Mr. Scot

I'll take "Things I didn't need to know for a hundred, Alex" Okay, one more thing... In the postmortem, I see some folks saying Tepper should be applauded because he tried to make a "big move". That's cool and all, but what I really want in team leadership are people who make smart moves, regardless of whether they be small, medium or large. Mind you, I don't hate Tepper. As it was with Marty Hurney, I'm not gonna hate somebody for being bad at their job. But make no mistake, he is bad at his job.

In Purgatory? (could be Limbo, I suppose)

Lady Cowboy Fan has her next surgery soon. Gonna be challenging to work around for both of us.

One thing... Free agency seems to be going nicely. Feels different than last year. Can't help but think that Dan Morgan being a full participant in the offseason might be the difference.

Appreciate the shout out. I have some real world things to deal with in the weeks ahead, but time out can be beneficial. Helps clear your head. Best from me...

Panthers tied for 29th... From the article: Defensive end Brian Burns has been a good pick for Carolina, with 25 1/2 sacks in three seasons and a Pro Bowl nod in 2021. He tallied a “10” AV last year. Burns’ pressure rate was 10.5 percent in 2021, down from 13.2 percent in 2020. Offensive lineman Dennis Daley has started 21 games during his first three seasons filling in for injured players. FYI: The other team ranked 29th is the Jets. The two teams ranked lower are the Eagles (31st) and the Bears (32nd). As to how the ranking was done: A three-season resume is widely considered the baseline for when NFL teams can begin to accurately evaluate the hits or misses in a draft class. With that in mind, I dove in for another one of my draft audits, using Pro Football Reference’s “Approximate Value” to judge the success or lack thereof of each team’s 2019 class. An explanation of the methodology the author mentions can be found at the link below... Sports Reference: Approximate Value Methodology

Panthers trade two first round picks for Sean Gilbert. Panthers trade future first round pick to move up and take Everette Brown. Panthers trade three picks for Sam Darnold. I'd like any or all of those trades back

He's very well qualified to be a college coach. Heh

...and says we probably shouldn't be looking for big names, or necessarily all that many new ones. Offensive line fix may not mean many new names Excerpts... The Panthers look ahead to the start of free agency with a clear need to improve the offensive line, and a few avenues to pursue which could get them there. But it's likely to be more a more surgical approach than a total revamp. Part of that will be developing some existing young options under a coach with a reputation for making players better. But part of that's going to be bringing in some help, even if it's not the kind of bulk purchases some might expect. ... This year, there are some brand-name players actually on the market, but as we explained earlier this week, the Panthers aren't poised to make a splash for an established left tackle like Terron Armstead or a Pro Bowl regular like guard Brandon Scherff. But the Panthers don't need names, they need a couple of parts to build with. And armed with the sixth pick in a draft deep in tackles, there's a chance to create a significant improvement without blowing the budget on one guy in March. ... The sixth overall pick offers a chance to find a long-term answer at left tackle. Even if Evan Neal and Ickey Ekwonu go in the top five, there's a group of guys including Charles Cross, Trevor Penning, and a few others who could give the Panthers hope at a position they haven't had since Jordan Gross retired. That's a more cost-effective approach than finding a solution in free agency. ... While Armstead is one of the top tackles in the game, he could also command $20 million a year on a long-term deal. That would chew up the bulk of the room created by a couple of restructured contracts over the last week. But the guard market is particularly deep, and full of players who would be of immediate help. Scherff played under the franchise tag in Washington the last two seasons, and will be looking for top-of-the-market money. And he'll deserve it. There are plenty of options beyond him, though. Players such as Laken Tomlinson and James Daniels (unknown to many fans, but known commodities in the league) would provide immediate upgrades, but both could be costly. Austin Corbett just won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams, and the former second-round pick is still just 26, which would make him an intriguing fit on multiple levels. Some older options, including Rodger Saffold and former Panther Andrew Norwell, are also more than serviceable. And someone from that group, or an equivalent, arriving in free agency is a reasonable expectation. ... If the Panthers are able to find a better-than-capable starting guard in free agency, and head into a tackle-heavy draft with a top-10 pick, then things begin to look a lot more stable up front without the kind of drastic overhaul some might expect. They know they have an answer at right tackle in Taylor Moton. Pat Elflein played better at center than he did at guard early last year, and has the kind of toughness and experience in the middle a developing team needs. ... There's also a clump of young players who got varying degrees of time last year who offer some promise. First among those is Brady Christensen, who could play left tackle. But if they find one of those in the draft, Christensen would likely slide inside to guard. Regardless, they view him as a starter. ... Panthers head coach Matt Rhule admitted at the Combine that he was torn about how Christensen was used last year. He started six games, bouncing from side to side and from tackle to guard and back, before settling in at left tackle late. "I may well should have stepped up say, ''Hey, let's play him earlier,'" Rhule said. "But I do think playing him slow allowed him to play really well at the end of the year. And so there was some benefit to it. But you know, in some ways, I wonder if we should have done it better." ... Rhule also said the offense under new coordinator Ben McAdoo would be a little more physical up front, with more "downhill" running. That suits larger players such as Deonte Brown (6-foot-4, 335 pounds) and Michael Jordan (6-foot-6, 315 pounds), the kind of young players new line coach James Campen has had success grooming in the past. His lines in Green Bay seldom featured first-round picks (and it's obviously easier when you have a star quarterback), but he developed a number of mid-round picks into solid starters, if not stars. That can't be the only method, however. They need to find at least a couple of upgrades in free agency and the draft. ... Regardless of what happens at any other position, that's what the Panthers need to accomplish. And even though they'll likely be active next week in terms of gauging the market, they don't have to make the biggest splash to make a significant improvement.

Coming up at the University of Florida, March 24-26. ... No, really...

Correct. Anyone thinking this is a quick process is misguided. If he goes to trial, it could very well be a long time before anything's resolved. (and that's independent of the civil stuff)

Asking them what they think about a coaching hire is fine. But no team in the league, at least at this point, is dumb enough to let a player actually pick his own head coach. If other star players want someone different, do you give them a say or just tell them to shut up? If that coach sucks, do you keep him around because that's who the player wants? If the player is bad, do you think the coach he picked out is going to be the right guy to tell him? Once the player retires do you keep the last guy's coach or do you let the next guy pick his head coach? The whole idea is unforgivably stupid on a dozen different levels.

It's actually for information about a pretty important proceeding for us. I imagine if there are updates, they can be posted here as well. How people feel is how they feel.

The Jets weren't his first head coaching job. He was with the Dolphins before them.

Yeah Has pretty much that exact same thought as I was posting this.

Adam Gase did get rehired. Ron Rivera got rehired. Matt Rhule will not. There are very few things I consider to be absolute certainty when it comes to football, but one of them is this: If Matt Rhule is fired from the Panthers (and he should be) he's never getting another NFL job. He's that bad a pro coach.

Retread hires tend to overwhelmingly be NFL guys, not college coaches. More often than not, college coaches who fail in the NFL and go back to college don't get a second chance to ascend.

Related... Not all the players in this drama may be known just yet...

I'm not thinking so much of Kaepernick as I am Watson.

Rhule has full roster control. He's the one who picked the talent he's got.

Will you be getting a job in the NFL anytime soon? Doubt it, land neither will Matt Rhule be getting another one if he loses this one.

I think a pretty good portion of us would be. The problem with this approach is that it's not necessarily of great benefit to that one guy who really needs to save his ass this season. I know we don't give a sh-t, but he does and unfortunately he's in position to do something about it.