Mr. Scot

I realize since you're a Kentucky fan this might not apply to you, but here's the question I ask in general to fans of Levis. Is it really Levis that you want to draft or are you wanting to draft the next Josh Allen and you hope Levis is that guy?

Ever hear the saying "there are three things that can happen when you throw a pass, and two of them are bad"? Drafting a quarterback is a lot like that.

The way I typically see it phrased is "well that kind of speed / arm strength / athleticism / whatever isn't coachable, so you draft that and then coach the other parts". And yes I've seen that here, but not just here. This is one of my biggest disagreements with our buddy Ellis. He's a big proponent of that philosophy.

Well as far as plans go, if we're going to take a guy high in the draft, the plan needs to be to develop him and build around him. If we're just gonna put a guy through his rookie year and then discard him because he wasn't an instant All Pro, we might as well hire Jon Gruden for head coach because that's what he did.

Pretty much. Here's the problem: The average fan sees three or four "highlight reel" plays and they're ready to fit a guy for his gold jacket. Scouts don't have that kind of luxury. They have to watch every single play of every game to get an idea of whether a guy can consistently play well rather than just flashing once in a while. Hell, the worst quarterbacks / biggest draft busts in NFL history all have amazing college highlight reels that convinced people they were going to be phenomenal in the pros. The additional problem with a portion of the Panthers fanbase is, even after all this time, they're still pining for Newton. So whenever they see an athletic quarterback they either think "Oh it's Cam, he's come back to us" or "Okay he's not Cam, but maybe we can coach him into being Cam". In reality, the best thing you can do is stop looking for "the next Cam" (or the next anyone else, for that matter) and just start scouting quarterbacks on their own merits. And to be clear, those merits start with their quarterback skills, not their athleticism.

Then you don't want Ken Dorsey.

Maybe not in those terms, but the argument that you look at a guys physical characteristics first because "you can teach the other stuff" is being made on a daily basis. Reality: That approach fails more often than it succeeds. Now the most common response I get to that is people saying "oh well you just want some unathletic pocket passer". Wrong. I want a guy who is a capable passer. Whether or not he's athletic is the part I don't give a sh-t about.

Yeah but see, you can take any guy who's got great athletic characteristics and teach him how to play quarterback. (or so I've been told)

It is?

I'm kinda iffy on Dorsey. I had moved away from Ben Johnson but after today's game I might be interested again.

No issue with the playcall. Would have been a touchdown with better execution.

Outside counsel hopefully including (or being) Kevin Colbert.

If they are, they're doing it quietly. The official story right now is that they're not focusing on evaluating anybody but Steve Wilks.

I had speculated primarily on Freddie Kitchens and Rob Chudzinski as guys that works had history with. He doesn't have history with Hamilton as I recall, but as a guy who might be fired he'd have been an option.

Reich ran a Super Bowl winning offense with Nick Foles in Philly. As far as Wentz, he was broken and trading for him was a mistake. Pretty much the same story with Ryan, and yhe decision to trade for him wasn't made by Reich.

Marv Levy too...didn't win a Super Bowl but took his team to four straight.

In context, that group isn't actually specific to the Panthers. As far as Steichen, he's actually one of the first names mentioned. And on his own rather than as part of an list. As far as ascending talents, Philly might be a good place to start. The Eagles' offense has only improved under coordinator Shane Steichen's watch. And defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon impressed in the interview cycle last year (including with Houston, which we mentioned above), and his defense sits at No. 2 in yardage allowed, right under the 49ers and coordinator Demeco Ryans, who will definitely be a hot name. When I talk to teams, they mention Philadelphia as a place that should get many interview request slips for their coordinators.

So with thanks to @CashNewton22, here's the section of the article that pertains to us. Graziano: I'd like to stop here for a second and talk about Payton, because I think just about every team with an opening will want to talk to him. Carolina, for example, would probably love a chance to throw a pile of money at Payton. But my sense is that he'll be picky and will look for a spot where the QB situation is solid, first and foremost. That's why I think a lot of people are connecting him with a potential Chargers opening. People would line up to coach Justin Herbert if that job came open. If not there, I've been told to watch Arizona as a potential Payton destination (again, assuming there's an opening there). And your point is well taken about the fact that an interested team would actually have to give the Saints some compensation in return for Payton, since he's still under contract with New Orleans. Makes me think it's even less likely that NFC South rival Carolina would have a chance. As for "retreads," don't rule out the recently fired Frank Reich as a coach teams will want to talk to. Whether Reich wants to jump back in is a fair question, but I'd be surprised if, say, Carolina didn't at least want to have a chat. On the assistants front, Denver defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero is a candidate of interest to multiple teams -- including, potentially, Denver, if it moves on from Hackett and doesn't turn to someone like Dan Quinn. Offensive coordinators Ben Johnson in Detroit, Ken Dorsey in Buffalo and Brian Callahan in Cincinnati are also on teams' lists. Fowler: For sure, teams are always intrigued by young offensive minds with leadership qualities, and from what I've heard all three of those OCs would fit that mold. I believe the Panthers will interview many of the hot offensive names, looking for someone who can cure that side of the ball. From first-year OCs with upside such as Johnson and Dorsey, to seasoned playcallers such as Reich, the Panthers will do their research. Dallas' Kellen Moore should be a fixture yet again, and teams could look into Seattle OC Shane Waldron and Miami OC Frank Smith for the work they've done with Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa. Giants OC Mike Kafka ... not many have done more with less. He has earned himself a place on the circuit. Minnesota OC Wes Phillips has pedigree (Wade's son) and has helped the Vikings to an 8-2 start. Scott Turner has done a nice job getting Washington back on track with Taylor Heinicke at QB. And even though the Jets' offense is struggling, New York OC Mike LaFleur could gain traction eventually (after all, the other Kyle Shanahan disciples -- Mike McDaniel, Robert Saleh -- have had great success as head coaches). ... Takeaways: First off, this article is heavily speculative. There aren't many specific connections from inside sources or anything like that. Their conclusions regarding Peyton and the Panthers though are fairly solid. Basically it breaks down to 1) we might want him 2) he probably doesn't want us and 3) even if he did, the Saints wouldn't let us have him anyway. So if you haven't already put that thought out of your mind, you probably should. As far as coaches they do connect with Carolina, Frank Reich is one of them. The only others they mention specifically in that context are Ken Dorsey and Ben Johnson, but they hint that we may look at several other young offensive mind types. Also to be clear, the list of guys they give from Shane Waldron down to Mike LaFleur is not specifically related to the Panthers. It's just a group of guys they think will get general consideration.

He did indeed mention it as an option in his presser, though the response was somewhat garbled so it was hard to make out exactly what he said To be clear though, never mentioned any changes or potential changes at GM.

Paywall...

Plus he's apparently an a--hole...

Two issues regarding the Spanos family... One, there's chatter they're not happy with Brandon Staley Two, they're the Spanos family

I think most of us knew by this point that he wasn't coming here. Surprised the Cowboys aren't listed though