Post Draft Comments from Breer

[Mr. Scot]

A few pieces of info relevant to the Panthers from Breer's latest mailbag, even though neither of the questions being answered was specifically about them.

FYI: I'm posting only the pieces relevant to Carolina, not the complete answers. The link is above if you want to see more (it's a good read).

From Robert “The Rock” Saleh (@TylerIanKirk): Was the Jets’ philosophy always offense/playmakers for the first four rounds, or did the board happen to fall that way?

Saleh! I think the philosophy reflected some self-awareness for how things went so terribly wrong with Sam Darnold. Talking to people in the organization over the last couple of months, it felt almost like there was an acknowledgment there that Darnold didn’t really have a chance. You can assign blame however you want, but Darnold and Adam Gase really weren’t a good fit for each other. And the personnel around Darnold wouldn’t have been the right fit for anyone.

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From R.B. (@Sports_Fi3nd): Which teams do you think were the top NFL draft winner and loser from this past weekend?

R.B., let’s wrap up here with three winners and three losers for you …

Winners

Falcons QB Matt Ryan: The Falcons gave him a generational talent to work with at tight end and a new lease on life by passing on Justin Fields and Mac Jones. And going forward, Ryan’s got a GM in house now who was part of the Saints’ rebuild-on-the-fly around an aging quarterback, Drew Brees in that case, so there’s a template for that GM, Terry Fontenot, and head coach Arthur Smith to work off of.

The Panthers: I don’t know what they’ll be as pros, but through every step of the draft, the players new Carolina GM Scott Fitterer and coach Matt Rhule took—from Jaycee Horn to Terrace Marshall Jr. to Brady Christensen, Tommy Tremble and Chuba Hubbard—seemed like a good value for where they had been projected. And I love how Fitterer made up for picks lost in the Sam Darnold deal, effectively replacing the sixth-rounder this year, and the fourth next year via a flurry of trades.

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(I'll throw this in for Cam Newton fans; but be warned, you won't like it)

Losers

Patriots QB Cam Newton and Bears QB Andy Dalton: We’re leaving Jimmy Garoppolo off this list. Why? I actually think he’s in a better spot than people realize. He has two years left on his contract, and now he’ll get to play for his football future in a loaded offense for maybe the best tactician in the sport. This is actually a really great opportunity to compete for a title, and revive his value league-wide (which would be a win/win, because then San Francisco could get something good for him in 2022). The cases of Newton and Dalton are a little different. Yes, both can really help themselves. But I think, for separate reasons, the leash will be shorter in New England and Chicago. And a benching would be devastating for the future of either guy.

[classics]

Thanks for posting.

 

[NAS]

I think he's spot on

[Seltzer]

17 minutes ago, classics said:

Thanks for posting.

 

Second that

[rayzor]

I think it's pretty clear that most people with any kind of real knowledge of the situation believe that it's much more likely the situation and especially the coaching that failed Darnold rather than Darnold, himself being the failure.

Most of these people also believe that he can still be who he was believed to be when he was drafted and that all he needs is to have better coaching and personnel around him and a system that fits him.

I personally think that we have the ideal situation for him and absolutely the best coaching staff you could ask for in helping a young guy willing to do the work reach his potential.

[Mr. Scot]

8 minutes ago, rayzor said:

I think it's pretty clear that most people with any kind of real knowledge of the situation believe that it's much more likely the situation and especially the coaching that failed Darnold rather than Darnold, himself being the failure.

Most of these people also believe that he can still be who he was believed to be when he was drafted and that all he needs is to have better coaching and personnel around him and a system that fits him.

I personally think that we have the ideal situation for him and absolutely the best coaching staff you could ask for in helping a young guy willing to do the work reach his potential.

We're definitely gonna see.

[rayzor]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

We're definitely gonna see.

Yes. 

There are no guarantees (which is what people want), but the truth is that there are no guarantees with anything involved in football. There are no guaranteed results in any personnel or coaching regime, GM, scheme... nothing.

It's all a calculated risk (which people also don't want to hear).

That said, I think we are set up nicely for success. 

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, rayzor said:

Yes. 

There are no guarantees (which is what people want), but the truth is that there are no guarantees with anything involved in football. There are no guaranteed results in any personnel or coaching regime, GM, scheme... nothing.

It's all a calculated risk (which people also don't want to hear).

That said, I think we are set up nicely for success. 

I also agree with the premise that, even if the current quarterback doesn't work out, we're doing a nice job building around that position.

[rayzor]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

I also agree with the premise that, even if the current quarterback doesn't work out, we're doing a nice job building around that position.

Yes. Whether Darnold works out or not, we have a foundation laid for a successful team. 

I also totally believe that it won't take more than one season to figure out if Darnold is the guy,  just like it didn't take more than one season to figure out that Teddy wasn't the guy.

The biggest mistake with Teddy was the contract we have him, but we have to also remember who was GM at the time.

The good thing is that this regime knew when to cut bait and move on to the next one and I have no reason to doubt their ability to move on to the next QB if Darnold isn't the guy. 

In the meantime, we'll just keep building a better foundation for our franchise QB to get plugged into.

[kungfoodude]

18 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Yes. Whether Darnold works out or not, we have a foundation laid for a successful team. 

I also totally believe that it won't take more than one season to figure out if Darnold is the guy,  just like it didn't take more than one season to figure out that Teddy wasn't the guy.

The biggest mistake with Teddy was the contract we have him, but we have to also remember who was GM at the time.

The good thing is that this regime knew when to cut bait and move on to the next one and I have no reason to doubt their ability to move on to the next QB if Darnold isn't the guy. 

In the meantime, we'll just keep building a better foundation for our franchise QB to get plugged into.

Since we picked up the 5th year for Darnold, he would still carry a very substantial dead cap hit next year($18.6 mil) when we move on from him.

I suspect he will be easier to trade than Bridgewater was, however. I am genuinely stunned we got anything at all for him. Fitterer looks like a genius based on that trade alone.

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Since we picked up the 5th year for Darnold, he would still carry a very substantial dead cap hit next year($18.6 mil) when we move on from him.

I suspect he will be easier to trade than Bridgewater was, however. I am genuinely stunned we got anything at all for him. Fitterer looks like a genius based on that trade alone.

I've seen speculation that they'll rework his contract to split the cap hit evenly across both seasons. It'd work out to about 11.5 million per year.

Significantly lower than Bridgewater...

[Mr. Scot]

FYI: Regarding Trey Lance...

So after trading up (using significant resources to do so) and drafting him #3 overall, they might wait until his third year to start him?

Breer and others are calling bullsh-t on that idea.

[rayzor]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I've seen speculation that they'll rework his contract to split the cap hit evenly across both seasons. It'd work out to about 11.5 million per year.

Significantly lower than Bridgewater...

Yeah, that bridgewater contract was ridiculous...but then hurney was involved. 

[kungfoodude]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I've seen speculation that they'll rework his contract to split the cap hit evenly across both seasons. It'd work out to about 11.5 million per year.

Significantly lower than Bridgewater...

I would be curious to see how they manage that. My understanding was that the rookie deals are basically scaled and there isn't much tinkering allowed.