Love Jaycee Horn and he was third on my board, but...

[Proudiddy]

We have to hope Darnold is who the staff and organization is advertising him to be, because if we had the chance to pick a dynamic, franchise QB and didn't, and Darnold ends up being a Bridgewater 2.0, there will be hell to pay.

Again, I love Jaycee as a player and had him as third on my meaningless personal big board.  So, I liked him, and wanted him, and he fit a need.  But, I also had Fields as my first option, and he was available at our pick, Sewell was gone, so Horn became the second option.

Now, if Darnold comes out here and plays like a beast, while Fitt has now put together his version of LOB East, no one will even blink.  

That is obviously the scenario I'm hoping for, but I really worry we passed up on a real franchise QB with a stopgap in place.  I really think them pushing all their chips in on Darnold will decide the fate of this staff.  If they got it right, they are secure and look like geniuses.  But, if they got it wrong, we passed up on a gamechanging QB with a top 10 pick this year, and will likely finish with a better record than 2020, even if Darnold is bad, which means we are picking further back in the draft...  and as the last few years have shown, it is becoming increasingly hard to land a franchise QB in the middle to later picks.  So, to be brief, if we weren't sure about Darnold, picking in the top 10 was our best bet to shore up the QB spot long-term.

Again, I love Horn, but considering this staff dumped a beloved franchise QB, that even if he didn't have a right arm, still would've been more productive than the guy they paid 24M to replace him with and publicly gushed over before realizing how wrong they were and trading him away after 1 year...  I'm just really concerned.

Taking Horn in and of itself is an A+ move in my book, and I love the idea that we just drafted a guy that will shutdown opposing 1s and take away a whole side of the field on his own...  but, as I said numerous times last season, you can get every other position on the field right, but if you get QB wrong, none of it will matter.  And after the chickenshit they tried to shovel down our throats as chicken salad last year at QB, I'm worried about the position, regardless of what else we've done.  The fact we waited to exercise Darnold's 5th year option until after passing on Fields in the first-round even seems indecisive on the organization's part in terms of their belief in Darnold. 

[davos]

Well said 

[firefox1234]

Drafting Fields or sticking with Darnold are both pretty big risks. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[ncfan]

He’s first on a lot of guys who know that position 

very well

 

[jayboogieman]

6 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

We have to hope Darnold is who the staff and organization is advertising him to be, because if we had the chance to pick a dynamic, franchise QB and didn't, and Darnold ends up being a Bridgewater 2.0, there will be hell to pay.

This is your problem. You're assuming Fields is a surefire can't miss franchise QB when he hasn't played one second in the NFL yet. Fields, like all the others taken last night, are pretty good prospects. And that is all they are until they play and prove things one way or the other.

[TheRumGone]

I’ll definitely be watching fields in chicago. I’m at the point where I think this is a 3 year process, they’re gonna build up this team and then make a daring move for a qb. It sucks because I wanted fields over Horn but this seems to be the route they’re taking. Sort of similar to KC with Mahomes. We’ll see if it works out. But I think it’s gonna be 3 more years. Like I said earlier 2023 is really the make or break year for me.

[Proudiddy]

2 minutes ago, ncfan said:

He’s first on a lot of guys who know that position 

very well

 

No doubt.  Like I said, I love Horn and I don't want my doubt over the QB position to cloud or obscure that...  I love him as a player and I legit believe we just got a guy that takes away a side of the field on his own and possibly may become the best CB in the league.  Other teams will envy us for Horn. 

I'm just really concerned about Darnold, and us waiting to exercise the 5th year option until after the first round, paired with their previous belief in Bridgewater...  it's hard for me to shake that cloud hovering over us with it being the most important position on a team.

[Mage]

15 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

We have to hope Darnold is who the staff and organization is advertising him to be, because if we had the chance to pick a dynamic, franchise QB and didn't, and Darnold ends up being a Bridgewater 2.0, there will be hell to pay.

