You guys familiar with Murphy's law? It essentially describes our QB situation the past 5 years.

[Ricky Spanish]

Contrary to popular belief, the adage's original meaning was "whatever can happen will happen" given enough trials. However since the 1950's, the contemporary form of Murphy's law has taken on the meaning of "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" - And I'll be damned if that hasn't been our QB situation since 2016

The Cam Injury Timeline:

2016 - After winning the MVP the year prior, Cam is headhunted at the beginning of the season by the Broncos which shows the rest of the league that they can tee off on him however they want. The team struggles due to the loss of talent, and Cam injures his throwing shoulder trying to make a tackle on an interception that Kelvin Benjamin Half assed a route on. This was the beginning of the end.

2017 - An offseason rotator cuff surgery leads to an up and down year of Cam's play, with many practices missed, and a wildcard spot eventually captured. The lack of practice throughout the season was apparent as Cam had a mediocre year by his standards. It becomes apparent that changes need to be made to his mechanics in order for him to prolong his career.

2018 - Norv Turner is brought in to help the offense and Cam has a new throwing motion with noticeable less zip on his passes. Despite the reduced arm strength Cam starts the year off great on pace to repeat his MVP performance of 2015 until TJ Watt speared his throwing shoulder. After that hit, Cam couldn't throw the ball 10 yards down field. He is eventually shut down at the end of the season and questions linger about his long term viability as QB

2019 - Cam hurts his foot in the preseason and reaggravates it in the first two games and is shut down for the rest of the year. Enter Kyle "Baby Goat" Allen to right the ship while Cam is away. Kyle starts off fine, then is immediately figured out by the rest of the league as he spirals into an abyss of poor QB play. Ron is fired before the season ends and Questions abound about the future of the franchise, as well as Cam Newton

The Post Cam Era:

This is where every worst case scenario begins to happen one after the other

2020: Matt Rhule's reign begins and he wants to put his mark on the team. He has a former MVP QB on his roster that has not been healthy for 4 years so decisions must be made. Cam is unceremoniously released from the team and we sign Teddy "Two Gloves" Bridgewater to a ridiculous contract. Best case scenario in this situation - Teddy is the new Franchise QB. Worst case scenario is not that he sucks horribly, it's that he's mediocre enough to win enough games to knock us out of contention for a top draft pick in a loaded QB draft. So what happens? Teddy is mediocre and we win enough games to knock us out of contention for a top draft pick. Teddy is then traded in the offseason for a 6th round pick because his contract is so terrible it's the only deal we can make for him. We are on the hook for 30+ million dollars of his remaining contract. 

2021: After the firing of Marty Hurney, new blood is finally brought in with Scott Fitterer, a Seahawks front office disciple with the undeniable urge to wheel and deal like a wall street broker. One of his first big moves involves trying to trade for Matt Stafford, stud QB for an abysmal Franchise. The terms seem solid and everyone seems happy except for Stat Padford so he vetoes the trade so we can't land him. He is then dealt to LA, to make him happy and I nor any other panther fan really can't blame him.

With option A off the table, Option B becomes Deshaun Watson who is so ridiculously pissed off at the Texans that he refuses to play another down for the team. This is good for us because he played at Clemson and it would inject an immediate shot of adrenaline into the fanbase to get them pumped for the coming season. Deal is being fleshed out and it almost looks immanent that we will make the trade but, uh oh, turns out Watson is a sexual deviant and 23 women have accused him of sexual misconduct trying to get rub and tugs from masseuses and massage therapists that he flies out from around the country... So... that tanks. 

Option C... What is option C?

Fuck it, trade for Sam Darnold.

We then decide to make a trade for Sam Darnold, a QB who hasn't played well but has been with a dumpster fire organization. The team believes that they can salvage his career and turn him into the franchise QB that he was supposed to be. In order to do this, The Panthers trade a 2021 6th rounder, a 2022 2nd rounder, and a 2022 4th rounder to acquire his talents. With such a large investment in the young QB and the 5th year option deadline fast approaching, the decision is made to exercise said option. This gamble is based on a few things:

• They believe the coaching staff is capable of breaking Sam of his bad habits.
• The initial investment to acquire Sam is so large that they can't afford to let him go after one season because that would look like a horrible use of draft capital.
• If they can turn his career around, they will have him on a "Cheap" deal for a franchise QB at 18 million for the 2022 season.
• They believe Sam to be a better prospect than the QBs available to the team where they sit in the draft. 
• Picking up the 5th year option shows that the team has confidence in a young man who has very little himself, and shows that they believe in him and his future.

Best case scenario, we found our Future franchise QB and we have him for cheap for one more season while we work out deals for players who have expiring contracts. 

Worst Case Scenario - Sam is absolutely just as bad as he was in NY, he sucks so incredibly much and we wasted 3 draft picks to get a dumpster fire of a QB with nothing to show for it after passing on the likes of Mac Jones and Justin Fields who were available at the time of our pick.

As you are all aware, we have entered worst case scenario territory. How do We fix this?

Cam Newton Redux:

We drunk dial our ex asking for forgiveness, that's how we do it. 

