 2 QBs for the 2022 season. They could have easily worked Darnold into the deal with the Panthers--but that was never an option for Cleveland. They are content to go with Brissett over Darnold, essentially. So The Browns just lost their top 2 QBs for 2022, and they passed on an opportunity to sign Darnold for a season.