I am more excited for this season than I was last season.

[SOJA]

On 6/16/2020 at 11:29 AM, frash.exe said:

that’s really funny bc i don’t remember seeing a lot of ppl disillusioned about the franchise and begging for change besides me and a few others last summer

everybody here was drinking kool aid and acting like the panthers just pulled off the best offseason in the entire league in 2019

I called for firing Rivera the day he benched cam not wearing a tie 

[SOJA]

I'm excited if we suck this season

[stbugs]

On 6/17/2020 at 7:40 PM, 4Corners said:

It looks like a “rebuilding” year or a transitional year In which management is good with winning 5-7 games and draft like 10th overall. Not gonna cut it. Embrace the suck and let’s get the first or second overall pick. 

I don’t recall you being on my top pick bandwagon but welcome aboard. I hate that we are going to give Teddy, Robbie and Kawann $90M for two years and lost a 3rd and 4th/5th round comp picks as well. Not only will we have a tougher time getting Lawrence, Fields or Lance, we gave up what could be two draft picks at say interior OL and the top FAs in those QBs 2nd or 3rd years. If we embraced the suck and went for it, we’d have a franchise QB, two more young talents on OL and the top two FAs in 2023 when Brady and Brees retire and Ryan is 37.

Nah, I’d rather feel great about getting to 7-9 and have none of that in 2023. SMH. So easy.

[thefuzz]

1 hour ago, stbugs said:

I don’t recall you being on my top pick bandwagon but welcome aboard. I hate that we are going to give Teddy, Robbie and Kawann $90M for two years and lost a 3rd and 4th/5th round comp picks as well. Not only will we have a tougher time getting Lawrence, Fields or Lance, we gave up what could be two draft picks at say interior OL and the top FAs in those QBs 2nd or 3rd years. If we embraced the suck and went for it, we’d have a franchise QB, two more young talents on OL and the top two FAs in 2023 when Brady and Brees retire and Ryan is 37.

Nah, I’d rather feel great about getting to 7-9 and have none of that in 2023. SMH. So easy.

I get so frustrated with the dumbest ever response to this notion.

"We don't even know if Sunshine will be good or not in the NFL."

Or the even dumber, "Tua was consensus number 1 overall pick, the Dolphins didn't tank and still got him."

It's not about one player, it's about the power and options that open up if you have that 1st or 2nd pick.  If the franchise guy is there, you can take him, if you don't think he's the guy and other teams do, make them pay out the ass.

This is all about leverage, and the 8th pick ain't got any.

Not to mention wasting all of this cap space on 5-11, just a dumb move overall.

[kungfoodude]

1 minute ago, thefuzz said:

I get so frustrated with the dumbest ever response to this notion.

"We don't even know if Sunshine will be good or not in the NFL."

Or the even dumber, "Tua was consensus number 1 overall pick, the Dolphins didn't tank and still got him."

It's not about one player, it's about the power and options that open up if you have that 1st or 2nd pick.  If the franchise guy is there, you can take him, if you don't think he's the guy and other teams do, make them pay out the ass.

This is all about leverage, and the 8th pick ain't got any.

Not to mention wasting all of this cap space on 5-11, just a dumb move overall.

I would prefer to never pick in the top 5 of the draft because we are a well oiled machine, crush it in the draft, crush it in free agency and have a clear set of goals we are trying to achieve.

Unfortunately, we aren't that franchise. Once we gutted the bulk of the talent on the roster, now we are just left with trying to piece together a team from spare parts. So those top 5 draft picks can be cornerstone/franchise players.

Since we clearly leaned so hard into being a bad roster, it isn't really going to make a lot of sense to crank out 5-8 wins and be back where we started before this whole process.

[DaveThePanther2008]

The draft picks all have one thing in common.  They are pure athletes.  Their athletic ability is something Rhule seems to want on this team.  Super Athletic players with the ability to play different positions.  I am excited about every draft pick and many of our UDFAs.   

I see a brutal first half of the season but as the team gets more familiar with the system we could end up playing the spoiler going into the last week or so of the season.

