SmokinwithWilly

I'm not mad at Bryce for not throwing or for putting on weight to appear bigger. He played the pre-draft game that all players and agents do, plus the timely release of his S2 score and Stroud's possible mistaken score, and those things stand out considerably. Making a conscientious choice do do those things was being deceptive on his part. But that's all part of the pre draft game. Acknowledging that he played that game and ultimately ended up as the 1st pick in the draft is just an acceptance of what really happened. People are mad because the Panthers got duped in a process so obvious that even the most lowly uninformed football fan could see it and that's the infuriating part. Personally, I'm not mad that Bryce played the game. I just get mad when people act like he didn't.

Theilen really wasn't supposed to be WR1. TMJ, Mingo, Chark, anybody else was supposed to fill that spot.

He's singled out because he was drafted by the Panthers and this is the Panthers message board. Part of it is also that I can't remember any other player trying to hide their shortcomings to that degree. The front office was enamored with his S2 score and his interview and its 100% their fault how the pick has turned out so far. It's just another example under Tepper ownership when the Huddle knew better than our FO and that in itself is just really fugging sad.

You can blame Bryce and his agent for their deception, and still understand that’s their job at that point in the process. They’re about as trustworthy as a used car salesman. Anyone with a brain knows that BY didn’t play at that weight and was trying to look bigger. They were trying to hide his shortcomings. Perfectly understandable and normal for every draft pick. The blame for the evaluation of his actual abilities and ultimately the success of the pick falls squarely on the FO. How much of the deception worked we will likely never know, but there’s nothing wrong with pointing out what was blatantly obvious at the time.

Not necessarily to get drafted number 1, but to improve his draft position, most definitely. Being taken top 3 in the draft comes with a pretty nice guaranteed check vs where Will Levis was taken at the top of the 2nd. I don’t think NFL folks are necessarily dumb, but they can get sucked into the hype of the newest test that guarantees success. Now Dave and Nicole Tepper? I think they’re blithering idiots when it comes to evaluating football players, but he was heavily involved in the trade up and the selection. So how do you explain putting on 15 lbs before the combine? What’s the purpose if not to try and alter the perception about your size? Why choose not to throw next to your competitors if not to hide your physical deficiencies side by side?

Cam wasn't protected well by his oline but he wasn't given any of the protections other QBs in the NFL got. Bryce was sacked by fingertips and Cam had guys launching full speed at his head helmet to helmet. Bryce has never taken the kind of hits Cam did.

There seems to be a photographer in the background who looks oddly familiar....

Cam was targeted by Roger Goodell and the NFL. He wasn't given 1/10th the protection that a Manning, Brady or Brees received. He was an upstart young black QB with an infectious smile that loved the game for the game. SB50 and the season opener in 2016 showed that with blinding illumination that that wasn't going to be allowed.

That's not entirely true, at least in Bryce's case. He showed up to combine 15 lbs heavier than he played at to give the appearance of being bigger. He also didn't throw against his competition for the top spot at the combine. Then there was the S2 that he supposedly dominated so well that it made all his other competitors look uneducated, despite his having practiced for the test for years and Stroud's released score possibly being released with the incorrect number. And lastly, there's the dinner where he broke down a play so eloquently that even Dave and Nicole were amazed at his intelligence. I'm not saying Bryce is the only one to manipulate the system, but let's not pretend like he didn't manipulate it. It's up to whoever is making the decisions to see through all the BS and make a proper evaluation. Our problem was, 1/3 of those responsible, and ultimately those with the final say, don't have the first idea about how to evaluate a QB for the NFL level. Hell, one of them had barely finished the class on how to even take part in anything to do with the NFL.

The only runs of note for Sanders this year were in the bathroom.

A trip to Tampa with the distinct possibility of bikinis and booze.

This is no slight on Canales, he may end up being an awesome coach. I just trust Dave and Nicole as much as I would Freddy Kreuger as my proctologist.

Not gonna lie, it's hard to celebrate any move Tepper has made at this point. Time will tell if this hurts the Bucs or just us.

Passed away in 2012.

Great actor gone way too soon.

As stated earlier, I was only referring to the HC calling the plays on gameday.

I was only referring to HC calling the plays and OC doing whatever it is he's going to do.

Vanilla is being generous. Some of the stuff we ran was straight out of a generic high school playbook.

I'm getting flashbacks of Frank Reich and Thomas Brown.

Maybe he was interviewing thinking the Lions were going to win the SB and he'd have a ring before moving on to start the next phase of his career. Staying in Detroit gives him a really good shot again next year, far sooner than he would have building from the ground up in another franchise.

Not so sure about that. I've turned off games because the commentators were so bad. If I have to put it on mute just to be able to watch it, I'm not watching.

We're partially in the position we're in because Rhule refused to play BC at LT when it was obvious to the rest of us he was better than any LT we had on the roster at time. The last few games he started, we didn't hear his name, which is a good thing. But since we didn't, we drafted Icky and moved BC to guard which is not his natural position. To fix it, BC and Icky need to compete for LT with a coach focused on coaching instead of being Diaper Dave's locker room spy. BC has more lateral mobility then Icky right now, but that can be worked on by Icky with private coaching if he wants to get better. Moton needs to be restructured and that money used to bolster the line. C and RG are theoretically there if we get some competent game planning but I still want to get some big uglies in the 2nd and 3rd if we can trade back a couple spaces and acquire an extra pick or 2. Our depth makes me throw up a little in my mouth.

Let's not forget, Sammy D on his way to the SB too.

His roster spot would have been behind Sam Darnold.