We offer Cam a contract halfway through the year that has the potential to be worth 10 million dollars. Cam being the bro that he is, is willing to come back and play for the team that once scorned him. It will take time to get him up to speed, and we have no idea if this is going to work or it too, will also blow up in our faces (recent patterns suggest the later) but I'll be damned if we won't have fun doing it. Knowing how truly dark it can get, it seems like the fanbase finally understands how good Cam was for us for almost a decade. 

Conclusion:

Injuries and poor decisions have left us in QB purgatory with no long term answer currently under contract for the future. Our best bet is a bruised and battered Cam Newton, who, again I will remind everyone, is not under contract next season and has a very long recent history of injuries. 

With Cam coming off another significant injury and not being truly healthy in years, moving on from him was not necessarily the wrong move at the time even if the way they went about it was a bad look. However, each move we made thereafter has been the absolute worst move that we could possibly make leading us to our current precarious predicament. Lord knows what the future holds but I am terrified of what will happen next. 

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 

[t96]

Although I absolutely loathed the idea at the time, I really wish Hurney had traded up for Herbert to put his final stamp on the team. Like you said, Cam will be fun at least and maybe help us make a little run. But we still have huge issues at the QB position going forward. The plan can't be Cam long term, even if we do keep him as starter next year. 

[Moose Hoover]

Nah, I think it's more like Hanlon's Razor

[Ricky Spanish]

1 minute ago, Moose Hoover said:

Nah, I think it's more like Hanlon's Razor

They're not malicious about getting us a franchise QB, they're just incompetent. 

[L-TownCat]

25 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

They're not malicious about getting us a franchise QB, they're just incompetent. 

Far enough up the chain, continued incompetence becomes malicious.

[kungfoodude]

44 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Contrary to popular belief, the adage's original meaning was "whatever can happen will happen" given enough trials. However since the 1950's, the contemporary form of Murphy's law has taken on the meaning of "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" - And I'll be damned if that hasn't been our QB situation since 2016

The Cam Injury Timeline:

2016 - After winning the MVP the year prior, Cam is headhunted at the beginning of the season by the Broncos which shows the rest of the league that they can tee off on him however they want. The team struggles due to the loss of talent, and Cam injures his throwing shoulder trying to make a tackle on an interception that Kelvin Benjamin Half assed a route on. This was the beginning of the end.

2017 - An offseason rotator cuff surgery leads to an up and down year of Cam's play, with many practices missed, and a wildcard spot eventually captured. The lack of practice throughout the season was apparent as Cam had a mediocre year by his standards. It becomes apparent that changes need to be made to his mechanics in order for him to prolong his career.

2018 - Norv Turner is brought in to help the offense and Cam has a new throwing motion with noticeable less zip on his passes. Despite the reduced arm strength Cam starts the year off great on pace to repeat his MVP performance of 2015 until TJ Watt speared his throwing shoulder. After that hit, Cam couldn't throw the ball 10 yards down field. He is eventually shut down at the end of the season and questions linger about his long term viability as QB

2019 - Cam hurts his foot in the preseason and reaggravates it in the first two games and is shut down for the rest of the year. Enter Kyle "Baby Goat" Allen to right the ship while Cam is away. Kyle starts off fine, then is immediately figured out by the rest of the league as he spirals into an abyss of poor QB play. Ron is fired before the season ends and Questions abound about the future of the franchise, as well as Cam Newton

The Post Cam Era:

This is where every worst case scenario begins to happen one after the other

2020: Matt Rhule's reign begins and he wants to put his mark on the team. He has a former MVP QB on his roster that has not been healthy for 4 years so decisions must be made. Cam is unceremoniously released from the team and we sign Teddy "Two Gloves" Bridgewater to a ridiculous contract. Best case scenario in this situation - Teddy is the new Franchise QB. Worst case scenario is not that he sucks horribly, it's that he's mediocre enough to win enough games to knock us out of contention for a top draft pick in a loaded QB draft. So what happens? Teddy is mediocre and we win enough games to knock us out of contention for a top draft pick. Teddy is then traded in the offseason for a 6th round pick because his contract is so terrible it's the only deal we can make for him. We are on the hook for 30+ million dollars of his remaining contract. 

2021: After the firing of Marty Hurney, new blood is finally brought in with Scott Fitterer, a Seahawks front office disciple with the undeniable urge to wheel and deal like a wall street broker. One of his first big moves involves making a trade for Sam Darnold, a QB who hasn't played well but has been with a dumpster fire organization. The team believes that they can salvage his career and turn him into the franchise QB that he was supposed to be. In order to do this, The Panthers trade a 2021 6th rounder, a 2022 2nd rounder, and a 2022 4th rounder to acquire his talents. With such a large investment in the young QB and the 5th year option deadline fast approaching, the decision is made to exercise said option. This gamble is based on a few things:

• They believe the coaching staff is capable of breaking Sam of his bad habits.
• The initial investment to acquire Sam is so large that they can't afford to let him go after one season because that would look like a horrible use of draft capital.
• If they can turn his career around, they will have him on a "Cheap" deal for a franchise QB at 18 million for the 2022 season.
• They believe Sam to be a better prospect than the QBs available to the team where they sit in the draft. 
• Picking up the 5th year option shows that the team has confidence in a young man who has very little himself, and shows that they believe in him and his future.

