A Tankathon Approach to the remaining Schedule

[Icege]

2 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

INTERESTING

The Giants are the only 2-win team.  Due to the Giants' strength of schedule, it is possible for them to win 1 game and drop to seventh in the draft.

Having said that, I am confident the Giants will not win another game. 

Having said that, I am not sure I would be happy in this draft with the #1 overall pick knowing that I needed a QB.  I have more confidence in Ward than Sanders, but, in my opinion, neither is ready to play in 2025.

I like Ward over Sanders as well, but I don't think either are ready to start their rookie season. I think that both can develop into quality starters with the right situation tho!

[MHS831]

New England seems to sitting in the sweet spot of the draft because they are likely to pick second and they do not need a QB.  Undoubtedly, the #1 pick will be a QB (let's say Giants), leaving New England on the clock.  They can take the best player in college football and add to their cb room or their wr room.  There will be interest in a trade with teams like Tennessee, Cleveland, Vegas, etc. all seemingly interested in a QB.  A team moving up would not only have to pay the QB draft tax, but they would have to pay more to overcome the fact that Hunter was to be the pick.  I am guessing that team might be Vegas, but watch the Browns.  They have a ton invested in Watkins, so they can't afford a free agent.  They can afford draft picks, however, and look to pick 5th overall (if the draft were today). 

[WhoKnows]

27 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

INTERESTING

The Giants are the only 2-win team.  Due to the Giants' strength of schedule, it is possible for them to win 1 game and drop to seventh in the draft.

Having said that, I am confident the Giants will not win another game. 

Having said that, I am not sure I would be happy in this draft with the #1 overall pick knowing that I needed a QB.  I have more confidence in Ward than Sanders, but, in my opinion, neither is ready to play in 2025.

Posted this in the Higgins thread:

Giants play Philly next week. If Detroit and Minnesota win today one of them is the #1 seed and Philly is #2 with a win over Dallas. I’d expect all 3 to win today but even if Minnesota loses to GB, Detroit winning clinches the NFC North and the one seed with a better division record (over Minnesota) and conference record (over Philly).

Philly most likely has nothing to play for next week against the Giants. I’d sit my starters with no bye.

Same applies to NE against the Bills next week but we beat AZ to make that a moot point. Had we lost last week, we actually had a legit shot at #1 with teams resting if Jax beat Tennessee. That would have been great for us as we could have gotten some decent picks from the Giants or Raiders or Browns or Tennessee or anyone else that wanted a QB. The drop in the 1st wouldn’t have been big either.

It was fun to win but like the 2020 and 2021 drafts, we could easily have missed out on a team changing pick.

[MHS831]

15 minutes ago, WhoKnows said:

Posted this in the Higgins thread:

 

Giants play Philly next week. If Detroit and Minnesota win today one of them is the #1 seed and Philly is #2 with a win over Dallas. I’d expect all 3 to win today but even if Minnesota loses to GB, Detroit winning clinches the NFC North and the one seed with a better division record (over Minnesota) and conference record (over Philly).

Philly most likely has nothing to play for next week against the Giants. I’d sit my starters with no bye.

Same applies to NE against the Bills next week but we beat AZ to make that a moot point. Had we lost last week, we actually had a legit shot at #1 with teams resting if Jax beat Tennessee. That would have been great for us as we could have gotten some decent picks from the Giants or Raiders or Browns or Tennessee or anyone else that wanted a QB. The drop in the 1st wouldn’t have been big either.

It was fun to win but like the 2020 and 2021 drafts, we could easily have missed out on a team changing pick.

I can say that I love the speculation and research and debate before the draft almost as much as I do the regular season (when your team in not doing well).  Tepper has shown some signs of understanding that he is not the smartest man in the war room.  Morgan's draft, although I wanted Ladd I get why they did not draft him (AT), I think they saw last year's draft as year 1 of a 2 year process.  They take a raw WR with upside, the top RB (but he was on the operating table on draft day)--these are long term, year 2 picks if they work out. Bad short term picks, good long-term picks.  After that, Morgan was brilliant--Wallace is a player and he grabbed a fourth-round TE who is our #1 now.

It is easy to look back and say, "What might have been" but this team was being run by clowns then--Fitterer and Tepper---and throw in Rhule for good measure.  On defense, we are an edge and a DT from returning to glory.  On offense, a WR and maybe a top TE should do it.  I also say draft a QB to groom.  

Morgan got 3 starters (XL, Wallace, Sanders) out of the draft.  That is good considering we had no first rounder going in.  He got a depth player (Wade Smith) and probably a solid rotational RB (Brooks).  Now he needs to do it again.

[CamWhoaaCam]

As long as we are in position to draft Tmac we should be fine. We can go all defense the rest of the draft.

 

Instead of overpaying Higgins we can use that money on 2 possible starters on defense. Think smart Panthers.

[MHS831]

9 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

As long as we are in position to draft Tmac we should be fine. We can go all defense the rest of the draft.

 

Instead of overpaying Higgins we can use that money on 2 possible starters on defense. Think smart Panthers.

If he is available, knowing what we know about probable free agents (who would come to Charlotte) and the draft, WR is almost a necessity--but if TMac and Abdul and Graham are all available, I am not sure the Panthers take TMac.

