Morgan as GM so far

[Carolina Cajun]

1 hour ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Spending money in FA is not the hard part of the job.  Managing the cap and more importantly the draft is where he should be judged and based off one year its pretty fuging ugly

Man, huddle is rough on that draft and I don't get it.  They may not develop, but xl, sanders, and wallace ALL showed flashes of potential as rookies.  In fact, I'd say jt sanders was the best rookie te we've ever fielded (I do also agree our history of drafting tight end has been trash, but still).  We also got Coker as udfa, and people overlook and forget we swapped a useless 7th round pick for a pretty inexpensive yet decent corner in michael Jackson.  Is last year's draft a home run, no, is it bad, so far no.

[grimesgoat]

I like the guys Morgan picked.

And his first draft isn't over.  He's still got the 2025 second rounder he  picked up last year.

[PadresPanthersFan]

I will say that while fitterer was all over the place with no clue, Morgan at least seems to have a plan. Sign your good players, use fa to address big weaknesses,  don't mortgage the future, and try to build through the draft.  The results are still questionable but I can say we have improved. 

He realized first our interior o line was trash, addressed it and it might have paid off handsomely bc we don't have to draft a qb this year. I still think x will grow into a 1,000 yd 8 td guy which isn't record setting but strong, brooks was a huge swing and a miss, but Wallace, jt, Smith wade and Coker were all solid gets and he also got a 2nd rounder back this draft and got Mike Jackson for a 7th that would've been cut. 

This year our run d was trash so he addressed it with run d specific additions. Time will tell if it works but I am cautiously optimistic after years of being blatantly pessimistic and a good chunk of that is Morgan's work

[kungfoodude]

22 minutes ago, Carolina Cajun said:

Man, huddle is rough on that draft and I don't get it.  They may not develop, but xl, sanders, and wallace ALL showed flashes of potential as rookies.  In fact, I'd say jt sanders was the best rookie te we've ever fielded (I do also agree our history of drafting tight end has been trash, but still).  We also got Coker as udfa, and people overlook and forget we swapped a useless 7th round pick for a pretty inexpensive yet decent corner in michael Jackson.  Is last year's draft a home run, no, is it bad, so far no.

As a former college football player buddy of mine once said to me, "Potential just means you haven't done poo yet."

XL was not good, Sanders showed some flashes and Wallace was a mixed bag. Overall, it was a pretty bad draft after year one. D-, at best. TBD if that changes as they develop(or don't).

[WhoKnows]

21 minutes ago, PadresPanthersFan said:

I still think x will grow into a 1,000 yd 8 td guy which isn't record setting but strong

Just an FYI, this stat line was brought up more than once for TMJ and Mingo.

Maybe he will, but he got a ton of snaps last year. By snaps, XL was our number 1 WR. Thielen and Coker outperformed him on 40-50% less snaps. Reminded me of TMJ where people kept saying he needs more targets when snap wise he was our WR2 for most of his time. XL needs to be better and be able to turns all those snaps into production.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

I give Morgan some wiggle room probably more because I have fond memories of the player and it is jaded to some degree  

I like XL but he needs to catch balls.  I think Morgan’s best gets last draft were signing Coker and then getting Jackson in the 7th rounder swap.

Basically your 7th round pick and your UDFA performed at levels where you would expect your 1 and 2 round guys to perform. If you couple  that with ur 1st rounder being meh and ur second rounder on sabbatical for the near future, it looks kinda iffy. 

[Johnstonny]

Right now...hes a solid C+. He can improve to B+ with the draft.

[MHS831]

Last season:  I did not like drafting XL, Brooks, but we did not have a first rounder, so I give him a good grade for Wallace (who was below average as a starter, imo).  I liked the TE Sanders--good value in the fourth.  Smith-Wade seems to be a good pick for a late CB.  In free agency, he overpaid two guards, imo, but it worked. To me, overpaying suggests that you have a complex and need money to convince a player to come to Carolina.  You want players to come here because we win, not because we overpay.  Motivation is important.  I think Morgan and company did not have a good year.  I give them a D+.