Best case scenario, we found our Future franchise QB and we have him for cheap for one more season while we work out deals for players who have expiring contracts. 

Worst Case Scenario - Sam is absolutely just as bad as he was in NY, he sucks so incredibly much and we wasted 3 draft picks to get a dumpster fire of a QB with nothing to show for it.

As you are all aware, we have entered worst case scenario territory. How do We fix this?

Cam Newton Redux:

We drunk dial our ex asking for forgiveness, that's how we do it. 

We offer Cam a contract halfway through the year that has the potential to be worth 10 million dollars. Cam being the bro that he is, is willing to come back and play for the team that once scorned him. It will take time to get him up to speed, and we have no idea if this is going to work or it too, will also blow up in our faces (recent patterns suggest the later) but I'll be damned if we won't have fun doing it. Knowing how truly dark it can get, it seems like the fanbase finally understands how good Cam was for us for almost a decade. 

Conclusion:

Injuries and poor decisions have left us in QB purgatory with no long term answer currently under contract for the future. Our best bet is a bruised and battered Cam Newton, who, again I will remind everyone, is not under contract next season and has a very long recent history of injuries. 

With Cam coming off another significant injury and not being truly healthy in years, moving on from him was not necessarily the wrong move at the time even if the way they went about it was a bad look. However, each move we made thereafter has been the absolute worst move that we could possibly make leading us to our current precarious predicament. Lord knows what the future holds but I am terrified of what will happen next. 

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 

This post triggered PTSD.

[TheRumGone]

This wasn’t just hindsight but many people here thought the best course of action was letting cam play out his final year of his contract, signing a legit backup (that would’ve been teddy but lol at the contract). Instead they cut him and paid huge money and draft capital to mediocre to downright terrible qb play the next two years. Cam ends up playing 15 of 16 games for the Patriots missing only one for covid and Patriots go 7-9 with a terrible supporting cast and the most covid opt outs in the league. Cam had 20 tds and 12 picks. His two worst games coming after contracting covid.
 

The smart move was always keeping the offense stable with cam and a legit backup in case of health issues and being financially responsible and continue searching for the future at the position. Cutting cam was never ever the right call. Even if say we drafted Herbert or fields. Having cam to learn from was the right move. The way they went completely wrecked our seasons, cost ridiculous amounts of cap for terrible qb play and gave up precious draft picks that could’ve helped shore up the line and find the next qb.

[Waldo]

So many bad mistakes, little mistakes and some straight WTFs. 

Sam's trade picks are already dead and gone. Now it's about eating that Cap for a pathetic 7th rounder or going into Cap mitigation. I assume we can June 1st a 5th year option? Either way, he isn't coming back and he isn't improving his play magically next year any more than he did this year. 

 

[Khaki Lackey]

You left out the part about going after Stafford and Watson. Not bad decisions, just bad luck. That plays a roll too.

[Ricky Spanish]

15 minutes ago, Khaki Lackey said:

You left out the part about going after Stafford and Watson. Not bad decisions, just bad luck. That plays a roll too.

you're right, I need to add that in there. 

[PNW_PantherMan]

They also passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones this year.  Jones is already serviceable, and Fields is flashing star potential.  Between that and not acquiring a veteran backup, they banked the entire season on Darnold turning his career around.  And they paid draft capital to make that bet.  If the Pats kept Cam we'd be screwed right now.

[firefox1234]

32 minutes ago, Khaki Lackey said:

You left out the part about going after Stafford and Watson. Not bad decisions, just bad luck. That plays a roll too.

As well as the part about passing on Fields or Slater. I can understand not wanting to hedge our bets on another Hurney trade up for Herbert at the time.

Edited November 16, 2021 by firefox1234

[Khaki Lackey]

11 minutes ago, firefox1234 said:

As well as the part about passing on Fields or Slater. I can understand not wanting to hedge our bets on another Hurney trade up for Herbert at the time.

I guess. I mean the jury is out on Fields and it’s arguable that him playing behind our line could have set him back Darnold Style.

Slater? That’s just hindsight. We could do that about every draft pick ever.

It’s also possible that Rhule and Fitts don’t like the idea of bringing in a rookie QB unless the team is more complete, right or wrong.

[firefox1234]

Just now, Khaki Lackey said:

I guess. I mean the jury is out on Fields and it’s arguable that him playing behind our line could have set him back Darnold Style.

Slater? That’s just hindsight. We could do that about every draft pick ever.

It’s also possible that Rhule and Fitts don’t like the idea of bringing in a rookie QB unless the team is more complete, right or wrong.

Well Darnold is basically a rookie….

..on a serious note it’s one thing saying you don’t want a rookie to come in at the moment but it’s another thing going so heavy on Sam without either a solid OL to give him the best chance at success or a solid back(either vet or rookie)to bank on if the experiment goes belly up.

Were Rhule and co. trying their best to address the QB position and a bit unlucky? Yes.

Are they guilty of gross incompetence at the QB position? Yes.