All Activity

If we were a solid winning organization most of us would have no problems with this selection. We would have had a capable starter in place to allow him to be eased into the rotation. If were told prior to the draft that he had been completely cleared health wise, we "probably" wouldn't have a ton of reservations about this selection. If we had picked this young man on Day 3 of the draft most of us would have no problems with this selection because we wouldn't have had to use draft capital to move up and get him. Unfortunately, none of the above were true 1) We were a terrible team in 2023 and needed an immediate impact player. 2) He was hurt near the the end of the 2023 NCAA season. We traded up to get him even though we knew he wasn't medically cleared to play in 2024. 3) When training camp started we were hearing stories that the knee wasn't ready. That alone should have raised some red flags. I personally would have red-shirted him in 2024 in order to have him ready for 2025. We had Chubba as our lead back and other guys to fill the #2 and #3 spots on the depth chart. There was no need to rush Brooks unto the field in 2024. Here's our draft history in the 2nd round between 2021 and 2024 2021 TMJ 2022 No draft choice. We picked Matt Corall in round 3 (#94) as our only Day 2 pick. 2023 Jonathan Mingo 2024 Jonathon Brooks. We have taken 4 skill players on Day 2 of the draft for the past 4 years who have contributed absolutely nothing to the offensive side of the football. 3 are no longer on the team. Two of them are no longer in the NFL. One could possibly never start a game due to a knee injury. This type of poor drafting is why this team has been so bad for the entire decade.

Even limited as he was I still don't think they have replaced his production, and not just the sack stats. The games Clowney missed it was very obvious what his value still was. Risky move but whatever. They only had 32 sacks last year and if that drops then it's going to get ugly. I see the improvement in run stopping but not in pass protect in any way.

I have zero issues with this.

Sorta related. I just looked up a stat: Success rates for NFL draft's second rounders. I was surprised that it is 49%. The success rate for first rounders is 58%. Here success does not mean those that did not bust, it means that roughly half of the players selected in the second round become full-time starters at some point in their careers. Busts do that too. However, considering the fact that a first round talent is worth up to 1800 points (first overall pick) more than the first pick of the second round and as low as 350 points (last pick in first round) higher than the last pick in round 2, it seems there could be cases in which it would be to your advantage to trade out of round 1 and draft two or three second rounders for the value. Of course, the elite players are likely to be gone, and some positions overwhelmingly suck after round 1 (traditionally, like QB or LT, for example), but if you need to find starters at positions like DT, G, LB, S, C, TE, RB, etc, there could be a time when you trade back for more starters. I was surprised that the margin between rounds 1 and 2 was only 9%. While I realize that some of you sofa scholars are thinking, "Well duh? Trading back gives you more players." as you wipe the Cheetos off your shirt. Not the point. The point is you have to consider the draft,the needs (and the number of them), and you need to scout the second and third rounds like you do the first, the cap, and the long-term impact. If you can find 2 players with a 49% chance of becoming a starter, are you better off than drafting one player who has a 58% chance in the long term? So if I traded away my first rounder for two second rounders (a trade most teams would make) regularly, when I got 10 second rounders (by trading 5 first rounders), 5 would be starters. If I did not trade and kept my 5 first rounders, 3 would be starters. Furthermore, their rookie contracts would be much cheaper than the 5 first rounders.

oof

These are the three deep throw attempts that Will Levis made in week 12. His first one is a beauty; Levis and Westbrook-Ikhine gets the safety to bite on a deep dig only to go over the top for the score. His second throw is another beauty: a crosser to Calvin Ridley reminiscent of Bryce to XL (though Ridley has noticeably more separation on his route). His third and final deep shot was an incompletion from his own endzone on 3rd & 14 with pressure coming down on him (to me, this seems like a solid throw). Film Room Playlist NFL Pro-02.mp4 Film Room Playlist NFL Pro-01.mp4 Film Room Playlist NFL Pro.mp4 Film Room Playlist NFL Pro-01.mp4 Levis took half of the deep shots that Young did. The differences are: Ridley had much better separation than XL, which is why his deep crosser turned into a 63yd play since he was able to scamper for another 15+ after the catch. Westbrook-Ikhine holds on to his TD pass. Bryce had to throw one away to preserve time for a field goal. Bryce had two more throws that were incomplete due to the WR Are we really holding the three WR errors and clock management decision against Bryce in order to say that Will was better throwing deep in week 12? That's not passing the eye test nor is it confirmed by the data.

