top dawg

The man bought the team in July, and it took him some time to get his bearings. He admitted that he had to get the lay of the land, and learn what it was to be a full owner of a franchise (which I'm sure he is still doing). Building a perennial contender takes time! Like I said before, scorched earth is not always the best policy. Hindsight is always 20/20, but in the real world, you should be figuring out what the hell you're doing before you do it. A year and a half to get the bigger picture and devise a plan is not really that long of a time on a relative basis.

I fully expect Shaq to be gone by next season, as well as Ian Thomas. If we're lucky, Teddy.

I mean, I'm sure there is some correlation, but that probably can be said of any position. I just don't intellectually believe that just because you pay a productive RB that it guarantees you to not compete for championships on a consistent basis. I don't believe that you can look at this with tunnel vision. In a macro sense, you should be looking at your puzzle pieces each year and determining what it's going to take to compete.

Tepper already explained that he had to get his bearings. I don't know what else you want from him. People will whine about Marty Hurney.

Hey, Newb, for future reference, this is starter's level professionalim:

I don't think Bonnafon is that guy, and I don't believe they do either. CMC has short area quicks and vision and respectable long speed. He can juke players out of their shoes, and it shows up in his first and second level route running on passing routes. Most backs just can't do that.

I wouldn't give up Chinn.

To me, that means British Broadcasting Corporation. I guess I'm getting old, because I don't know what else it means. I imagine that it has something to do with XXX though.

I would say that the Texans wishes will be a determining factor in the price, but the market and Deshaun Watson's willingness to play hardball (including determining where and where he won't play) will ultimately be the primary dictatorial force in regards to price.

Was last season really "miserable"? I'd say that we were supposed to be dead in the water, but showed enough signs of life that we'll be as good as new--even better--by no later than 2023. In the fall, what are realistic expectations for winning? What is the W-L threshold that will make you feel that the season isn't "miserable"? I don't believe anyone can really answer that question right now. But I'll take a win in the offseason. Unlike some apparently, I can't say that we've ever won an offseason! Last offseason may have been the closest to it. I do know that it's going to take winning more offseasons to get more wins during the regular season--and having two consecutive winning seasons--and ultimately championship seasons.

You can't win with sh¡t! As for our talent, I think we are and will be a much more talented team because we have better leadership. If 2020 didn't show you anything else, it should've shown you that Rhule and company can get guys to play above their pay grade. I know that so many if y'all are stuck on the first round, but we don't need first round picks to keep the ship moving in the right direction. The Rams should have shown you that also.

We're making moves that actually make sense! We're cutting dead weight on the field by releasing Boston who really had no upside at all and wished him well. We're cutting dead weight off the field by restructuring Paradis who had a resurgence of sorts as a serviceable center, especially as the quality of the play beside him improved. We dropped KK who wasn't living up to his contract for injuries, age or whatever reason, and are even willing to bring him back at a better cap number (which makes sense, but admittedly the Devil is in the details). We're getting younger, and we're obviiusly letting some young guys get in and take their shot, just like we did with Joe Charlton who hit some bumps but stuck it out and ultimately shined. Just the fact that we actually let competition ultimately send some aging vets to the bench is a far cry from the rhetorical competition we had under the previous regime. I think things will only get better. Sure, it won't be perfect, but new leadership ain't just gonna sit by and accept mediocrity, much less bad play from season to season, or even game to game (it seems). It appears that we aren't going to live in upsidedown contractural-cap purgatory either. Whatever we decide to do, Fitterer looks to be keen at keeping our cap in good health, not only with the literal numbers and contractural structures, but by churning a certain part of the roster (not only the "bottom" part per se) with young talent. Call me a homer or simply premature, but I feel good about the direction we're going. The only wildcard I can think of is Tepper. I don't know that he's the classic meddler as much as he is a keeper of his hand on the pulse of his football team. But, we will see. He's a smart dude who appears to have put smart dudes and adept football minds around him. I can't fault him for any of that. All in all, it's a different, but good and interesting time to be a Panthers football fan. Keep pounding!

I don't know. But, if you look at what he did last season with Will Fuller and basically nobody, it gets your mouth to watering at what he could do with more weapons. FWIW, I doubt that the cap clearing was all about Watson. We have to get some new pieces in here, especially on the O-line (LB, safety, TE...).

I'm going to miss Boston about as much as I miss AC in the winter.

Wilson hasn't really said anything on that scale. He's let the speculation linger out there though. He seems like he's posturing more than anything else. But, you never know. TB12's move and success with the Bucs probably got a lot of the 30+-year-old signal caller's minds to thinking.

I have heard, weeks ago now, that Meyer is enamored with Lawrence. Any other scenario is an exercise in fantastic imagination.

Hard to say. There's an argument for both. I'd think that the rebuild began peripherally when Rhule was hired. Now with this next free agency and draft, we'll get further into the guts of the rebuild, and then start finishing it off by next offseason, with a working system in full effect by 2023/2024

Sure, but that remains to be seen. We're projected to have plenty of money in 2022.

You can't even say with ANY surety that Miami even is considering this type of move. What you can say with some surety is that Tepper wants Watson and is apparently willing to trade something of import to get him.

If that report is illegitimate--which absolutely NO ONE had said it is, then the reports of him considering the Phins or Jets is just as illegitimate.

It was originally reported that the Texans want two young defensive stars. We have three to four--plus CMC who is a nice piece to dangle in a prospective trade, plus we have three firsts! You can downplay that all you like, but I doubt the Texans are. No, we don't have the extra first, but I'll be damned if we don't have more talent in regards to what the Texans need/want.

Exactly. There was some piece a few days ago trying to intimate that the only reason any of this had legs was due to Newton. I basically told the author that his assumption was B.S. I told him, if anything, the La Canfora article was the real fuel behind the Panthers-Watson story's national energy.

That was reported weeks ago. I wouldn't make an overly big deal about it, but I wouldn't discount it either. It makes a lot of sense. He has ties relatively close to Charlotte, and is interested in "coming home." https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/Article/Deshaun-Watson-Carolina-Panthers-Houston-Texans-trade-159762257/Amp/

You're discounting our young talented players who are extremely compelling as trade capital, and you're totally discounting Watson's wishes in the matter. And, honestly, both the Jets and the Dolphins would have to be willing to give up their picks (and Houston would have to be interested in Tua or Darnold).

You didn't explain anything to me I told people that Stafford wasn't coming here from the beginning because he was not interested in a rebuild at all. I follow this stuff. As for Watson, if he decides that he doesn't want to go to the Jets (which is very possible) because he believes that his contract would set them back and render them pretty useless for several years, then he won't go to the Jets. If in fact he is considering the Panthers (as has been reported), we have a legitimate shot at landing him. We have the capital, and we have the resources to placate the Texans, and we have DW's ear (so to speak), so I don't know what your theory is. At this point, we are a legit contender for his services, if he decides that he's never playing for the Texans again.