Breer breaks down the final decision

[thefuzz]

3 minutes ago, Coheed said:

If she’s the bullshit/ego detector, gotta wonder what she thought of Rhule back in 2020 lol. If you’re with someone long enough, you’re each gonna have some “i told you so” moments and my god would it be hilarious if Rhule was one of those for Nicole and Dave.

 

Nicole: “hey Dave, remember when you forked out a historical 7 year contract for a used car salesman “culture builder” that I told you was full of poo?

 

*Tepper touches his brass balls to self soothe* 

Oh Boy, those are few and far between in my house, but man...they sting.

[Mr. Scot]

Tepper's role...

Her husband, of course, would contribute, too, and in an interesting way—it wasn’t so much about what he thought as what he knew. And what he knew was that his team would have its best shot at getting the decision right with as thorough a process as possible.

So as sure as most of the crew might’ve been after Young’s pro day, there was still work left to be done.

“[Tepper] is all about process,” Fitterer says. “He’s not about the evaluating. He’s not going to sit there and say, Hey, listen, I think this guy’s got a great arm. That’s not his world, and Dave’s smart enough to realize that. He doesn’t want to influence it that way. He just wants to make sure that we’re looking at it from every viewpoint and challenging ourselves, and that we have the data behind our decisions—that we’re not just looking at it from a scouting standpoint, that we have all the back-checks that we can use that are out there.

“Are we doing enough? Are we testing these guys enough? Do we know enough about their psychological makeup and competitiveness? He just keeps asking questions. And he’s not challenging us. He’s just making us think. Are we thinking about this properly?”

[Mr. Scot]

25 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Great article.  Thank you sir.

Don't thank me. Breer did the hard part

[Mr. Scot]

Testing Young's intelligence and processing...

The quarterback met with the team’s sports science people and player engagement people, then Fitterer and Morgan together in the GM’s office before heading into a meeting room to sit down with Reich, Brown, Caldwell, McCown and young assistant Parks Frazier. The coaches started drawing concepts and plays on the board. It was easy to tell Young was in his element.

“They start putting things on the board. And they’re teaching them different plays and different concepts, just to see how much he really knows,” Fitterer says. “And he’s totally grasping it and he’s soaking it up. He is as impressive as you would think in terms of learning and retaining—and he’s kind of unflappable, too. Even someone talking in his ear the whole time, trying to distract him, he can talk and write and kind of keep his focus.”

[Mr. Scot]

Regarding the trade down option, it was indeed a real possibility but Young convinced them not to consider it...

By then, the idea Fitterer had once floated—that he’d be willing to move off the first pick and go back down a spot if there were multiple quarterbacks he liked—had melted away.

When Fitterer first raised the idea, it was with the insistence that it’d take a lot for him to consider moving off the first pick. The Panthers had actually gone through an exercise to prepare for what they’d do if a Godfather offer came while they were on the clock. Turned out, the price would’ve been more than just a 2024 first-round pick. But instead of someone else convincing the GM it might be worth looking at his options, Young’s steadiness in holding his lead firmly planted the Panthers’ feet in the ground at No. 1.

After the 30 visit, it was essentially over.

Let’s take the guy we have conviction on, Fitterer said in one draft meeting.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[Bluetooth]

40 minutes ago, Tbe said:

There was a joke that Nicole was involved in the coaching hire to keep her husband from falling for more Rhule-like BS. 

I guess that joke wasn’t far off.

“Nicole’s a very good judge of character, and that’s why she’s involved in this,” Fitterer says. “She sees it from a different viewpoint and she’s got a really strong b.s. meter. So it was great. … We may fall in love with the guys as players and kind of turn our head, kind of dismiss certain things. She’s got that intelligence to dial in.”

And on Young?

“She loved him,” Fitterer continues.

Her husband, of course, would contribute, too, and in an interesting way—it wasn’t so much about what he thought as what he knew. And what he knew was that his team would have its best shot at getting the decision right with as thorough a process as possible.

So as sure as most of the crew might’ve been after Young’s pro day, there was still work left to be done.

“[Tepper] is all about process,” Fitterer says. “He’s not about the evaluating. He’s not going to sit there and say, Hey, listen, I think this guy’s got a great arm. That’s not his world, and Dave’s smart enough to realize that. He doesn’t want to influence it that way. He just wants to make sure that we’re looking at it from every viewpoint and challenging ourselves, and that we have the data behind our decisions—that we’re not just looking at it from a scouting standpoint, that we have all the back-checks that we can use that are out there.

“Are we doing enough? Are we testing these guys enough? Do we know enough about their psychological makeup and competitiveness? He just keeps asking questions. And he’s not challenging us. He’s just making us think. Are we thinking about this properly?”

 

[Basbear]

After finding out his mom is polynesian, im now on the spaceshp

[Mr. Scot]

The height question...

By the final days, all those boxes were checked, for better or worse.

On the latter, there was the one flaw in Young’s file—his height and weight, with the questions similar to the ones Fitterer and Morgan had once seen Russell Wilson face in their time as Seattle personnel men. From that experience, they knew one question to ask was how the shorter quarterback would see the middle of the field.

Panthers analytics chief Taylor Rajack helped take care of that one, creating a heat map and coming up with statistics that showed Young was among college football’s most accurate quarterbacks in the short areas, over the first eight to 10 yards, over the middle, with a completion percentage to match. It showed that in the forest of linemen, and with all the traffic in the middle of the field, Young could create vision through movement and awareness, the same way Drew Brees once could.

So with all that work complete, there was only one thing left to do.

[Mr. Scot]

Making the call...

At the end of the next week, on April 20 and 21, the Thursday and Friday before the draft, Fitterer and the personnel staff again met with the coaches. They didn’t spend a second on the top quarterbacks, going through every other position, because the GM didn’t want his decision to leak out. They started the meetings with the Day 3 quarterbacks, then went to the receivers and the linemen, never doubling back to work over the top signal-callers.

The next Monday, Fitterer and Reich called the coaches in. And after that meeting, quietly, the GM and coach nailed down their decision. A small group that included the Teppers, Morgan, VP Adrian Wilson, Reich and Fitterer were in the know. No one else really was.

Even though, really, by then, everyone did know.

[amcoolio]

Despite what they publicly say, I think they moved up happy to take either Stroud or Young, but once they saw the vast difference of intelligence/football knowledge between Stroud and Young in private meetings, Young became the easy pick. The Panthers want to win NOW. Bryce was the only QB in the draft that afforded them that luxury. Stroud, while a very talented pocket passer, will take longer to learn plays and needs a lot of support. Simple as that

[ThPantherFan]

40 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

“It’s like you’re sitting with a 40-year-old man and the level of detail of his answers,”

Excellent article.

[Mr. Scot]

8 minutes ago, Basbear said:

After finding out his mom is polynesian, im now on the spaceshp

Headed to the Island of Relevancy?

 

 

 

(my wife hates those guys)

[Basbear]

15 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Headed to the Island of Relevancy?

 

 

 

(my wife hates those guys)

LOLs, ive never been married....the woman can not find me!

[PanthersATL]

Could see why Corral would be a little miffed at this:

“So we thought the rookie way was the right way to go, to draft and develop, and fix the problem rather than taking swings here and there. … Eventually, you just have to draft and develop your own guy.”