Wouldn't it be fun to knock a team out of the playoffs. 

[Car123]

On 6/16/2020 at 11:00 AM, t96 said:

I think Rivera could’ve gotten it done if DG hadn’t been fired. 2017 was DG’s roster, so in DG’s time here we had 4 out of 5 playoff seasons, 3 of which made it to divisional round or further. Those two actually had a solid thing going. Rivera and Hurney in 2011, 12, 18, 19 was an absolute disaster. Glad Tepper blew that up but we still need to get rid of Hurney...

We weren’t winning with an unhealthy Cam. DG or not.

[blackcat]

I agree.

[thefuzz]

3 hours ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

The draft picks all have one thing in common.  They are pure athletes.  Their athletic ability is something Rhule seems to want on this team.  Super Athletic players with the ability to play different positions.  I am excited about every draft pick and many of our UDFAs.   

I see a brutal first half of the season but as the team gets more familiar with the system we could end up playing the spoiler going into the last week or so of the season.

Wouldn't it be fun to knock a team out of the playoffs. 

Didn't Chip Kelly have the same approach to the draft when he came up from the college ranks?

I may be getting that confused with another coach, but I swear he did the same thing.  Up here, you need athletes sure...but they need to also know how to play football.

[Sgt Schultz]

I approached last year like I did 2017 and 2018....cautious optimism.  But the problem with each of those years is they felt like we were the guy standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at the other edge, and debating whether we could jump across the gap between them: we were either going to make it, or we were going to fall to the bottom.  There was no in between, no sorta-making it. 

Last year had a sense of finality to it, going in.  If we did well, then what?  If we did badly (which we did), we pretty much knew the outcome.  It wasn't as ominous as 2010 under Fox, when somebody yelled "dead man walking" whenever he entered a room.  Any slip ups and we knew we would be starting over.  That's not a horrible thing, but it does make you see buzzards circling as the season starts.

The other problem I had each of the last couple of years is I didn't think we were as good as our record indicated when things were going well.  When we were 6-2 in 2018, I was asking myself what a 4-4 finish would get us.  When we were 4-2 last year heading into the bye, I was cautiously optimistic but wondering about how we were going to piece together at least 6 more wins.  Then came the beating at the hands of the Niners, and all bets were off.  It was almost like both rosters were built on "if everything goes perfectly, we will win."

Rivera was content to line his 11 up against the opponents 11 and see what happens.  At one time that worked in this league, but the differences between 4-12 and 12-4 are just not significant enough for that to be consistently successful anymore.  I hope my feeling at the end of the year is we saw some player development (finally), the groups becoming cohesive, and the feeling that our coaching staff is capable of stealing a win for us from time to time.  I'm only used to see the second of those with this team.

This year I have no expectations about wins and losses.  Like others have said, I will judge success by players stepping into roles and showing improvement.  If the scheme (finally) puts players into a position to succeed, I will be happy. 

 

 

[grateflday]

First season in a long time I am not to excited.  Yes, will be interesting to see how the young players develop, new staff etc but going into a season with what appears to be  stop gap QB, little to no playoff hopes, and what appears to be game day turning into a platform for protest and causes is not that appealing (Maybe I am wrong on this part, but it sure seams that it will be).   I will still be there on Sunday's but with the three things I mentioned, that puts me at my initial not to excited heading into the season.  If we had a healthy Cam, or young QB the staff was grooming I would definitely be more excited.     

[Mr Mojo Risin]

1 hour ago, grateflday said:

First season in a long time I am not to excited.  Yes, will be interesting to see how the young players develop, new staff etc but going into a season with what appears to be  stop gap QB, little to no playoff hopes, and what appears to be game day turning into a platform for protest and causes is not that appealing (Maybe I am wrong on this part, but it sure seams that it will be).   I will still be there on Sunday's but with the three things I mentioned, that puts me at my initial not to excited heading into the season.  If we had a healthy Cam, or young QB the staff was grooming I would definitely be more excited.     

This. 100% agree with my fellow Dead Head