Mr. Scot

From today's MMQB: Why the Panthers made their move In last week’s GamePlan, we gave you the A-to-Z on the Sam Darnold trade from the Jets’ perspective. So in the interest of equal time, I thought it was important to give you the same sort of look at the deal from the other side. And really, there is one place where the stories match up perfectly: Both started with an important new hire coming from the NFC West on Jan. 14. That’s right, only a few hours separated the Jets’ striking a deal to make Robert Saleh their head coach, and the Panthers’ tabbing Seattle exec Scott Fitterer to be their new general manager. So that’s where Carolina’s quarterback pursuit began. • The Panthers’ big swing for Matthew Stafford—an offer that included the eighth pick, a fifth-rounder and Teddy Bridgewater—fell short. From there, Fitterer and coach Matt Rhule started to reset at the quarterback position. Deshaun Watson was the biggest fish in the pond, but through January and February (before news broke of his legal situation), Texans GM Nick Caserio hadn’t shown, to any team, an appetite for even discussing a trade, telling them some variation of “You can ask me about anyone but the quarterback.” • Darnold’s name first came up in February meetings, along with other potentially available quarterbacks, as the team worked through its offseason plan at all positions. Both Fitterer and Rhule had interesting background on Darnold—since Fitterer interviewed for the Jets’ GM job in the spring of 2019 and the Jets had made a run at poaching Rhule from Baylor a few months before that. The Jets had Rhule meet with Darnold, and it struck Rhule how Darnold seemed to have as good a handle of what it took to win as anyone, with all his questions centered on culture and team-building, rather than X’s-and-O’s. For his part, Fitterer remembered feedback from Jets owner Christopher Johnson, president Hymie Elhai and coach Adam Gase, and how each thought of Darnold as a person. • Fitterer also had his own evaluation from Darnold’s time at USC, having written up the former first-team All-Pac 12 quarterback as an even-keeled guy beloved in the Trojans’ program, who consistently rose to the occasion when the stakes were high, and a very good athlete capable of making throws to every level of the field. Rhule and Fitterer’s subsequent look at Darnold’s tape showed flashes of what everyone saw in him at USC, where he could get outside the pocket and rip it to wherever he wanted. • The initial phone call to the Jets was … interesting. Fitterer and Rhule called from director of player personnel Pat Stewart’s phone, since Stewart was closest with New York GM Joe Douglas. Douglas answered in a sort of ditzy voice—“Stu-ert?”—and Fitterer and Rhule were caught off-guard. Stewart wasn’t. It was an inside joke referencing the Stuart character on Saturday Night Live’s Californians skit. After the initial awkwardness, Douglas told the Panthers’ crew that he needed to get through the pro days for the top quarterback prospects in the draft and get medicals for all of them, but to stay in touch. And through natural conversation in the weeks to come, the Jets and Panthers did. • Since the Jets and Panthers were among the teams to send full crews to the big quarterback pro days, Fitterer, Rhule and Douglas found themselves in the same place at the same time a bunch. But for a while, there wasn’t a ton to talk about. In fact, at Trey Lance’s March 12 pro day in Fargo, there wasn’t much communication between GMs, other than a quick hello. • That changed on March 26 in Provo, Utah. That morning, Fitterer was standing next to 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters when Carolina PR chief Bruce Speight texted him that San Francisco had made a massive move up the board to land the third pick from Miami. Fitterer flashed the text to Peters, who flashed a smile back at him. (The Panthers had previously kicked around the idea of dealing up, but decided fairly early on that the price would be prohibitive for where they were in building the team.) As BYU QB Zach Wilson finished throwing, Fitterer found Douglas, asked about Darnold, and they agreed to talk during the week to follow, with both teams sending sizable groups to Columbus for Justin Fields’s Ohio State pro day. • The Jets and Panthers talked again on March 29, the night before Fields was to throw, then lingered afterward in Ohio State’s field house to continue the conversation. By that Friday, April 2, both sides felt like a deal was close. They talked again on Saturday, paused on Easter morning, with more texts back-and-forth late on that Sunday afternoon. And on Monday morning, the final hurdles were being cleared. • For the Panthers, based on how their draft board sets up and their needs, it was important to hold onto their slotted picks in the first (No. 8), second (No. 39) and third (No. 73) rounds. So the compromise, with the Jets asking for “a second-rounder plus,” was to have the two come in 2022. And initially, the concept Carolina was working off was to have two later 2021 picks as part of the deal, but the sides couldn’t quite make the terms work under those parameters. So Carolina moved the sixth-rounder it was offering this year down (Carolina has three sixth-rounders and gave the Jets the last one), and the 2021 fifth-rounder they were offering up to a fourth-rounder and into next year. That leaves the Panthers with seven picks in this year’s draft, which gives them a shot to fill needs and potentially move some picks to 2022 to replace those they just dealt away.

FYI, that's FMIA, not MMQB.

Yeah, same MO. Latch on to and obsess over a single concept that he thinks makes him look smarter than everybody else (in this case believing that he understands how David Tepper does business) while not understanding that all it really does is annoy people. Then make a bunch of bold predictions based on that, pretty much all of which turn out to be wrong, but still talk as if he were a big deal. And therein lies the problem, I think. He wants to be a big deal, but the way he goes about it just isn't productive.

...Kevin James? Paul Blart, NFL Coach? Brings up the question, who should play Sean Payton?

Pretty sure it's our old friend, Sanjay. He pulls a lot of the same dumb stunts. Won't be too surprised if he gets banned again soon. I know he the living sh-t out of the mods with some of this stuff.

I wouldn't hold my breath on either of those things happening.

This is basically how Ryan Grigson ran the Colts. It's a huge reason why Grigson got fired and why Andrew Luck is now retired.

I gotcha. Is this part of the same scenario where the Jets don't take Zach Wilson?

If we have an opportunity to get a premier left tackle that'll protect our quarterback for the next ten years, there's no way in hell we should pass on him.

Like we did two years ago? Every time we have an opportunity to possibly get a franchise left tackle, we find some excuse not to take them. This is the year to break that trend.

Some of them aren't very good.

Who's playing left tackle in this scenario?

No it isn't.

I could live with Pitts, but dammit I want a ten year left tackle.

Sewell... Slater... Darrisaw as a fall back... You might notice a trend here.

The Bengals are the biggest threat to take my favorite pick (Sewell).

Don't know who this guy is but Ellis seems to agree with him. As mentioned many times, I want OL.

What the hell?

Somebody from ESPN or NFL Network should interview that kid as part of their draft coverage

In what many are saying is one of the best OL drafts in a long time, we're in a prime position to get an elite left tackle prospect that could anchor that spot for the next ten years. If we come away without that, I'm gonna be really disappointed.

As someone pointed out a while back, Fitterer isn't used to picking this high.

There's a version of that where they dubbed in Jim Ross's voice

Said it elsewhere: Darnold's age isn't what gets me so much as it is just how little experience he has playing quarterback. You can coach him up like a rookie without having to worry about helping him adjust to the speed of the NFL.