Mr. Scot

I'm an old man. I'd definitely love to see a good Panthers team sooner rather than later A month ago, the idea of standing pat with Bridgewater for another year would have sounded incomprehensible to me. Even today, the thought makes me cringe. But with all that said, it might just happen. Hope not, but who knows?

I've heard that too.

After how he looked against the Saints?

That's definitely an option. The closer we get to the draft though, seems like it's growing less and less likely that we'll be able to acquire one of those guys without trading up.

There's still the possibility they could trade for someone like Darnold or Mariota, but Voth seemed indicate that if we don't get Watson, the most likely Plan B is to look to the draft. Others have said similar things. It definitely doesn't sound farfetched.

I know some folks think because he's got enough money to buy the world Tepper will automatically get whatever he wants, but that's not realistic in the NFL (ask Jerry Jones). As to the topic Voth and Gantt have been pretty consistent in their statements about it. The basic facts are as follows. - The Panthers would love to trade for Watson - As of right now, the Texans are not willing to trade Watson and aren't listening to offers - The Texans might change their mind later, but it's not guaranteed - if that does happen, plenty of other teams will make offers as well - The Panthers are not necessarily in position to make as good an offer as some other teams - They do have other options, including trading for someone else or going to the Draft - Trying to get their first choice in the Draft won't exactly be easy either - And yeah, when all is said and done, we could be back to Bridgewater for one more year The basic summary is that wanting him is easy. Getting him would be extremely difficult. I'm not a real big fan of watching another season of what I saw last year, but there's not a whole lot any of us can do about that.

Not my answer. It's Bill's, and it's pretty straightforward. As he mentioned, much can change, but that's where we stand right now.

Read the first tweet. Q: As of today's date, do you think we'll open next season with the same quarterback (Bridgewater)? A: Correct. Much can change but I'd say as of today, it's Teddy.

Yeah, word has been that the Raiders have moved away from dealing Carr but are open to trading Mariota. Theres been speculation that the Patriots might look into that deal. Judy Batista also mentioned that this trade likely lowers the asking price for other quarterbacks like Sam Darnold.

Darin Gantt has said the same or similar things. Nobody wants to hear that another year with Bridgewater as the starter is a real possibility. Unfortunately, it appears to be. Sounds like Voth considers it the most likely possibility at the moment.

The number of potential bidders might. In that scenario though, and even accepting the premise that his value could drop, that wouldn't necessarily mean that the Texans would lower their demands.

I remember thinking it was outside of Colbert's usual MO. There's been a lot of chatter over the last few years that Colbert was losing influence to Tomlin. May very well be something to that.

The NFL has never had a shortage of people with small brains and large egos. When such people get involved in decision making, things go wrong.

Tepper at least seems to now understand that was a mistake. I'm still iffy on whether or not he turns out to be a good owner. Seeing if he backs off and lets his football people do their jobs will be a big part of answering that question in the years to come.

I'd lay pretty good odds that the bags and the booing are gonna happen anyway. I can't imagine being a Texans fan right now.

Well, remember who Roaring Riot said was the prime mover on that deal. Factoring that in makes it a whole lot easier to understand how it happened.

A scenario where the Texans hold on to Watson long enough for most or all of the potential suitors to go in other directions, then decide they want to trade him, isn't really that hard to imagine.

Looking at Newton last year, I think most of us agreed letting him go was the right call. Whether it was done for the right reasons is a separate question though. That we whiffed on our first attempt to replace him is probably not something that would get a lot of argument.

Update on the conditions that would elevate next year's second round pick to a first rounder...

Jourdan Rodrigue told us a long time back that both Ron Rivera and Marty Hurney were prepared to offer Newton an extension but Tepper said no.

I'm not completely sold on any scenario that assumes the Texans are going to do what makes sense. They've repeatedly demonstrated a very strong ability to do things that make no sense whatsoever.

That has been the weirdest frigging situation to watch. After firing Pederson, the Eagles stated they were commited to Wentz. Then they went out and hired a head coach with a secondary connection to him through Frank Reich, the idea of being that maybe they could fix him. Then Matt Stafford got traded, and all of a sudden it was like the Eagles thought "hey, we could do that". (clearly, they couldn't) And now he's traded. Oy...

Unless he's completely out of touch (which I grant is a real possibility) you have to think McNair knows the majority of people want Easterby gone. And even if McNair doesn't know, I have zero doubt Nick Caserio does. But given their prior connection with the Patriots, will he do anything about it?

LaCanfora's speculation made it sound like Tepper wanted to replace Newton regardless, basically so he could have "his guy" in there. Valid? Don't know, but other things I've read do make me wonder.

Don't know if you're an Athletic subscriber but their article chronicling how it got to this point is a great read.