Mr. Scot

Roster looks to be improved, except possibly at quarterback. The OL could be significantly improved and has a new coach with a great rep. Coaching staff is likely overall better, though I'm still not a fan of Phil Snow.

As to Lance... Acho referred to him as "One Play Trey". There's also thoughts from Peter king, who while he supports Lance says he's heard a "din" of negative comments and acknowledges that Lance's inexperience is concerning, mentioning that he only threw 318 passes in his entire college career. Lots of people have questions about Lance, many of them centering around the fact that even when garoppolo needed surgery, the Niners wouldn't start him.

Betting on the wisdom of the Cleveland Browns is certainly a bold strategy.

Plaintiffs attorney shouting from the rooftops while Watson's attorney "declined comment" doesn't exactly paint a picture of victory for Watson's side. Watson swore he'd fight till the end. Guess not.

Can't say I find a lot of comfort in saying "Hey, at least we're not the worst ever!"

I go into every season hoping for the best. That said, my name expectation is that we'll follow the pattern of looking decent early but falling off a cliff by midseason.

You should know by now I don't give a damn about stats. I've watched both. Heck, Mayfield had a game against Lamar Jackson where he looked damn near elite. I can't say I've ever watched a Garoppolo game and come away thinking he looked great, or even good for that matter. I've definitely seen more than one where I thought he looked awful though.

I don't either. But if I'm forced to choose, no question I'm taking Mayfield.

No, but to be fair, he's losing it to Deshaun Watson. Garoppolo is losing his to a guy who's reported to still be struggling even with a few years under his belt. And while I'm not a Mayfield fan, objectively speaking he's got way more good film on record than Garoppolo.

Garoppolo can't even save his own job.

I don't think Jones has the kind of name recognition that merits putting his name up. Hence "analyst". If somebody like Rapoport or Breer has said it, that would have been different.

What about the thread title here is inaccurate or misleading? It's pretty much exactly what happened.

Yes, one of them is us. The other two are very familiar. Along with the Panthers, former scout Tom Rudawsky lists the Commanders and the Falcons as teams that are just treading water at this point. Regarding the Panthers, Rudawsky writes this: Moving down the east coast from the nation’s capital to Charlotte, North Carolina, we have another NFC team that feels like they’re swimming in the pools of average. After starting 3-0 in 2021, the bottom fell out on the Panthers, as they went 2-12 the remainder of the season, finishing with five wins for the third straight year. Some would argue this isn’t mediocrity – it’s just plain bad. However, I don’t view the Panthers as a bad football team. I do think there’s been positives to Matt Rhule’s tenure and what Carolina has in place moving forward. This is a young, athletic team with a lot of speed on the perimeter – something that makes them hard to play against. They are building an identity defensively, with a deep cornerback group and some impressive players in the front seven such as Brian Burns and Shaq Thompson. On offense, Christian McCaffrey and D.J. Moore are legit studs at their respective positions – granted if they can stay healthy. Like the Commanders, it feels unlikely Carolina will take the next step this season due to their quarterback play. Drafting Matt Corral was a smart decision, as the team needed to shoot for upside – which Corral represents. However, given the offense Corral is coming from at Ole Miss, him being able to start week one feels unlikely, which means more Sam Darnold. This time last year, the jury was still out on Darnold, as some believed he simply needed a new situation and fresh start – then he’d thrive. After the tape he put out there in 2021, that’s a hard opinion to stand behind now. Realistically, can the Panthers win 10+ games with Darnold at the helm and make the playoffs? That seems like a losing bet to make. Really, Carolina’s best shot at a successful 2022 campaign likely includes handing the keys over to Corral at some point while riding the back of a healthy McCaffrey. How likely is that scenario? Well, that’s anyone’s guess, but either way this doesn’t feel like a team with much upside given the major question mark at the game’s most important position. No mention of other quarterback options. Unknown what his opinion might be if a change is made at that spot.

That particular item didn't "come out". It was suggested by a huddler with no sourcing. Barely even qualifies as a rumor...

Albert Breer chimed in on what the team sees in both Darnold and Mayfield right now. • Carolina now has a better picture of where it is at quarterback after nine weeks of the offseason, and the Panthers do like the edge and fight they saw from nice-guy veteran Sam Darnold. That doesn’t mean he wins the job, but there are things new OC Ben McAdoo liked in Darnold to begin with, so the Panthers at least feel like they have something to work with. • As we said in the mailbag earlier in the week, if the Panthers do bring in Baker Mayfield, it’d be because it’s a really good deal for them (which means the money has to be attractive too). What Carolina likes about the idea of Mayfield—he could at least provide them with average play at the position, which you could easily argue would raise the floor for them. Link

Given that I'm not a huge Mayfield fan, not much.

No. It's his own speculation. Question is though, do you believe that Rhule can do enough to justify staying by starting Sam Darnold or Matt Corral?

No, we weren't. A huddler speculated on it but there was no source. And Jones isn't saying anything about whether Rhule (or anyone else) wants to trade for Mayfield or not anyway. He's saying that he needs to trade for him if he wants to save his job. Reading comprehension isn't really your thing, is it? But hey, I guess you don't need to actually understand something to criticize it. That's always been your MO.

From the article: Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule will be looking for employment if he allows Sam Darnold to quarterback the team this year, says at least one NFL analyst. That was the sentiment that NFL Total Access’ James Jones recently delivered when asked about the potential to acquire Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. “I don’t care about the money. You have to go get Baker Mayfield. If you do not win in this league as a head coach, you get fired. If you do not have a good quarterback in this league, you cannot win, that’s been proven. We’ve seen this year after year after year,” said Jones, a former Super Bowl-winning wide receiver who caught an NFL-leading 14 touchdown passes in 2012. “Baker Mayfield right now coming off the streets, wherever he’s at in Cleveland, makes this team better. He is a better player and a better quarterback. We’ve seen the best of Sam Darnold, we can’t keep giving Darnold more chances. Baker Mayfield led this Cleveland Browns team to the playoffs and won on the road in Pittsburgh... If you do not bring in a quarterback you are going to end up being fired depending on Sam Darnold,” said Jones.

Yet we've had people on here suggesting we should trade for a mediocre quarterback like Jimmy Garoppolo based on the idea that "he's a winner". Can you imagine arguing for something that stupid?

Good thing Tepper failed in his two year quest to trade for him, huh?

More so than his massage therapists, at least

Apparently I kill more dreams than Freddy Krueger

I wouldn't bet on that.

I'd say people have noticed.