rayzor

i would flip Young and Stroud. Probably just me, but i think Stroud ends up being the more impressive overall candidate. And i'm with you in hoping the decision was already made. I feel like it's one of those things they know but they want to be sure of first. I think they believe that either Stroud or Young or even Richardson (to a lesser degree) would be worth the first overall, but i think someone impressed them enough to want to just go ahead and jump in. They saw/learned enough at the combine to say "we can NOT miss out on this guy."

where's that cauliflower gif when you need it?

#1 QB from a crappy class is the #1 QB, even if he's a crappy QB. Bar wasn't exactly set high.

oh yeah...one of the best pies out there. another top comfort food.

this. Marvin Harrison, Jr. is the goal...esp. if Stroud is our guy. Fitt would have to work some serious magic to make that happen, but i got faith he can do it.

ok....i'm just going to say it. i'm a fan of chicken pot pie. dinner pies are very underrated and underappreciated and pretty much overlooked in the pie world. true comfort food.

it's a good start to FA. if this has Evero's stamp on it, you know it has to be a good and necessary pick up.

hey, you have cliff notes for the athletic article? i hit the paywall head on.

definitely helps that smitty sees the trade as a positive, even with trading away DJ.

i never saw it either. too much going on over the weekend for me.

people who think that we could have gotten out of that trade with DJ still wearing a panther uni or that we gave up too much have to realize it wasn't just about us moving up to 1, it was giving the bears incentive to trade down to 9. that's quite a leap so the cost was going to have to be high.

we should do both. one vet and one draft pick TE. BPA among all pass catchers for a few rounds after we get our QB.

pretty much this. add one via trade and then hit pass catchers like crazy in the draft.

If that was what it cost, it's worth it. This year isn't the only year our QB would have to go without a good WR, because they can definitely address it later on. This was the best time to get the QB we needed though, and if the choice is missing out on the franchise QB you want or keeping the good WR you've got, you go for the QB. And I doubt the FO was itching to trade off DJ. They probably tried other options first and didn't succeed. There was likely more teams vying for it so it was going to hurt one way or the other. Chicago wanted DJ so the only way we were likely going to get our QB was to sacrifice him. Later on there might have been a cheaper route, but you've got to make deals when you know you can when the target is that important. You can't speculate for later and hope that something shakes out. You've got to move when you can and pay as much as you need.

I wouldn't.pay any attention to that clamour. It's reporters trying to create a story saying that the Panthers COULD decide they want to trade back down and a bunch of dummies with limited reading comprehension abilities seeing that and thinking it means the Panthers ARE trying to trade back.

Who the fug says we're trying to trade back?

He doesn't, but if they are looking at three guys or whatever and he says, "you really don't want to push your chips all in on this guy" then they probably should listen. Same with any of the rest of the coaching staff/position assistants for a particular position they are looking at. With McCown, he's been around long enough, in enough situations, and with a large sample of good and bad QBs over his very long career that you've got to think he knows his poo.

Yep. Would be a pointless move. As I've said before, why the hell would you waste all that effort to try and ensure you get your top choice only to give up control? You only do a dumbass move like that if you can't decide for yourself which of the two would be best to build around and if they can't figure that out then they aren't as smart as I thought they were.

Not mind games. Don't tell anyone what they are planning because it's really nobodies business until draft day. And yes, I would lose faith in them because it would be a stupid move. Trading back and missing out on the guy you think is best? Why the hell would you do that? And no, it's not a matter of "either one will do." They're going to go through "the process" but for nothing less than convincing themselves that they are making the right decision on the guy I'm sure they have already decided on.

You make that trade because you know who you want and you don't want to take any chance of losing him.

I'd have a meltdown because considering all they did to trade up to #1 it would be stupid to trade back down. Seriously, I would in an instant lose faith in this coaching staff. That just would serm like a move by a group that was more interested in playing with draft picks like they were a game than building a team. You trade up to #1 because you've got a damn plan for the player you have in mind. The truth is they already know who they want. They knew at the combine. Any comments to the contrary from the team is just at playing the game. They may have some durme diligence they feel they need to go through, but I don't doubt for a minute they know in their gut who it is they want.

Wow. Good call.