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Yeah, this is all projections of how it will turn out. Inevitability this list will look ridiculous in a full 2025 sesson hindsight, most likely. Still, I am pretty surprised that so many bristled at being thought of as having very, very lowly ranked WR and TE units. We literally have been for years. All you have to do is just have things stay the same and those are immediately bottom 5 units. It is easy to see why one would be reticent to have lofty expectations in the preseason. Gotta show it first when you are a perennial cellar dweller. That's just life at the bottom.

That's my biggest concern with making him the 2C. You split up the Aho Jarvis bromance that accounted for a lot of points. If Jarvis excels as a C, it could help the team even more though.

The Saints being that high is the one that killed me. Chris Olave might not know his name at this point, Shaheed is coming off injury as well, so 31 year old Brandin Cooks might be your best WR...coming off a 260 yard season over 10 games. Kamara is Kamara, but didn't have 1,000 yards last year and is about to turn 30. Toss in the fact that Taysom Hill may be the best QB on the team and I truly don't understand Barnwell's thoughts beside seeing the names "Olave" and "Kamara" and going yep, that sounds better than "Chuba" and "Thielen".

Now now now, I wouldn't say there is no logic, but there's just not a lot of in-depth thought put into Barnwell's "analysis." Now to be fair to him (and other national writers), pre-season team rankings are basically clickbait. And...Barnwell, himself, said that "there's a lot of projection here." He basically admits that he doesn't know how the hell things are going to turn out with our receiver group. He also said that "I find myself" more intrigued by Coker than Legette; that does not mean that he said that fans should be, or that Coker will even be better than Legette (regardless of ESPN's per-route-run stat). So, yeah, Barnwell said some things, but even he has to basically admit that he doesn't know how bad or good that our playmakers will be in 2025. Overall, what Barnwell is basically thinking is that the Panthers have gotten worse at the offensive skill positions, and baked into that is that others have gotten better. That's the argument in July (meaning, please don't give this any more weight than it's due). I would personally be surprised (not shocked) if we end up worse than the Titans, Pats and Giants at least. Once you throw in the Bills, Giants, Jets, Steelers, and even the Chargers, I personally think there are several teams' skill groups that may end up ranked lower than ours by the end of 2025. @kungfoodudeis one of my dudes, but like others he is over the tipping point. He's had enough. Seeing is believing. I will say this though: Barnwell's piece is less about logic than just good ol' opinion. And to be honest, he might as well be a Huddler throwing out sh¡t in the summer based upon nothing but good feels or bad feels. Our offense as a whole (just like any other team's) is going to depend upon the play of the O-line and especially the QB. How you can even rank the skill positions without expressly baking those two things in the cake is beyond me. I would dare say that that's not even logical.

Football is not the professional sport where timidness and apprehension are justly rewarded.

Bryce Young had a super high floor definitely at least won't be a bust safe pick we allegedly had seen in some time.......and went on to have one of the worst rookie seasons of all time. They are all lotto picks. And that is especially true for whatever they will be day 1 in the NFL. I don't think Tmac is a sure thing year 1. It's not like we watched him do his thing in the SEC. He was a PAC12 guy. I'm sure it will take time

I don’t view Tmac as a lotto ticket. Size and hands translate, this isn’t some speed guy like John Ross getting over drafted based on a 40 time. Now, the 31yr old coming off a major knee injury, that’s like a $10 scratcher with a $5k jackpot. The list sucks.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/article/panthers-officially-announce-venue-schedule-150506958.html

Also don't forget he's been playing with a busted shoulder for a few years now. Slides out of socket and has to be popped back in. That can't help the face off numbers either.

Let's open with 4 or 5 offensive TDs against Jacksonville and see what the rankings are then.

To me it only makes sense to play starters vs other starters. I dont care to see our starters manhandle their 2nd and 3rd string guys. Play starters as much as the team we are facing.

I do think the rating is fair given how this unit hasn’t proven it with production. I understand you have to rank off production, not potential. However, our unit is also in a position to make this rating look foolish a year from now. We have 4 guys in the WR/TE room who all could legitimately take the next step this year, and catapult our rank. A guy under a lot of people’s radar after we took Tet, Jalen Coker. Mark my words, he will become the star of this room, and be the heir to Thielen.

