TD alt

It's possible, but 97 percent of his snaps were on the outside. But many receivers switch in the NFL. We'll see.

That's the guarantee. I was referring to his $25,000 salary, which most of the people that earn that have to work an entire year to make. For Coker, not so much.

Just think, they've guaranteed this kid $225,000, and a salary that is in line with millions of Americans making a lower income. They must expect him to be around.

Well, he has a very productive season at Holy Cross, and if he's the technician at route running that Smitty says that he is, Coker's got as good of a chance as Norwell and maybe better considering the real and imagined perceptions of our receiving corps.

If Young can't at least play average, then little QBs of the present and future might as well kiss dreams of being in the NFL "goodbye." Sure, there may be what people consider outliers, like Russ and Murray, but Wilson and Murray aren't exactly little guys. Young is the test case.

As constructed now, they'd probably have D. Jackson and Hill on the outside, and either Bootle or L. Jackson in the slot. If we can acquire Gilmore for this season, I'd feel a lot better, but we need depth. Other than possibly Gilmore, we may not acquire any more legit starters until teams cut down to their final rosters.

I can live with them not choosing a center, particularly on day 3 because if AC can't at least be average, then the coaches have some real problems with evaluations. I wanted Sewell, but would've taken Slater as a consolation as well. When they stand out like they did in college, that just screams quality and consistency. But for Horn being injured all the time, I think that I would've been wrong. It's arguable, and Horn is injured all the time. For me, the bigger question was which free agent tackles (if any) were available that offseason. If I were managing, I'd try to keep some reserve cap, an allotment if you will, specifically for the O-line. It's that important to me.

Honestly, dude. "Bent out of shape?" "Circle jerk?" If you don't want to listen to different perspectives regarding the Carolina Panthers and football, then why even come to the Carolina Huddle? Sometimes people are going to---you know---have differences of opinion. Believe it or not, some of us can do it in a thoughtful, if not respectful, manner.

Not really. Fans opinions are all over the place. And fans aren't going to highlight how wrong they were and scream "bloody murder" when they get it wrong. Fans get it wrong a lot, and they also aren't privy to all of the dynamics between drafting players and budgetary constraints. They don't necessarily see the long term picture or the bigger picture. I'd also point out that just because something appears right today, that it may be totally wrong tomorrow. A certain amount of right and wrong when it comes to personnel doesn't reveal itself until time has passed. Lastly, you can't get everyone you want, and no one is going to be right all the time, execs, so-called experts, or fans.

I said years ago that regarding the O-line, what I would do is focus on free agency and acquire established talent. I've always felt that this will bring about more consistent and desirous results. Now of course if you can draft a quality lineman where you can, it's always advantageous due to fiscal reasons, but if you want to stop spinning wheels with the protection of what is supposedly the most important position in team sports, then you're going to have to budget for it to varying degrees. But, in my mind, it needs to be a high priority and you should be willing to pay for it because it's so integral to the offense, and you really can't fake even a satisfactory offensive line. It may have been coincidental, but I'll take it. I want to see what happens when most of your starting O-line consists of free agent acquisitions, decidedly well-paid, as opposed to homegrown draftees.

I think that sometimes fans get caught up in the names and media-driven hype, while the more analytically minded, and the experts---including GMs, team scouts and coaches realize that team building isn't about that.

Burns was another issue.

I forgot to mention that overall we probably received a B. Like some said in the other thread, the real or practical grade comes after the season.

Yeah, I didn't even catch that.

Our Panthers reporter, Anthony Rizutti of Panthers Wire (of USA Today) provides us with a few grades. I've added a couple of more snippets of analyses from some NC guys, including our friend Scott Fowler in Charlotte and a vid from Panthers Playbook's Dennis Cox and Chris Lea in Raleigh. It is food for thought. Of course we all have our opinions, but, me personally, I tend to giive the opinion of hardcore fans and people that actually follow the team a little more weight. Touchdown Wire: B Draft Wire: B+ USA Today: C NFL.com: B ESPN: B- PFF: C Yahoo Sports: C CBS Sports: C+ If you want to read their little summaries, hit the link. But as you can see, the national types have largely graded the draft average. There seems to be an acknowledgement of the fact that Morgan and company were in a hard place due to the malfeasance of the previous administrations, but that our FO did the best it could. One of the "experts" mentioned the "boom-or-bust" nature of our draft, which is an interesting way to characterize it, but I'm good with that. And Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports may have put it best, which basically alluded to the fact that so much of the grade is simply based upon the unknown: "Even though they’re getting a C, it’s hard not to be caught by the allure of the unknown here. It’s a really interesting class." https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/lists/panthers-nfl-draft-grades-experts-2024/ Tony Pauline, another national talking head, took his page straight out of Debbie Downer's playbook, but it's all about perspective, right? Here's a bone for those that are decidedly negative about the outcome: "You could brand the Panthers as this year’s losers before the event began, considering they frittered away the first pick of the draft last year to select Bryce Young. Trading up one spot for the final selection of Round 1 to select Xavier Legette, a Day 2 receiver prospect, kept things going in the wrong direction for Carolina." One person who has been---perhaps what has been perceived as negative about the direction of the franchise---decidedly sober-minded and what I consider fair about the way things have been going under the Tepper era has been Scott Fowler. By now, everyone should have heard of the contentious relationship that he and David Tepper have. Fowler has called Tepper out on his decided malfeasance (labelling it inTeptitude as I recall), and Tepper, the owner that is a somewhat contentious all own his own by the simplest of "slights," has outwardly acted inappropriate (in my opinion, toward Fowler. But Fowler was decidedly positive about this year's draft. "While nationally the Panthers didn’t get nearly the same amount of attention in this draft as they did in 2023, owing to the controversial big-splash trade and the ensuing selection of Young a year ago, this group may be more significant as a whole." Fowler gave the draft a B+ "This team is going to be more exciting. In particular, I have high hopes for Legette and Sanders. Carolina didn’t get everything it wanted — an edge rusher in the first two days of the draft would have been nice, for instance. But overall, I’m giving the Panthers a grade of B+ for the 2024 NFL Draft. Which, given the team as a whole got an F last year, is quite an upgrade." You may hit a paywall:https://www.heraldonline.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article287830040.html#storylink=cpy And finally, here is Dennis Cox And Chris Lea. I thought they were fair and thoughtful in their assessment. They call Dan and Dave (and company) "The Alignment," because of being on the same page. For me, that alone, is worth the listen.

