t96

5 less sacks in 13 more games is a pretty huge gap

lol you pay a player what they are worth to your team relative to how else you can spend the $, you can't be influenced by the market if it doesn't make sense within the team's internal cap structure and allocation. There are so many factors and moving pieces, if you don't pay Burns you don't need to replace him with another elite pass rusher, in a cap league you just need to utilize that cap in a way that impacts the team winning more than keeping Burns would at whatever that cap hit would be. Not every super bowl winning team has an individual elite pass rusher, and not many have 1 that is among the highest paid defensive players. Look at the Chiefs not caving to Chris Jones' demands and look at the Patriots letting Chandler Jones go. And Burns isn't even their caliber of player. You have to be prepared to let players go and be smart with contracts. The teams who continuously overpay in free agency generally do not have success.

I fully understand this concept and even alluded to it in my post, but it really only applies directly with players in the same tier, Burns is a tier below those other guys at the top of the market. At least I see him as a tier below, maybe the Panthers will cave and the league sees him in the same tier but I'm skeptical of that. 25-26 per year makes sense and I would bet that is what he winds up getting if we extend him now. IF he plays the year out here in a 3-4 and dominates in the scheme change (very possible) then I may elevate him to that top tier and he can reset the market but that has yet to happen and is just projecting.

does the Riot have any events saturday night? my bro is flying in sunday am so I'll hang out with him separately on gameday but I may be in ATL the night before with nothing to do... @RoaringRiot ?

lol 28 is not really reasonable. it may be necessary because that's how things go with rising cap and such an in demand position (pass rusher). TJ Watt is the highest paid Edge in the league at 28mil/yr, next is J Bosa at 27per and Garrett at 25per. Those guys have nearly twice as many sacks in like 25% more games played and all 3 are much more complete players (i.e. not trash against the run). I like Burns don't get me wrong but 28 is not reasonable. But often times players like him do get unreasonable contracts and that's just the reality. I highly doubt he gets 28 though, 25-26 maybe.

Bigger changes than I expected: Last years were: Christian McCaffrey, Baker Mayfield, Taylor Moton, Shaq Thompson, Jeremy Chinn, Brian Burns, Donte Jackson and J.J. Jansen. So McCaffrey replaced by Thielen and Baker replaced by Bryce makes sense and was what I expected. Didn't expect JJ to get replaced by Hekker and Chinn and Jackson were "stripped" of their Cs with no one "replacing" them. Wouldn't read much into it but it is interesting.

Bryce sets the fuging tone just like Cam did in his first game but this time in a win. 31-20 Panthers, Bryce with 2 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD, 250+ passing yards and no turnovers.

Who'll be there? With the Riot or separate? I'm going with my bro who's a Falcons fan, wouldn't bring him to a game in CLT lol

I wouldn't have had an issue with Burns' actions right now if he didn't scream all camp about how he wouldn't hold out and how important it was for him to be there, etc. like dude really you say all that and just do the exact opposite a month later... lol

look at Crosby's stats vs. Burns'. Burns is a better player, that's just the going rate for pass rushers. Watt/Bosa are up in the 27/28 range and I don't think Burns has earned that but I'd do 24-25. Would be great to keep him for less but pass rushers get paid, and that market gets reset every year.

That is outrageously bad… Chiefs have only had 1 season 10-7 or worse (9-7) and it was with Alex Smith early in their rebuild under Reid, never have had under 12 wins with Mahomes as starter, that’s not changing this year. AFCN is not going to have 4 10+ win teams… There are 12 guaranteed losses (assuming no ties) in the division, so they have across the 4 teams only 12 losses to non-Division teams all year (average 3 per team or an average record of 8-3 outside the division… yeah right) no reason Cowboys and Vikings will drop off that much, Falcons aren’t making the playoffs, Cards and Raiders will not be that bad. Woof

Also the change to 3-4 will likely boost his sack numbers

Such a terrible stadium, $40m won’t impact it at all, lot of obstructed view seats

Jeez you people need to move on who gives a fug about Rhule any more lol

Not a big fan of carrying 3 QBs on the roster but you could certainly do much worse for a 3rd QB if you are going to keep 3. Zappe doesn't really have any upside or unrealized potential, he pretty much is what he is

hey a good thread from thebigkat, I guess when you make dozens some are gonna be solid! all kidding aside, yeah I've become a huge Shaq fan after being lukewarm on him earlier in his career. He's been great on the field the last several years and is a stalwart now and the longest tenured non-LS Panther. It's tough following Luke and TD and even before that Beason, Morgan, etc. (this franchise has had some damn good LBs) but he's been rock solid. I would like to see some more fire and intensity out of him at times but he's a more laid back west coast dude so I get it.

yep and honestly if I was a pats fan I'd be pretty damn concerned that their on-the-roster backup is Matt Friggin Corral who will have like a week in the system before the season starts. I would guess Belichick tries to pull some shenanigans with eventually activating Zappe and trying to get Corral on the PS but still, Jones is a highly questionable starter as is and has some injury history. Corral has played considerably worse in preseason against backups and 3rd stringers than Zappe has played in games that matter vs starters... Not that I think Zappe is that good either but they have serious issues at QB and on offense. Patricia was an easy blame last year but this year it's all on Belichick

Yeah that wouldn't make a lick of sense. 1 possibility (though not likely in my view) is that we are extremely close to a contract extension and his agent told him to sit out until pen to paper is official to prevent a last second injury causing the deal to get scrapped (it's a business after all). Most likely just unrelated to contract.

lol good by me he sucks and they ain't gonna fix him. I like the kid but that's the reality

Panthers due to coach/QB combo. Aints should be better this year with a solid seasoned vet QB vs ours being a rookie but D Allen is such a terrible HC. Falcons/Bucs not in the convo due to QB

I think we can still win games early on though, this isn’t unexpected from Fitt to say but despite the somewhat disappointing preseason I still believe this team can and will win the division (and do so with a solid winning record, 10+ wins). 4-4 after 8 then 6-3 in the last 9 is my guess

I agree about not putting too much stock into it but by its nature teams that won their division will generally on average have a harder schedule than teams who finished 4th in their division. There is of course variation year to year in how teams do but it's rare for a lot of the top teams to drop off a ton, at least not enough such that the 1st place team winds up with an easier schedule than the 4th place team.

Gano is/was better than people give him credit for overall but yeah everyone knew Butker was the real deal and at that position you go with the cheap younger option over the decent vet (who had also not shown much clutch ability by that point).

lg gonna bust in his pants reading this. I'm still not sold on Howell, at best he'll be an Andy Dalton type and even that I find unlikely.

it's short and only 16m/yr https://www.spotrac.com/nba/rankings/cap-hit// look at the players around him and those with bigger contracts than him, plenty of guys I take PJ over in a heartbeat and he is still young with potential. He averaged over 15pts/game last year on ok %s, is solid defensively and on the boards, even if he doesn't get any better, this contract is not an issue and easily tradeable if need be. He may be better off the bench but there are plenty of guys who do come off the bench making more so that wouldn't make it a bad contract. And as is I think this should be our starting 5: PG: LaMelo SG: Miller SF: Miles PF: PJ C: Mark