TD alt

It's much too soon for the "Holy air ball" comment, and saying he can do "everything" Nalo can do is simply a stretch. He's not as smooth a route runner, isn't as fast, nor does he provide the catch radius. Warren improved in drops last season, but honestly, Tetairoa has better hands as well.

If our season hinged upon Josey Jewell, then we were screwed from the get-go. Relax, people.

He competed at OTAs. He's ready to go.

Why would Shaq come back here when he's playing for the Bills?

Might be time to go back to the farm and the juicery and call it a career. He made it farther than many thought he would. Might be time to hang up the cleats for the last time.

Trevin Wallace and Claudin Cherulus will fill the void.

I played a guy named @rayzor in Hunting Sniper. Was it you?

Don't get me wrong. Bottom five is fine before 2025. If we're still bottom five after 2025, then we'll have a problem. It's possible, and, as you say, some would say probable. It all depends on the question marks. There's plenty enough NFL precedent however to give us hope, as there are surprises every year, and preseason rankings are never right.

If he has another good season, we're probably not going to get out of it, as that's just the nature of the beast. The salary cap goes up and salaries go up. Maybe we won't have to pay him that high, but it will most certainly be in the neighborhood. As his season goes, so will his salary (provided that the two sides won't come together now (if there's anything even going on). https://catcrave.com/panthers-insider-sets-steep-ikem-ekwonu-extension-price-despite-rocky-nfl-ride

Dean Jones, the resident writer for Cat Crave, thinks that we should consider signing Noah Fant. Jones titles his article: Panthers quietly handed perfect fix for overlooked flaw at just the right time He calls the TE position an "overlooked flaw," and even though I wouldn't necessarily go as far as that, I do believe that the Panthers would instantly buttress the position with a Fant signing. The Panthers just may throw out feelers, and there are connections. "Fant played for Panthers' tight ends coach Pat McPherson for two seasons. He was also in Seattle with head coach Dave Canales and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik in 2022. This also happens to be a position group that is dangerously short of dependable options." I guess it comes down to whether or not the Panthers believe that our guys can be the real deal, or at least fill the need that Canales and company have for this offense. I have been skeptical of the lack of TE involvement in the regular flow of the offense since Canales has taken over, but it may be because of the lack of legit and/or experienced personnel. Fant hasn't been spectacular. He is an apt move-TE though. He is a so-so middle of the pack-ish pass blocker. His run blocking grades leave a lot to be desired (save for one year). I guess that I could see it, but I just don't know if Fant moves the needle enough to spend the extra money on him. For a first rounder, he's been kind of a bust in my opinion. He's still NFL-worthy, and he's still in the prime of his career. But, I think I'm more in disagreement with Jones about thinking Fant is the "perfect fix." He just may be a more expensive, albeit more experienced, option than we already have. https://catcrave.com/panthers-quietly-handed-perfect-fix-for-overlooked-flaw-just-right-time

And if it's in fact true, then he might as well sign. Either that or give up the dream of playing in the NFL. That should be a no-brainer.

Yeah, the first thing I thought about is why argue about "conduct detrimental to the team?" Just don't do anything stupid and you should be OK. Top and even mid tier professional athletes get a lot more leeway than regular Joes out here bustin' the pavement, and we know that if we end up on the news for negativity that we've done our there in society, our ass is gonna get canned.

Yeah, but...they rank us 30th of 32 teams, so the WR-is-a-strength sentiment is built on hollowed ground (yes, "hollowed," not hallowed). When you're perceived as ranking 30th, there's an argument that all strengths are really perceived as weaknesses. I mean, basically I wouldn't get carried away with any strength arguments based upon that ranking. The truth will begin to reveal itself come early September.

Well, it seems a little confusing, but I guess not: I guess they're thinking that we're going to the way that our receivers go. Barnwell just ranked us 31 at the (so-called) offensive skill positions. ESPN just doesn't think that much of the Panthers. I wonder if it was the O-line that bumped us up one spot, because they obviously don't think that much of our safety position, or our pass-rush. In any event, there should be ample enough bulletin board material here for the team.

Ward was cheap in the grand scheme of things. Bryce Young? Not so much. Just food for thought when contemplating Cam Ward.

Chris Simms says Ward would have been the #3 QB (just behind Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels) if you had combined 2024 & 2025 together. Not saying his mouth is a prayer book, but another GM said he'd have been QB5 had he been in the 2024 class. He may not be "#1 overall quality," but it's still very much in the air if he was worth that draft pick. Very much in the air...

ChatGPT and Google AI are saying this: Length: 4 years Total Value: $8,806,818 Signing Bonus: $2,899,504 Annual Average Value: Approximately $2.2 million per year

Bryce has no excuses. His O-line may not be perfect, but they're a legitimate, seasoned unit. As for the O-line, as well as all the acquired skill positions since Dan and Dave have taken over, The FO has done good by him. Yeah, I said it. He's a top (expensive) pick who was been coddled and catered to, and who has had the benefit of the prerequisite amount of patience by the current FO. It's now time for Bryce to succeed.

Ahh, I see why this thread has more lives than Elvis: Still going on about Thielen, after we drafted Nalo and X and Lil Jimmy and acquired a promising UDFA in Jalen Coker, and topped it all off with a good vereran receiver hunting a career resurgence after an unfortunate sickness in Hunter Renfrow. Well, there is the period of June and July where we have to manufacture nothing-burgers to fill that football void in our hungry stomachs.

Probably around 80 percent of the contract guaranteed. That's the going rate apparently.

77.98 percent. We'll see how it goes.

I agree, but I've already said that the players will definitely take more money up front because it's more security. But they want more guaranteed money and NFL FOs don't want to do that for several and various reasons, and that's what's at issue. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-second-round-rookies-finally-starting-to-sign-what-took-so-long-and-what-it-means-for-future-contracts/ It's a tug of war between teams and players, and, sure, paying a player a signing bonus may satisfy them, especially if--and sometimes "only if"--it ultimately leads to a guarantee of more of their contract, but the teams are on the hook for all of those guarantees when cap time comes, so if they guarantee more money, they're ultimately losing the contract game.

Hell, my wife has picked up walking students on the way to school, uh-oh... I've given kids waters and Kleenexes, well damnit I'm a criminal.

That's basically what I said... If the guarantees are smaller, and/or the system is designed in such a way that balances the difference between rookies and vets, then the hit on the cap is mitigated. Yes, I realize that's what they were trying to do with the rookie wage scale, but obviously too many loopholes have evolved. It's time to modify the agreement (which probably won't happen), or we're just going to be in this position for the next half dozen years. I guess that I take a harder line. In my world, once you get drafted, you get drafted and play by the current rules. If you don't want to play by the rules then you'd just sit out until you do. You couldn't escape the situation by sitting out another year, you'd just have to play by the rules as they are, and not how you think that they should be. If gray areas arise, then the NFL and NFLPA would have to come to overarching solutions.