This year, in free agency, I hate the contract they gave Horn.  He has not earned it--full stop.  I would have traded him for a third rounder before paying that. He is not Darrell Revis.  He is not Deion Sanders  I get that he is trying to develop a core and not ship it when key first rounders hit their primes--Burns, CMC, and Horn, for example.  So this year, we started off with the same insecurity we had in 2024.  After locking up Tremble, Mays (sorta), and Corbett (all good moves that may not have had too many other options), he jumped back into free agency and went after Milton Williams, willing to pay him $100m, giving the Panthers four $100m players (Hunt, Brown, Horn, and now Milton). It is best to give huge contracts in house and not to free agents--yet 2 or our 4 would have been free agents chasing a huge payday.  Fortunately, the Patriots bailed out Morgan.  He then does well, his best signing of the day, grabbing Bobby Brown and Tershawn Wharton--a run stuffing NT and a pass-rushing DE (which is what Milton is) for less money than Milton was paid to sign with New England.  Moehrig (SS) will become a huge fan favorite on the defense and he was paid well.  Pat Jones (Edge) is basically Wonnum II right now, but with reason to think his upside is higher.  Not a bad signing at $10m per.

In relation to the draft, Morgan is a former player and a lot of them have a lower expectation from rookies than you or I do.  I think he addressed the issues at IDL, with room for another addition in the draft.  I am not confident that he addressed areas of need that are not deep in the draft, like WR. 

We still need a FS, and the FS position is not that deep.  He did not address LB, which might suggest they target Walker.  He did not address WR, which might suggest that he feels XL will improve.  I am not satisfied that Edge has been addressed completely. 

So is he setting himself up to find quality players in need areas that are deep in the draft? We drafted 2 IDL and an Edge.  They are plentiful in the draft.  Did he overpay for CB when that $25m could have been used to find 2 CBs with better track records? 

To answer the question, I like Morgan's aggression.  I like the fact that he determined the biggest need -- run defense--and he brought it a bunch of players who are really strong in run support.  Moehrig, Jones, and Brown are run stuffers.  Horn and Jackson are solid vs, the run.  Until we get a solid free safety and pass rushing edge, I will worry about the pass defense. 

So far, I am going to give Morgan a C+. A C, but a + for signing all younger free agents.

If we add a free safety and/or a stud WR I will raise his grade.

If I were reading tea leaves, I would say that we are not counting on Graham being there, so we are going to target a WR or Jalon Walker.  If we do nothing at WR before the draft, he could be in position where he feels that he has to draft a WR in the first round.  It seems, however, that most obvious "tell" is that he has not signed an ILB or an edge who can get to the passer.  All signs point to Jalen Walker.  If he takes Walker, I see his strategy.  It makes sense, in a weird way.

Edited 10 hours ago by MHS831

[frankw]

Everything hinges on his ability to build through the draft so it's unknown until we see the upcoming draft class in action. That's all that will ultimately matter. We cannot afford anymore duds or projects especially in the early rounds.

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 hour ago, Carolina Cajun said:

Man, huddle is rough on that draft and I don't get it.  They may not develop, but xl, sanders, and wallace ALL showed flashes of potential as rookies.  In fact, I'd say jt sanders was the best rookie te we've ever fielded (I do also agree our history of drafting tight end has been trash, but still).  We also got Coker as udfa, and people overlook and forget we swapped a useless 7th round pick for a pretty inexpensive yet decent corner in michael Jackson.  Is last year's draft a home run, no, is it bad, so far no.

I'm not a fan for a couple reasons. You have to nail your 1st 2 picks, especially when you're lacking as much talent across the board as we were and you traded away the number 1 overall pick. Barring injury, they need to be immediate 4 year starters, and on this team, that's a pretty low bar to hurdle. I also really hated the FA strategy building up to the draft, particularly the guards, and the draft strategy itself. A strategy that focused on building around a QB that was so terrible he had no business being on the field. It was clear to pretty much everyone, BY wasn't ready to be an NFL starter. We dumped everything to build around him in the hopes he would become what we drafted him to be. And while the end of the year started showing some promise, we still don't know going into year 3 if he's going to live up to the hype. Dumping all your resources to build around a single player (and hope for the best) isn't as important as building a complete team. 

