Matt Rhule on Sam Darnold and the QB Situation

[BrianS]

I was never a fan of bringing him here, but what all of us think is now irrelevant.  Sam is our QB this year and next.  We have to hope he succeeds.

Edited May 2, 2021 by BrianS

[rayzor]

35 minutes ago, MechaZain said:

I’m actually semi-fluent in coachspeak what he said was if Sam sucks we’ll just draft a guy next year

and i'm actually pretty fluent in leadershipspeak (which that was) and what he said was we believe he can succeed and we are going to give him the chance to succeed without hanging a noose over his head.

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, methodtoll said:

https://www.panthers.com/news/2021-draft-day-3-transcripts

 

What is the confidence level in Sam Darnold and the Panthers quarterback situation?

Rhule: "We brought Sam here because we believe that he can win for us. When we look at him over his last three years, we see a guy with tons of potential. We see a guy that we think in our situation, in our offense is going to do really good things. And we have a lot of faith in PJ Walker, we have a lot of faith in Will Grier, so we think we have a really healthy quarterback situation. It should be fun from here. All I want Sam to do is just take it one day at a time. Everything for him doesn't have to be a referendum on whether he's a great quarterback or not. He just needs to come into the building and work every day. I believe the quarterback position is really, really important, but I also believe great teams win. I think Sam is going to be as good as the guys around him, and we've tried to put a lot of really good players around him. I'm excited to have him."

It may just be coach speak but the fact that they didn't draft one single QB, in any round speaks volumes to how they feel about the current QB Situation. I think I am starting to believe they actually think more highly of Grier more than I thought. 

Thoughts? 

 

Rhule is a psychologist.

[MHS831]

50 minutes ago, rayzor said:

and i'm actually pretty fluent in leadershipspeak (which that was) and what he said was we believe he can succeed and we are going to give him the chance to succeed without hanging a noose over his head.

Look how often he uses "we" over "he".  The man knows what he is doing.

[MHS831]

16 minutes ago, Trainwreck said:

We’ll see how it turns out. I’m a huge fan of Darnold and hoping he turns it all around as a Panther. But, Rhule was also the coach he really liked and had faith and Teddy Bridgwater by giving him a $60m contract last season. PJ Walker and Grier are the same two backup QBs for Teddy last year. Now, Teddy is gone. If Fields turns out to be a stud and Darnold fails, this is going to be bad. It will show that Rhule doesn’t know anything about QB. 

You act like Rhule had a ton of options.  And he may have thought he could win with Teddy.  He did not know Okung was going to need a walker, CMC would be out, and his TEs were speed bumps.  He got to see that Teddy cannot take a team on his back and win, but if in a better situation, we may not be talking about Darnold. 
Marty gave TB the contract and if you expect your coach to handle the financial end with agents, you misunderstand the business.  You know better.

[rayzor]

6 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Look how often he uses "we" over "he".  The man knows what he is doing.

sharing the burden of proving who he can be and who they believe he can be. it's not on Darnold to prove he can be great. it's on the team. it's on the coaching staff. its on all of them together.

in NY they gave him nothing. they just threw him out there in some half thought out scheme on a team with crappy leadership and a bunch of meh players. that's not what he has here.

[CPsinceDay1]

Rhule's guy: PJ Walker, it shows how much confidence he has in PJ really, think about it, who's more likely to start if Sam bombs or gets hurt. 

PJ Walker by season's end 

[Cdparr7]

4 hours ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

It worries me that Grier couldn’t get past TB on the depth chart and we traded him away. That doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy about our back ups.

I don’t want to beat the Will Grier drum but I’m going to for a second. I think he fits Joe Brady’s scheme better than PJ Walker does.

1. The coaching he got as a rookie with Rivera here was garbage

2. Fewell threw him to the wolves and he got sacked so much he barely played 6 quarters before he got hurt.

3.He didn’t get to spend the offseason with Brady and the new staff.

Given time with Brady and Sean Ryan this offseason, he could become a solid back up and pass PJ on the depth chart.

Not calling him a MVP or even a starter but safe back up.

[Cdparr7]

2 hours ago, CPsinceDay1 said:

Rhule's guy: PJ Walker, it shows how much confidence he has in PJ really, think about it, who's more likely to start if Sam bombs or gets hurt. 

PJ Walker by season's end 

But also would have lost to the lions if not for the defense pitching a shut out. Still threw 2 picks. Then got called in at the end of the season and threw like 3 picks in one half. He’s a pet.

I really hope Rhule isn’t worse than Rivera with his pets.

Would like to see if Grier has matured or go get an actual back up QB. Ya know, since Erving is gonna be the LT this year.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Cdparr7

[CPsinceDay1]

2 hours ago, Cdparr7 said:

But also would have lost to the lions if not for the defense pitching a shut out. Still threw 2 picks. Then got called in at the end of the season and threw like 3 picks in one half. He’s a pet.

