SmokinwithWilly

Those brownies must have packed a little extra punch. I've been asleep a long time.

old school - Axis and Allies Rail Baron Risk Not sure how old - Tsuro I miss D&D. We created some epic campaigns and characters. It really helped develop my ability to think outside the box and problem solve.

I remember watching the Panthers games when Pep was on the team and thinking these guys aren't that much bigger than me, because I'm not a small guy myself. Then I went down onto the field for a game day field pass and felt like Muggsy. Those guys were massive. TV doesn't do the size of some of these guys justice sometimes.

Let's talk after an entire NFL season. We've still got a long way to go to naming Bryce the next franchise QB.

I don't give 2 shits about Colorado enough to like or dislike them. You don't get it. Just because a player is ranked somewhere on a super big brain big board doesn't mean that player will actually fit what an NFL team is looking for. Teams look at the player as a whole and will he fit what they want to do. Hunter may be the first player off the board. He may not. He's an elite level player but he's not the only one. Other teams may have different valuations because they want to build their team differently and instead of taking Hunter at one, they could trade back and get picks instead. It doesn't mean he isn't worth the 1st pick. It just means he's not worth the 1st pick to them. If it was as simple as looking at college, there would never be a bust because everything you need to know is right there. But there's always the intangibles. Trevor Lawrence was hands down the best player in his draft, generational player, the next HoF QB, couldn't miss prospect. Except is hasn't worked out that way. You're acting like he's already got his jacket and bust in Canton. We all agree he's an elite prospect. We don't all agree with him necessarily being the most desired player at DB or WR. There's too many other factors in play. That's the NFL and it happens every damn year that some top prospect slides because someone took a Mitch Trubisky instead of Pat Mahomes.

We can talk about production on the field, but as has already been shown by multiple people, production in college and especially a Heisman don't translate to guaranteed success. Moving to the NFL level is bigger picture. Team fit, injury history, size, speed, ability to learn a playbook, relying on talent vs technique, level of competition, everything matters. So yes, we can talk college statistics. But we must also talk about all the other factors and how other players may very well fit better or have less question marks surrounding certain factors.

Higgins is going to be 18-20m a year, maybe higher. The defense can't be primarily rookies. The jump from college to the pros is big and very few players make that transition in a single season. Plus, statistically, Morgan would have to have one of the greatest drafts in history to be able to plug that many holes by defying the %'s of round failure. We're not a WR away from winning it all. Higgins is a SB move for a team that's close. We're re better off building through the draft and paying good contracts for appropriate level talent. When we've made the playoffs, then we need to start pursuing bigger name free agents. We've got to have strong rookies on cheap contracts to go after big names and have it actually work in our favor.

That's a hard call to make but NE has lacked a true WR1 for so long. Tackle is such a tempting spot, but as we've seen they really take a couple years to get to NFL speed unless you get a Sewell or Slater, and then you're close to the end of that rookie QB contract.

This is where the drafting of Bryce comes into play. At some point he's going to have to elevate the players around him. We can't afford to keep stacking the offense in FA and ignore the defense. We've spent a lot on him already from having a very expensive oline, drafting a receiver in the 1st in XL, Brooks in th 2nd, paying Chuba, Mingo, trading away DJ, Sanders, were going to have to pay BC. That's a lot on the offensive side of the ball. Scoring points is great but if you can't stop anyone you're kind of screwed and we can't stop anyone at RB.

Being a GM seems to becoming more and more about how to build a team using the rookie contracts of the big paydays at QB, CB, WR and DE. Devoting 15-20% of cap space to a single player is crippling unless they're in the greatest of this generation conversation. Not many guys are but a whole lot want to be paid like they are ie Burns.

Yes he did. Just more proof that winning that trophy doesn't guarantee NFL success.

Chris Weinke won the Heisman too.

I don't hate Colorado. He may be the top prospect on a lot of boards, but that doesn't necessarily make him the best at a single position. Using Madden scores here for ease, so could be an overall 99, 97 as a WR and 96 as a CB and still be 2nd ranked at each position. He won't be used on the field playing both ways. He's going to be one or the other with possibly a play or 2 a game on the other side of the field. It's not a slight against him at all, just an observation of how it's going to work once he reaches the NFL level.

Cam also didn't play 2 positions. Little different comparison there.

Gotta wonder if there's something else in the water in Pittsburg.

Wouldn't 300 yards and 2 TDs passing be considered "lighting it up" vs. the Eagles? I take "lighting it up" to be an exceptional performance, not just NFL standard play. Don't you?

I'm a Michigan guy and I admit I haven't watched much of Johnson or Graham this year because Michigan has been so bad this year. Saturday was the biggest game of the season, but man it was that painful. Defense was fun to watch, but that offense. That was just a kick in the boys over and over again.

Still better than Joey Slye.

Still remember listening to the Locked on Panthers podcast the day after that game and Julian said that Bryce had mentioned he didn't bother to look off Bates on one of those INTs. That always struck me as an odd thing.

Always need to have fresh guys to rotate into the trenches. Maybe it's because my football career ended from a knee injury, but man it's easy to have a knee fold the wrong way and boom, your season is done.

It doesn't matter if they're pro level teammates or not. Bama consistently has one of the top recruiting classes in the country. The best talent is coming to Alabama vs a majority of other schools they play. It is true and it's documented.

I think it probably had something to do with his career about to be over. He's always been surrounded by the best talent and with that comes some ease in doing your job. When everyone on your team is at least 2 or 3 star better recruits than 90% of the opposing team. In the NFL everyone is 5 star recruits. I think it was probably a wake up call that either he starts actually putting in the work, or he was going down as one of the biggest busts in NFL history.

Figure out how to get Kyle Pitts from Atl. For whatever reason, the Falcons hate throwing to him. Pairing him with Sanders could be a nasty combo. Add T Mac in the 1st and everything else to the D. Bring in competition at the QB position because we need that still.

We should try and trade for Kyle Pitts. Atlanta is determined not to use him and prefers a blocking TE. Tremble for Pitts and we'll throw in Sanders too.