Hope, but be real. We don't know what Darnold is, but that's OK.

[pantherj]

1.) Darnold is total poop and the pressure will be off and we'll focus on the draft.

2.) Darnold is mediocre and we don't know we're done with his crap until most of the season is over.

3. Darnold is good and we hope the future is bright.

4.) Darnold is great and a SB run is clearly only a matter of time.

1 and 4 are the least likely imo. Should be a fun season either way.

[Rubi]

He’s a bottom tier guy until he proves otherwise. You’ll know within a few games what he is, like I’ve always said. 
 

he’s got some tools and a good arm. Gotta make that stuff play though. 

[hepcat]

I’m like 90% sure Darnold is gonna be complete ass and might make us actually wish they never got rid of Bridgewater as hard as that is to believe. Darnold has been downright awful most of his career with a few flecks of potential sprinkled in and I’m not sure why all of a sudden that would change. Just seems like other than drafting a QB he was the only other option available with some youth and potential upside. 

I would have rather drafted Justin Fields even after they grabbed Darnold so at least if he was butt they had a backup plan on the roster. If Darnold is trash like I expect him to be it’s going to be a sad season to watch because the defense might actually be decent. 

But that 10% hope that I’m totally wrong and Darnold is a secret all-pro waiting to happen will keep me excited for the season.

[kungfoodude]

I don't think the hope in Darnold is nearly as overrated/overblown as our hope in the offensive line.

As bad as Darnold is/was, the sum of the current Panthers OL is probably a lot less. 

[KSpan]

2 hours ago, hepcat said:

I’m like 90% sure Darnold is gonna be complete ass and might make us actually wish they never got rid of Bridgewater as hard as that is to believe. Darnold has been downright awful most of his career with a few flecks of potential sprinkled in and I’m not sure why all of a sudden that would change. Just seems like other than drafting a QB he was the only other option available with some youth and potential upside. 

I would have rather drafted Justin Fields even after they grabbed Darnold so at least if he was butt they had a backup plan on the roster. If Darnold is trash like I expect him to be it’s going to be a sad season to watch because the defense might actually be decent. 

But that 10% hope that I’m totally wrong and Darnold is a secret all-pro waiting to happen will keep me excited for the season.

No chance they regret moving on from Teddy. They may regret something else, like not taking Fields as you mention, but taking the L on Teddy and making the change was absolutely the right and necessary thing to do, just like I assume they will move on from Sam if need be.

[BIGH2001]

If Darnold sucks are we still going to be kissing Rhule and Tepper’s ass? Because there’s a lot of that going on around here from two guys who haven’t accomplished much in the league. Especially Tepper who’s yet to post a winning season as an owner.

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, KSpan said:

No chance they regret moving on from Teddy. They may regret something else, like not taking Fields as you mention, but taking the L on Teddy and making the change was absolutely the right and necessary thing to do, just like I assume they will move on from Sam if need be.

Agreed. I am not sure it would be regretting moving on from Teddy as much as moving to Darnold that they would regret. 

The writing was on the wall with Teddy. Even if we go 0-17 with Darnold, would 5-7 wins with Teddy be better?

[BrianS]

22 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

The writing was on the wall with Teddy. Even if we go 0-17 with Darnold, would 5-7 wins with Teddy be better?

As much as I hate to see us lose, I'd almost welcome 0-17 with Darnold because it would answer all the questions definitively and give us our choice of the best QB in the next draft.  I'd be way more excited about 0-17 with Darnold than 5-12 with ANY of our recent QB's.

[Khyber53]

46 minutes ago, BIGH2001 said:

If Darnold sucks are we still going to be kissing Rhule and Tepper’s ass? Because there’s a lot of that going on around here from two guys who haven’t accomplished much in the league. Especially Tepper who’s yet to post a winning season as an owner.

I've stated this before and been shot down for even mentioning it. 

I'll say it again, I like the picture Rhule puts out there, I hope he can succeed here, in this league. What we have, though, is a newbie pro head coach with a 5-11 record, an offensive coordinator with a short and spicy resume who couldn't get the team to score in the red zone, a grizzled old DC who fielded a marshmallow defense, a new GM that comes from a team that is currently falling apart because of lack of O-line talent and defensive stalwarts, and a team owner who is more famous for grabbing his trophy wife's ass during a press conference than he is in creating a winning organization.

That, my friends, is the un-optimistic look at our Carolina Panthers. 

Last year we could sit around a talk about potential and bein saddled with leftovers. This year, I just don't think Rhule gets the same benefit of the doubt. He does have a long contract but if he pulls off a similar record, or worse, we could very well be looking for a new coach and probably should be.

Still, I want this to all work out here. I don't want another wasted season, I've only got so many seasons left to enjoy. I want to see us in the playoffs this year. I want to see us win this division. 

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, BIGH2001 said:

If Darnold sucks are we still going to be kissing Rhule and Tepper’s ass? Because there’s a lot of that going on around here from two guys who haven’t accomplished much in the league. Especially Tepper who’s yet to post a winning season as an owner.

Who is kissing their ass? The team has gotten worse every season Tepper has been the owner.

[Michael G]

Darnold reminds me of a clean and sober Brett Favre. He is a Gunslinger. His style of play seems a lot different from Teddy's. It will be interesting to see how that style meshes with the offense here and our talent. There are a lot of things he will need to do better, but he should have more tools and options available to help him succeed. Can he learn how to use those tools, stay cool when pressured, and make good choices in our system?

I really don't know- I agree with the earlier post (the one with four options). It could go lots of different ways.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, Michael G said:

Darnold... Brett Favre.

Stop.

[hepcat]

7 hours ago, KSpan said:

No chance they regret moving on from Teddy. They may regret something else, like not taking Fields as you mention, but taking the L on Teddy and making the change was absolutely the right and necessary thing to do, just like I assume they will move on from Sam if need be.

I thought Teddy was complete ass and his social media burner accounts were straight up bizarre but Darnold has a much lower floor than Bridgewater does. The pit of despair could be a different layer of hell with Darnold.

[LinvilleGorge]

6 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I thought Teddy was complete ass and his social media burner accounts were straight up bizarre but Darnold has a much lower floor than Bridgewater does. The pit of despair could be a different layer of hell with Darnold.

We went with what we thought was the "safe vet" option with Teddy. We saw where that got us. So now we're going the opposite direction with the "boom or bust vet". If this backfires then I think this staff is going to have to get over their seeming aversion to rookie QBs because I think they'll be down to their last swing at QB. Three strikes and you're out.