I really hope Rhule isn’t worse than Rivera with his pets.

Would like to see if Grier has matured or go get an actual back up QB. Ya know, since Erving is gonna be the LT this year.

For one,Grier was not picked by this staff. But here’s a quote when we signed PJ, replace Teddy with Sam for this year.

"This wasn't just some throwaway signing," said one source with knowledge of the situation. "Matt really believes this kid can play."

His athleticism helps Walker, 25, manipulate the pocket to compensate for less than ideal size, and the Panthers signed him to a multi-year deal, smartly, that would then set Walker up as an exclusive rights free agent in 2022 and a restricted free agent in 2023; should he emerge as a real starting option they are protected and he could also be used as a trade chip at some point if Bridgewater sees through his contract in Carolina

PJ >Grier

Put Grier in the XFL and I doubt he has the same success as PJ did.

[frankw]

There are things I do not have doubts about with Matt Rhule. I believe he is a good hard working guy and a motivated and relatable coach who focuses on the right fundamentals and is willing to adapt. The only question is will these things have any bearing on his ability to both identify and develop a quarterback? There have been a number of quality coaches in the league who just couldn't find that qb and fizzled out. No matter how much we pay him or how many speeches he makes will change this if he fails. I have faith in him and I am very hopeful he can achieve this goal for us but life doesn't always work out the way you want. Beyond that I also need to see a little more from Joe Brady. I cannot lie there were times last year I wondered if Shula was still in the booth. Yes it's trendy to dog on Teddy and he did bring that on himself sometimes but Joe hindered the offense on his own occasionally last year. We certainly cannot see a repeat of that with a reclamation project from the Jets.

[jayboogieman]

8 hours ago, Ivan The Awesome said:

Edit: Before any of you think I don't like the Horn pick, i actually do. I just feel like Fields was the pick there especially since he fell to your laps. Just my perspective. Fields would have at least giving you a bigger shot at finding out if you have a Franchise QB or not. The most important position in football. 

Feels like they went with plan A2, and gambled on Darnold. Due to confidence or Arrogance, whichever you prefer. Here's hoping that the gamble pays off. 

The guys making the decision totally disagreed with you and preferred Darnold over Fields. Your confidence or arrogance, whichever you prefer, has you thinking your perspective is better than the guys getting paid to make those decisions.

[panthers55]

9 hours ago, methodtoll said:

https://www.panthers.com/news/2021-draft-day-3-transcripts

 

What is the confidence level in Sam Darnold and the Panthers quarterback situation?

Rhule: "We brought Sam here because we believe that he can win for us. When we look at him over his last three years, we see a guy with tons of potential. We see a guy that we think in our situation, in our offense is going to do really good things. And we have a lot of faith in PJ Walker, we have a lot of faith in Will Grier, so we think we have a really healthy quarterback situation. It should be fun from here. All I want Sam to do is just take it one day at a time. Everything for him doesn't have to be a referendum on whether he's a great quarterback or not. He just needs to come into the building and work every day. I believe the quarterback position is really, really important, but I also believe great teams win. I think Sam is going to be as good as the guys around him, and we've tried to put a lot of really good players around him. I'm excited to have him."

It may just be coach speak but the fact that they didn't draft one single QB, in any round speaks volumes to how they feel about the current QB Situation. I think I am starting to believe they actually think more highly of Grier more than I thought. 

Thoughts? 

I think Rhule and Brady believe in the system and feel they can make the guys they have do well.. Teddy is gone because he wouldn't uncork the ball and couldn't throw it deep. Something Darmold and our other guys will have no problem doing if they have the time and personnel.

Edited May 2, 2021 by panthers55

[SizzleBuzz]

1 hour ago, jayboogieman said:

10 hours ago, Ivan The Awesome said:

Edit: Before any of you think I don't like the Horn pick, i actually do. Fields would have at least giving you a bigger shot at finding out if you have a Franchise QB or not. The most important position in football. 

Feels like they went with plan A2, and gambled on Darnold. Due to confidence or Arrogance, whichever you prefer.

The guys making the decision totally disagreed with you and preferred Darnold over Fields. Your confidence or arrogance, whichever you prefer, has you thinking your perspective is better than the guys getting paid to make those decisions.

My understanding is that at  the time of the Darnold signing there was no expectation Fields would still be available at #8...

...as such, they went with Darnold rather than getting completely shut out in the QB sweepstakes.

Given Sam is now in the fold nobody inside would ever speak to the truth which very well could be that they did prefer Fields...

Personally I expect Fields to outplay Sam....but I am hoping for the best for Sam because by all accounts he's a good kid.