Mr. Scot

Also funny (from Panthers North)

Wouldn't surprise me at all...

I haven't seen enough to get any sort of read on whether this was the right decision or not. From what I've heard, people do feel like the defensive line underperformed last year. Is that primarily on Mills? Don't know. With that said, it's kind of hard to defer to the guy who put massive amounts of trust in Mike Shula, Richard Rodgers and Eric Washington while telling Ken Dorsey to dial it back and just be Cam Newton's "buddy".

Speaking of stupid things...

Rivera wasn't exactly immune from doing stupid things. Worth remembering he's the reason Marty Hurney has a high level job with the Commanders.

That is, assuming Rhule doesn't throw PJ Walker out there instead

I feel like somebody would have to really own the return game for that to happen.

Jets get confirmation that Becton is gone for the year...

Former (temporary) Panther...

His name shouldn't play any role. With that said, it's not like Ron Rivera has exactly earned the benefit of a doubt when it comes to staffing decisions.

It's not really even about underdogs to me. It's more a priorities thing. There are hundreds of guys coming out of college every year who are fast, agile, strong, whatever. That's not hard to find at all. What I like to see in guys is something that sets them apart from all the others. Heck, during their best years, the Patriots made a living out of looking for smart players.

And worked with the elder Mills... Throw in too that Mills III made the choice to follow Rivera to Washington. I'll say it again. I really want to know the details of this story.

It is. Throw in also that staff decisions were never exactly Rivera's strong suit (remember how long he held on to Eric Washington as his DC). It's possible that Mills wasn't up to being a position coach. Don't know. Again, this is one of those things where I'd like to know more details.

I'd want to know details before I say something like that.

Although I'm pretty sure it's happened before, I can't actually remember the last time I heard of a position coach being fired during training camp. That must have been one hell of a "difference of opinion"

I'll throw another name in there: Luke Kuechly. Luke certainly wasn't a poor athlete, but there are dozens of great athletes playing middle linebacker in the NFL right now. Like Proehl, what made Luke better wasn't the speed of his body, but the speed of his brain. And let's not forget our recent Hall of Famer in this discussion either. I know athleticism is king of everything these days, including when it comes to quarterbacks, but I'm always going to be someone who values the mental side of things first (especially so if you want a guy to have a long career). Again though, I don't know enough to say whether Saunders is one of those kind of players yet. One way or the other, it has to be proven on the field.

Regarding Coach Hoodie... Belichick is the kind of guy whose ego would make him genuinely believe that he could make a working smart phone out of two tin cans and a piece of string. I don't know that his weird staff arrangement this year is going to work, but I can't say I'm surprised if he does.

Don't know if it's practical, but I also don't doubt that he'll look into it...

Just trying to picture commentary on that... "See John, you can clearly tell here that Maynard has forgotten his order of operations. That's crucial in a competition like this. When your parentheses placement is wrong, everything is wrong!!!"

To be fair, I'd imagine similar analyses were made of Ricky Proehl when he first started out. What made Proehl great wasn't that his body moved faster than anyone else's. It was that his mind did. Is Saunders that kind of guy too? Don't know, but if he performs on the field that's what really matters.

Yikes There was a time when Wentz looked like he'd be an MVP candidate for years to come. What an absolute fall from grace...

De-escalators? That's a new one.

Old threads bump, here... Switzer has since announced his retirement.

I'm gonna have to show that to Lady Cowboy Fan It's been nice knowing you guys

How much has it helped Darnold so far?