I'm not necessarily trying to be flippant, but Morgan has been telling you what type of team he's trying to to build. So, if you have no idea, you just haven't been listening. @ForJimmy explained it pretty well. But, if you don't believe that, then all you have to do is go back and listen to all of the pressers since Morgan was promoted. Then go back and listen to Dave Canales' pressers since he's been here. Don't forget to listen to the pressers during the draft. You're complaining because you don't agree with the player---or perhaps players that were drafted, the mail one being X. I have consistently said that they should draft the player with the most upside, and that you can't limit your draft based upon perceived limitations (especially perceived limitations based upon some fans) of your QB, particularly if the QB is unproven. X has the most upside, and he needs to be developed for sure, but what you obviously fail to realize is that all of the receivers that we could've picked were "projects," save for maybe Ladd who is smallish, has an injury history, and would have offered some redundancy with what we already have. Most people consider him a slot guy. We already have guys that can play in the slot. If anything, our choices in the draft probably mean that Mingo is solidly in the long term plans. Whether he succeeds or not will be on him for the most part, as well as the coaches to put him in his best position to succeed. Regarding that, he likely needs to be transitioned to the slot where I'm pretty sure some teams (the Steelers being one of them) would have placed him in had he been available. What we also have is JT Sanders who will be another tough competitor on our side at the catch point. He is big-bodied with high upside, and will provide even another potential beast in the second and third level, and another consistent option for our QB (and any QB). Morgan and Canales obvious put a premium on receivers that can make tough catches, but that doesn't mean that these guys can't be polished up and coached up where necessary. But even if I look at a worse case scenario, if a wideout can make a tough catch, in the mold of Alshon Jeffrey or even Tee Higgins, then YAC is not as important. But the fact is, that both of our newly drafted wideouts have upside to be YAC monsters. So many people were banging the table for a center. I've said it all the way through: apparently our FO on down believes that AC can be a proficient center. It s not like he hasn't played it before. Moreover, we found out (and some of us already knew) that BC could be a backup. Well that's the plan. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to have faith that Canales and Joe Gilbert (as well as Dan Morgan) know what they're doing in that regard. I could be wrong, but I'm thinking that our O-line should at least be average. We'll find out, but I trust that this is not going to be an excuse for Bryce not to succeed in 2024. You've already seen the investment in the O-line, and in the offensive weapons. But Morgan also invested in the defense. We were decent last season, but inconsistent which lead to us being gashed. But the lack of offense also lead to the defense being gassed, which of course leads to being gashed as well. With the addition of the rookies and the additions of Robinson and Jewell, Fuller and of course Clowney and Wonnum, getting gashed in the run game will hopefully be a thing of the past. But the fact is that you can't fix everything in one offseason. However, if you can't see the plan and the vision, you just don't want to see it.

Legette out there dropping dimes.

My son went to high school with Devin Carter.

I'll admit, it's not looking good, but it's a new day. It's not like he hasn't flashed before. I'm not counting him down and out just yet, and I don't believe that DM or DC is either.

Yes, the contract was impressive. Dude got paid enough to make a difference in any Joe Shmoe's life even if he doesn't make it. We'll see what it is in August. I would bet that Smitty had a voice in this. I had never heard of Coker until 89 did the evaluation.

Don't do it. We've been down that road before. I was telling @Jon Snow that I won't fall for the false dreams of a UDFA WR again... He looks pretty damned good though. Smitty seems to think the competition won't matter. He said the guy knows why he is making the moves he is making at any particular moment and to what end. 89 says Coker is a technician. I mean, if he's right...not...gonna...lie...it's a little exciting, but...

Dude, you forgot the best part: DC

If that's even true, it's because he and his cohort know how to talk to people. No bullshit and selling a dream.