The draft is deep at DT, and there are some edge players who can be developed.  There are some DTs who can pressure the qb and collapse the pocket--they may be as valuable as an Edge---so it will be interesting.  Gotta get WR help and it has to be top shelf help.

[jb2288]

10 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

If he is available, knowing what we know about probable free agents (who would come to Charlotte) and the draft, WR is almost a necessity--but if TMac and Abdul and Graham are all available, I am not sure the Panthers take TMac.

The draft is deep at DT, and there are some edge players who can be developed.  There are some DTs who can pressure the qb and collapse the pocket--they may be as valuable as an Edge---so it will be interesting.  Gotta get WR help and it has to be top shelf help.

I think a lot of it depends on what happens with the Jets. If they move off Rodgers they prob try to keep core players and build from there, but if they keep Rodgers I don't see Garret Wilson staying there another year. We should run to the table with that Rams second and maybe toss in a 2026 5th or something to sweeten the pot and see if they bite. If yes, would be great to be able to use our first on the best defensive player available. 

[Super Grateful]

Tanking is not real. 

[MHS831]

1 minute ago, Super Grateful said:

Tanking is not real. 

Well I guess its settled then.

[WhoKnows]

26 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

I can say that I love the speculation and research and debate before the draft almost as much as I do the regular season (when your team in not doing well).  Tepper has shown some signs of understanding that he is not the smartest man in the war room.  Morgan's draft, although I wanted Ladd I get why they did not draft him (AT), I think they saw last year's draft as year 1 of a 2 year process.  They take a raw WR with upside, the top RB (but he was on the operating table on draft day)--these are long term, year 2 picks if they work out. Bad short term picks, good long-term picks.  After that, Morgan was brilliant--Wallace is a player and he grabbed a fourth-round TE who is our #1 now.

It is easy to look back and say, "What might have been" but this team was being run by clowns then--Fitterer and Tepper---and throw in Rhule for good measure.  On defense, we are an edge and a DT from returning to glory.  On offense, a WR and maybe a top TE should do it.  I also say draft a QB to groom.  

Morgan got 3 starters (XL, Wallace, Sanders) out of the draft.  That is good considering we had no first rounder going in.  He got a depth player (Wade Smith) and probably a solid rotational RB (Brooks).  Now he needs to do it again.

Let’s be honest, we have a lot of rookies playing a lot of minutes because our talent level is not good.

We can’t just get starters, we need above average starters to really contend. By contend, I mean win our division and do something in the playoffs. We had a good game against KC, but what do you think would have happened if we played the KC team that dismantled Pittsburgh this week? We would have gotten killed.

None of the rookies has shown that they’ll be special. How many teams would Wallace, XL or Sanders start?

If we drafted a Moore, CMC, Moton, Burns or Brown, then I’d be excited. We took XL at 32. We drafted Moore at 24. We knew DJ was special his rookie year. With our WRs, XL should have taken over if he was special like McConkey did and yes, I liked him as well. AT should have had 0 impact on our draft. If we actually drafted XL over McConkey because of a 34 year on the roster, that’s a huge red flag. Add in taking a huge risk on a luxury when there were guys us draftniks liked and were huge impacts on their teams and the draft was not good.

I like Coker, but it’s not a good sign when an UDFA looks like the best player we got.

I want this damn team to win a lot, but the 2024 draft class won’t be why. Look at the 2017 draft. That’s what we need. CMC, Butker, Moton and Samuel. Three well above average starters and Samuel. That’s not even one of those historic drafts, just our last one with a big impact, not just one impact guy. The Rams winning every week isn’t helping next year either. 

[45catfan]

Pulling for the Saints so we get a least a top 10 pick.  I think the Raiders lose out.  Even if the Bills sit some starters, I think they still win against the Pats.  The Bears aren't winning any more games.  The Jags probably win versus the Titans today meaning the Titans likely lose out.   All that said, I think we lose out too and stay where we are at, maybe moving up one spot due to tiebreakers on SOS.

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, Icege said:

I like Ward over Sanders as well, but I don't think either are ready to start their rookie season. I think that both can develop into quality starters with the right situation tho!

I just don't see any plus traits Sanders brings at the NFL level. I said last night that he's basically Caleb Williams just smaller, slower, and a lot less arm talent. Similar playing style, similar flaws. 

He looks like a mid-round boom/bust pick to me if I'm being honest.

[45catfan]

5 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I just don't see any plus traits Sanders brings at the NFL level. I said last night that he's basically Caleb Williams just smaller, slower, and a lot less arm talent. Similar playing style, similar flaws. 

He looks like a mid-round boom/bust pick to me if I'm being honest.

Sounds like a perfect fit for the Raiders!  Nevada and Colorado are practically neighbors.  Prime would have a really short flight to see his son play, that is if he doesn't get hired outright to coach Las Vegas.

[jb2288]

19 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I just don't see any plus traits Sanders brings at the NFL level. I said last night that he's basically Caleb Williams just smaller, slower, and a lot less arm talent. Similar playing style, similar flaws. 

He looks like a mid-round boom/bust pick to me if I'm being honest.

That's a pretty good comp. I think he has really good extended play making/throwing on run under pressure abilities, but it's hard to make a living on that in the NFL. The one wild card he has going, is he has had access to the best training/coaching/etc. since the day he was born. That has to be a huge advantage.