Exactly. You’d think 2-7 wins a year (in a 17 game season no less) since 2017 is going to keep us bottom tier. Every year we say the same poo like we haven’t been a bad team the past 7 years. Until we prove we aren’t a bottom dweller, that’s where we’ll stay ranked. God forbid we have OL injuries like 2016.

What I love and hate about this team is it’s more filled with potential breakout players than ever before. JT, XL, Coker, Smith-Wade, Ikem, Trevin… and even Bryce are all guys I could legitimately see taking the next step. But the problem with having so many of those guys is that team success somewhat relies on them taking that step, and some are bound not to. That being said, I’m cautiously optimistic given our softer schedule, the way the offense clicked late last year, and the direction we finally have at GM, coach, and QB. Could see us as a sneaky playoff team.

Me, signing up for FanDuel Network, and then canceling FanDuel Network:

Smith-Wade for me. He has the path to some decent hefty snaps in Evero’s scheme. He held his own last year and improved as he continued to get snaps— If he makes some strides, could be a very capable nickel. I agree with Sanders. Bryce had some trust in him that final Falcons game post crazy head-stand. Bryce looked for him a lot that final game and made some critical catches to get us the W. Seems he’s put in major work so I’m hopeful about him. Wallace will have an offseason under his belt. I like him a lot, was higher graded than most remember in his draft (I.e Brugler had him LB3/70 overall) but he isn’t as cerebral of an LB as we’re used to. I think he could thrive if we get D captain/film-junky type next to him— because right now that’s Jewell. Still a bit cautious but love the talent. Rozeboom may snag some playing time from him if he’s still working out the kinks.

Didnt Canales already say starters are playing in the pre season? either way extra reps dont hurt but im not one of those people that think playing in the pre season would have saved Bryce from an awful start.

very helpful. I read back in this thread where they might try Jarvis at C--I thought he and Aho had good chemistry, however. Nonetheless, he could expand his value there, and now we have a guy who can play jarvis' spot. Freddie is a pro, no doubt--and as little as I know about the inner workings of strategy and positions, I could tell Burns was burning us at times. I figured he'd retire and I was looking forward to it. FWIW, they have Jarvis listed as a C on the 2025-26 roster.

FO are somthing that you can work to fix..... Jarvis is a worker. No doubt that by the end of the year he would have it around 50% His % is bad because hes going agaist top guys after aho gets the boot and a low number taken.

If Bryce isn't playing in the preseason we've got issues. Can't let the high of last year's end cloud that he still has everything to prove and grow as a player. Not playing him in the preseason, and add in a slow start? I'd start having Tepper's patience and thinking both he and Canales need to get out. I'm higher on Bryce than I should be, but he has to ascend into a no doubt Top 15 QB this year if we're even entertaining keeping him.

I think Coker tweaked a minor injury if I remember correctly. Maybe he still isn't 100% yet?

The secret is if they can stay on the floor. If Ball ever decides to play 60 games, with Bridges, Miller, and potentially improved shooting from Sexton/Knueppel, etc. I see improvement. I personally like the Plumlee acquisition--he plays hard and is pretty durable--good depth, as you say. I also approve of the players they let go, in general. Not a huge fan, but want to be---if their season were not over by December.

For some reason I don't think we will play Bryce a full quarter in any of the preseason games.

I think we'll see what used to be a more traditional set up for QB in pre-season, becase, well, Bryce still needs it. Full first quarter in the first game, half to three quarters in the second, and then a full series in the final game. He really took off at the end of last season, but we have to get him rolling and warmed up before the real season starts. This isn't a time for "let's not get him hurt" worries or "work the hell out of him" hardliners. And we really, really need to have some time to evaluate who is going to be that QB3/practice squad guy and see if he is our backup of the future. Andy Dalton is going to be fine as our QB2 for a year or two maybe, but there needs to be some line of succession there. And let's not talk about how serious things will quickly get if it turns out Bryce's coming out party was the whole sizzle and there's no steak left.

I said it in real time, not playing Bryce Young in preseason the past 2 years like he needed was dumb and likely contributed to his horrific starts every year of his career. If Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, etc are getting more preseason reps than your bad QB......whatever mental gymnastics you are pulling to explain why Bryce wasn't repping was bad gymnastics.