If there's any certainty in drafting, it's HQ interior linemen are found in rounds 2-3, and even 4 pretty regularly. Dumping a ton of FA cash into those 2 spots didn't make sense when we have so many holes. Draft guards, pay tackles. It's one of the staple principles of oline building. 

XL was always a project. He didn't have years of consistent high end performance in college. His hands are bricks, he body catches a lot, and he looks more like a 4th round receiver than a 1st. Maybe he improves, maybe not. He looked extremely raw as a rookie and we can only hope he might develop by the time his rookie contract expires. I'm always a fan of drafting guys that actually have hands coming out of college. Who cares if you can get open, or fight for the ball, when you can't actually come down with it consistently. 

Then we get to Brooks. Taking a RB with a torn ACL who may or may not see the field in 24/25 over Zach Frasier, who already looks the vet at a position we've been severely deficient at since pre-injury Ryan Kalil. Relying on Corbett, coming off injury, to move from guard to center is never ideal, and the injury bug bit yet again, and we were scrambling trying to find someone to lead our 200m offensive line. And the worst part, we traded up to do it giving up 2 5ths to take Brooks when we're lacking talent everywhere. 

Wallace, meh. Sanders looked good before that neck injury. But now we're into day 3 where expectations aren't extremely high for making the roster, unless it's the Panthers, but you can find some position players and rotational players to start plugging the Swiss cheese roster. 

I give him credit for getting Coker as an UDFA and the trade for Jackson, but if that's the highlight of your draft, there's some serious problems with your drafting. 

If we had saved the FA money spent on the guards, drafted JPJ and Frazier, and still been in pretty close to the same spot, better off cash wise (or spent on other FAs) going into FA this year. Coker ended up playing better than XL in less time. Brooks is Eric Shelton 2.0 right now. And we used 5 picks in the 1st 2 rounds, if you count those included in the trades. That's too much given up for a team that won 2 games the year prior.

JMO, but I think the whole offseason strategy last year was flawed from start to finish.  

Edited 10 hours ago by SmokinwithWilly

[PadresPanthersFan]

38 minutes ago, WhoKnows said:

Just an FYI, this stat line was brought up more than once for TMJ and Mingo.

Maybe he will, but he got a ton of snaps last year. By snaps, XL was our number 1 WR. Thielen and Coker outperformed him on 40-50% less snaps. Reminded me of TMJ where people kept saying he needs more targets when snap wise he was our WR2 for most of his time. XL needs to be better and be able to turns all those snaps into production.

X works hard and does get open. Mingo and tmj never did. X just needs to learn how to catch the damn ball

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, PadresPanthersFan said:

I will say that while fitterer was all over the place with no clue, Morgan at least seems to have a plan. Sign your good players, use fa to address big weaknesses,  don't mortgage the future, and try to build through the draft.  The results are still questionable but I can say we have improved. 

He realized first our interior o line was trash, addressed it and it might have paid off handsomely bc we don't have to draft a qb this year. I still think x will grow into a 1,000 yd 8 td guy which isn't record setting but strong, brooks was a huge swing and a miss, but Wallace, jt, Smith wade and Coker were all solid gets and he also got a 2nd rounder back this draft and got Mike Jackson for a 7th that would've been cut. 

This year our run d was trash so he addressed it with run d specific additions. Time will tell if it works but I am cautiously optimistic after years of being blatantly pessimistic and a good chunk of that is Morgan's work

The good thing about Morgan is he was on the Panthers when the team was somewhat well run. I don't think it can be understated how god awful Scott Fitterer was. I don't know if he was too heavily influenced by Tepper or if he was just awful at his job. Morgan at the very least was a Panthers player, was around when the team had success which probably helps just his general attitude towards building the team. 

[jfra78]

2 hours ago, Shotgun said:

So far...

Free agency    B+

Drafting    D

Drafting should be TBD, we really have no idea how good or bad last years draft was for a couple years

[jfra78]

4 minutes ago, PadresPanthersFan said:

X works hard and does get open. Mingo and tmj never did. X just needs to learn how to catch the damn ball

XL also blocks very well, I think he will end up being a good #2. There's nothing wrong with that.