bythenbrs

6 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

… we better have a plan B and that is not a 40-year old Ginger.   

1 minute ago, strato said:

I am talking about a token payment of as little as possible base for 2027 just to keep him tethered. They waste the kind of money I’m talking several times every year, it is inconsequential. 2-3 million. The real money would come in incentives only after he met them. In which case, he will have earned it. 
Or we just pay him 17.4 million for nothing and we are in the same no man’s land at the end of the year. 
 

Believe me it would be team friendly until he hit the escalators. The timing of this sucked and calls for being creative or sucking it up and plan on him moving on. 
 

I am not looking at him being a guard as any kind of given. They need feet too. They need push too. 

I think with an injury settlement you recoup some or quite a bit of the salary and salary cap.  Snow or someone else may be up on injury settlements.  I’m just playing through…

Well, I’ll give Morgan credit if he cuts Dalton loose…

A'Shawn traded or cut will not be enough.  Some other contracts will have to be restructured.  Here come the void years and dead money.

Sam Franklin resigned to a one-year deal by the Buffalo Bills.  Play it again, Sam.

7 hours ago, strato said:

It would be something to go yet another year with no 1st put into the defense. I think that would make 6. 6 years without a 1st rounder for the defense. 
 

And we seem to be fuging stuck 

Yeah, Ickey's injury threw a wrench into the works for sure.  I can see a scenario where Morgan resigns Nijman and goes BPA defense at 19.

7 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

I've seen Proctor projected to go higher so im guessing he could be an option at 19 if they don't like the options at defense. Likewise with the center it appears he's an option in the second. 

Lew is ranked as the first or second center in this draft.  Proctor is, what, fourth or fifth ranked tackle?  Admittedly, it's hard to compare across different positions and make judgments on relative value.  Morgan may very well take the BPA defender at 19 and Lew in the second.  Lew might be capable of starting (yes, it might look ugly for a game or two), where Proctor would certainly struggle if asked to start at LT and be asked to protect BY's blind side.  But I'm just a retired numbers guy so, what do I know?

34 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I read the article on the Panthers page by Person about his take aways.  I was curious about the 3 players he chose to write about.

He chose Styles of course but everyone expects him to be off the board before pick 19 rolls around. The other 2 were Alabamas tackle and Auburns center. All 3 of those positions are arguably our top 3 needs. 

I'm too lazy to look into were the last 2 are projected to be drafted but if any of you are curious as well please let the rest of us lazy fugs know.

Drafting two future O-line starters on rookie contracts will do wonders for our distorted (obscene?) cap allocation to the O-line.  

Proctor (22)

Lew (54)

2 hours ago, Pejorative Miscreant said:

 

For me it would be like getting underwear at Christmas.  Sure you probably need it and it will be extremely useful but there is no wow factor.

Definitely not arguing with you.  Just my .02

[Victoria Secret has entered the chat]

50 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

About as bad of an ideas as having Bryce Young playing center.

… or quarterback

4 hours ago, strato said:

I think if we properly address LOT, it takes away an important potential upgrade elsewhere. 

It will this year and maybe next year.  Icky's injury may force the Panthers to do something that fixes the obscenely lopsided cap allocation to the OL: use a premium draft pick (rounds 1-3) on an OT this year and next year.  And it has serendipitously prevented the team from adding yet another obscene contract to the OL cap allocation.

I really hope Icky is able to successfully rehab and play again for the team, but it may be as a G and not an OT.

11 hours ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

"Usually you pay double for that kind of action, Cotton"

2 hours ago, strato said:

Good question.  I would think they would prefer keep whatever continuity there is. I hesitate to assume what ‘good’ is or what he will think it is.  
He is the floor for tackles on this roster and it seemed survivable with him in there.  I struggle to envision him as a starting LOT. 

Yes, he was serviceable when called upon.  I think he also benefited greatly from some stellar play by Damien Lewis.

On 2/1/2026 at 8:53 AM, Swaggasaurus said:

I think if you go OT it has to be someone who is proven to play on the left. At pick 20 you might have Lomu or Proctor there. Lomu has great feet, will he handle the power of the NFL? Proctor has the power, does he have the agility to stay at tackle? 

Take the great feet…

This individual has much bigger issues to deal with than playing in the NFL.  If the NFL really ‘cares’ about their players as they claim, they would tell him to sit it out for a season or two, and get counseling and mentoring from someone like Tony Dungy or Derwin Gray.  This goes way beyond 100 hours community service type of slap on the wrist.  This man has a serious heart issue to deal with.

11 hours ago, tukafan21 said:

Things where it's just give him the ball and tell him to run as fast and hard as he can straight ahead. 

1 hour ago, Soul Rebel said:

Nice! 

I'm always open to 25-year old players from SB winning franchises that are stuck behind strong veterans. 

Not a bad pond to fish in, that's for sure...

10 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I would take Lee Hunter over a wr.

Can't go wrong strengthening the DL.  DB would benefit from another wrecking ball that offenses would have to account for...

39 minutes ago, panfanman said:

Icky going down really fowled things up.  Getting a suitable LT and OC early is a tall task.  And if we pull that off we have to ignore other severe needs.

We’re still two really good drafts away (at least) from retooling this roster, to be a year in, year out contender for our division.  Draft the LOT and C this year if the stars align and we don’t reach.  Starting two rookies on the OL will be ugly this upcoming season but it has to be done to balance out the huge misallocation of cap to the OL.  We’ll just have to fill in the other needs with cap friendly FA’s while we rebuild longer term through the draft.

50 minutes ago, CarolinaRideorDie said:

I remember watching Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco's YouTube podcast and Chad literally invited XL to come work out with him for 1 month. I think XL should take him up on that offer, his career depends on it. 

Or Ricky Proehl…

Why can’t this team have nice things?

9 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I am not a believer in Morgan…

Jeopardy ‘final answer’ or just not yet, still undecided?  Just curious…

23 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

His wife will take over, if she hasn't already. 

Low T is a terrible thing for someone Tepper’s age…

3 hours ago, Panthera onca said:

Yes they do. Any team that wants to hire him would have to work out compensation with the Steelers.

Throw in Bryce and call it even…

1 hour ago, strato said:

I don’t know what Caldwell does, for one thing, but if he had anything to do with drafting Bryce he can gtfo now. 

I’m still curious about the relationship (was then/is now) between Caldwell and Reich.  Will Reich take a phone call from Caldwell today?  Did Caldwell receive an X-mas card from Reich?  Do the fingerprints on the knife in Reich’s back match Caldwell’s?