And if Fields and Jones end up being busts?

Look, I get what you are saying and I'm not saying any of this directed at you, just in general because it is a common theme on this site lately.  But the draft is a crapshoot.  There are so many ways this could play out.  

1) Horn busts, Darnold succeeds, Fields succeeds

2) Horn succeeds, Darnold busts, Fields busts

3) Horn succeeds, Darnold busts, Fields busts

4) Horn busts, Darnold succeeds, Fields busts

So on and so forth.

It isn't like we're the only team that passed on Fields.  And look, I LIKE Fields, but I also think it is telling that it was the team that was BY FAR the most desperate in the NFL that traded up for Fields.  NFL teams were clearly a lot more down on Fields than fans/analysts were, and that should speak volumes. 

People said the same thing about Haskins and how he fell and how the Giants screwed up.  And yeah, Daniel Jones hasn't been good, but he's been better than Haskins.
 

At the end of the day, as hard as it is, we need to just be patient.  Nobody knows what is going to happen.  And the idea that the team should just blindly throw darts at the QB position until it works out is how you end up with a terrible team.

I love the Horn pick.  We've had a horrible secondary for what feels like forever; even when Norman was here, it was only held together by veterans and band-aids.

And yeah, if Fields works out, it will sting.  But that isn't a guarantee.  We just gotta wait and see.  But everyone lamenting it as a huge mistake must think that good prospects always work out and that just isn't the case.  The fact is, out of the 5 QBs in the 1st round, at least 2 in all likelihood will bust.  I doubt that is Trevor, leaving Wilson/Fields/Jones/Lance.  1 is going to be Lance.  Not sure about the other... sounds crazy but I like Jones' chances in New England under Beli/McD a LOT more than I do Fields in Chicago.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Mage

[Proudiddy]

2 minutes ago, jayboogieman said:

This is your problem. You're assuming Fields is a surefire can't miss franchise QB when he hasn't played one second in the NFL yet. Fields, like all the others taken last night, are pretty good prospects. And that is all they are until they play and prove things one way or the other.

Not necessarily surefire, but I definitely believe in him more than Darnold.  I didnt like Darnold coming out of USC, and what he showed in NY was exactly about what I expected from him when he was drafted.  Now, yes, Gase is a trainwreck and that certainly didn't help...  but again, it's concerning.  I KNOW Fields ceiling is exponentially higher than Darnold's, and I think his floor is higher too.

[frankw]

The Panthers drafted a corner higher than Patrick Mahomes with a qb room consisting of Sam Darnold PJ Walker and Will Grier. If we they find themselves again searching high and low for a quarterback in 2022 Jaycee Horn is going to need to become a ballhawk clone of Revis/Ramsey/Peterson all rolled into one.

[mcsmoak]

Is it possible we’re still in on Deshaun Watson behind the scenes?  Watson is screwed right now but once everything comes out I’m guessing he gets a year suspension tops 

[Jon Snow]

3 minutes ago, jayboogieman said:

This is your problem. You're assuming Fields is a surefire can't miss franchise QB when he hasn't played one second in the NFL yet. Fields, like all the others taken last night, are pretty good prospects. And that is all they are until they play and prove things one way or the other.

Exactly.  And don't assume that they put their chips all in on Darnold.  He will get his shot at showing he can help them win.  They are not done with the QB position by any means.  Nor are the done with the OL issues.  

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, jayboogieman said:

This is your problem. You're assuming Fields is a surefire can't miss franchise QB when he hasn't played one second in the NFL yet. Fields, like all the others taken last night, are pretty good prospects. And that is all they are until they play and prove things one way or the other.

To be fair, he said "if".

[Peppers90 NC]

I wanted Fields, I think he could be best QB in class. But we will never know for sure going to Chicago with Matt Nagy as his coach. With Sewell gone, it was Fields or Horn.