Mr. Scot

Better chance at a happy ending?

For what it's worth, Mayfield does now appear on the team's official roster. His jersey number is listed as "#--"

There is that, but that wouldn't be my main concern. Guys who produce championship seasons with one team and then move on to another hardly ever reproduce their success. More often than not, they fail to recapture whatever magic was there before. Also, from what I've read the Saints still have his rights and would want him back, so I have a feeling getting him might require a trade package that makes the Deshaun Watson deal look like child's play. Beyond that, Payton might want an awful lot of control. And while I acknowledge he's more qualified to ask for something like that than Matt Rhule would be, I'm still not up for it. To top it all off, he'd have to want to come here. Several stories written over the years have had him wanting to coach the Cowboys, not us. It's just not something I see happening, and I'm genuinely not sure I would want it to.

Is it?

Said elsewhere I could easily see a scenario where the offense is much improved but the defense is...not.

I wouldn't think so. Maybe just some tweaks to account for salary he gave up, etc. But ya never know

Should we take that to mean there are...changes to be made? I know they have to adjust the salary he gave up but still...

Last season gave pretty clear evidence that they can.

Without a credible threat on the other side? That's a tough sell. Gets even tougher when you remember that teams have figured out they can run on him.

Neither do the Chiefs anymore...

Former Eagles team President Joe Banner believes the Panthers should have gone ahead and signed Mayfield to a one-year extension. I'd guess the Darnold experience probably prevented that from happening.

They're probably going to need to be good because this year's pass rush isn't likely as good as last year's. Throw in that teams realized they could run on us last year. If they still can, that doesn't help either.

Reasonable take, and one consistent with what we've been hearing. Where it gets sticky is that the Panthers are going to want a potential rate partner to be willing to take on some of Darnold's salary. Even to a team in need, that's a hard sell.

Isn't he the only quarterback on the roster for next year?

Also kinda need Ben McAdoo to be right about Corral but wrong about Mayfield

Reid's probably the best WCO coach in the game right now. Gotta be between him and Payton, I'd think. He's arguably one of the best since Bill Walsh but his postseason record doesn't really hold up that well. (Holmgren and Shanahan were better on that front)

Yeah... wouldn't put money on either of those things happening.

The scenario that keeps running through my mind for the coming season is one where the offense finally looks good...but the defense breaks down. I'm not a big Phil Snow fan so this outcome isn't exactly hard to imagine.

WCO still employs a deep ball. Maybe not as frequently as a Coryell but it's there. Personally, I used to not be a big fan of WCOs but I've warmed to them over the years. When you saw how effective Sean Payton's offense was, it became pretty hard to hate. In the end, I honestly don't care that much either way as long as we win.

Mayfield's had to learn from four different OCs in his career and still managed to look at least decent doing it. To be honest though, I feel like the whole "QB competition" thing is just coachspeak anyway.

Again, all very easy statements to make as a fan who doesn't have any consequences. I don't have a high opinion of Matt Rhule and my expectations for him are very low, but not so low that I expect him to slit his own throat or look at roster decisions with an "eh, whatever" attitude.

About 18 million dollars... Ask yourself this: What happens if Mayfield is lost for the season? Sure, as a fan you may not give a sh-t, but the guys whose livelihood actually depends on team performance? They kinda do Part of running a team is that you do have to plan for possibilities and eventualities. If all that you look at is "right now", then you'd probably do well at the Marty Hurney School of Cap Management.