If you go on the PUP list before the season starts, you are gone for the year. If you start the year on the PUP list then you can get off of it. Kind of semantics, but we are putting him on the PUP list now which is before week 1, that’s why people who come off of it aren’t really on the PUP list until week 1, hence you usually hear right before the season that they are “starting the year” on the PUP list. I think PUP list and IR may basically be the serve the same purpose now because you also sometimes hear that if a player is added to the IR before week 1 that they aren’t eligible to come off the IR list for the entire year. Now, everyone added to IR (post week 1) can come off after 4 (or more) games so the PUP list is meaningless since it’s 6 games and starts at week 1. Anyone added to PUP or IR in the preseason is gone for the year.

I saw Brooks maybe a few weeks ago, he was walking pretty normally. of course he wasnt running, jumping and cutting.

So you believe that Levis had a better day throwing deep because one of those was a TDs? Asking for clarity on that as it was already clearly demonstrated that Bryce would've had a TD had Moore not dropped it in the back of the end zone. The entire purpose of their metric is to look at the throw and grade that because the QB has complete control over it. That was made abundantly clear from the video provided prior to that. Nobody is trying to manifest him as a top-10 player. He had performances during his return from benching that measured in the top-10 in different metrics. The issue at play is that because those stats support Bryce's progress (and refutes that his ceiling is his floor), that you and other people that don't care for Bryce being the Panthers' QB are going out of your way to either a) ignore factual data, or b) cast uncertainty on the methodology. There's no actual interest in stats and facts like as you mentioned previously. All of the non-PFF info, like passing yards in a single game, is also not entirely reliant on the QB. That's one of the points that Jimmy has hammered home but y'all continue to try and sidestep: that the ability to throw deep relies more on elements like timing rather than physically having a howitzer for an arm. Yes, arm strength does play a role but let's not be coy: the entire narrative that Bryce is not a capable deep ball thrower is 100% rooted in the same reasoning that folks had for thinking he wouldn't survive an NFL hit... bro is too smol. We have plenty of data (AND film) that show this. Whether or not the people that don't want it to be true stop clinging to what they want to believe instead is up to them.

This isn’t a bad deal for the right people. Sure not everyone has that kind of money to burn. But $10k for everything including all travel (that includes a private flight), lodging, meals, tix to the game? Meeting former players? It’s a lot of logistics that if done solo would take a lot of time to coordinate. When I was younger I spent my time to save money, and now I spend my money to save time.

Displays of luxury spending like this are the only thing that will wake up the poor peasants currently shouting at each other. At least, that's my only way to optimistically look at this trash.

Yeah, this isn't for 'fans'. I worked with a rep from Coca Cola who's job was to wine and dine customers, taking them on trips fishing trips in Alaska and the Carribbean or pretty much any sporting event they dreamed of attending, no questions asked. $180K is nothing to Corporate America when it comes to keeping their clients happy.

It's been strange watching the NFL try and turn itself into a "luxury experience" The prices to attend a game these days certainly matches that of a luxury experience, at least.

ngl, I like the idea of rookie contracts being guaranteed. It's not like the kids are able to negotiate with anybody else. idk enough about the finances and accounting tricks to give any type of expert opinion, but that's never stopped anyone here before

I see several players who could make this roster. This is a pretty impressive group of free agents--no "home runs" like Coker last year, but I see OL help (probably going to PS) I see a safety and LB and CB or two making this roster. After the mini camp today and tomorrow, you might see a few more roster cuts. That will give us some idea of what they see down the road.

Good. Let the kid focus on PT and building strength back up. He's got two more years on his deal and RBs have never been more affordable, so there's still time to see whether or not he can stick. My bad. I meant: blaaaaaargh dumb dan dumb rb no leg no draft raaaaaarrrrrgh

Found a playlist and maaaan this is some trashy TV that I can kick up my feet and laugh at.

if you have the money, it doesn't have to make sense. you just do it so you can say you had enough money to do it and keep yourself elevated above the normal riff-raff.

Yeah, I think the DT room is getting crowded. He is definitely on watch. Hopefully he'll be switched to DE in the 3-4 where he probably belongs.

Production did not match the salary. Good move.

LOL at some of the posts here after last night..... We stole a road game, this is always a very different team at home.....

Those WR, TE and D-Line takes are, diplomatically, WILDLY optimistic. I certainly hope that is the case but I think you flip through 10-15 teams 2 deep charts that is going to look less probable. I definitely hope you are right, I just don't look at those rosters and see anything close to that.

Betting on the Panthers becoming a competitive side im for it

Me too! I think he will - I love that we got Princely too so they have genuine comradery and push each other. And if they struggle we have Wonnum and Pat Jones who are consistent, effective starter-caliber right there.

He took a pay cut already