Mr. Scot

Already accomplished that by being a bird person

I'm moving more in the direction of "cranky old man" every day

Until they happen, it's all theoretical.

Since it came up in another thread and it's tangentially related, here's what Lady Cowboy Fan got me for my birthday... Been wanting this book for a while. She knows me well And because she knows me well, she also got me this (I'm trying to build the complete collection)

Should. Hopefully also will.

I don't know that all that many people thought he would be gone as thought that he should be.

Fair enough, but we should be used to that after 15 years of Marty Hurney.

That's kind of a classy move on his part.

Probably only true until next year though

Can't answer that for Arians, but Bowles does have significantly more coaching experience (including a previous stint as a head coach).

He has final say over the roster, but I've never seen it firmly established that he has hiring and firing power in the personnel department.

From Kings story... The move comes as a surprise but perhaps not a shock. Arians, the most colorful coach in a buttoned-up pro game, said he started thinking about stepping aside at the NFL Scouting Combine a month ago. He is a prostate-cancer survivor and was hospitalized due to an illness late in his first head-coach tenure in Indianapolis in 2012. He’s suffering from a torn Achilles today. But when he explained his reasons, health wasn’t the big thing. He said he’s relinquishing the Tampa job because “succession has always been huge for me. With the organization in probably the best shape it’s been in its history, with Tom Brady coming back … I’d rather see Todd in position to be successful and not have to take some [crappy] job. I’m probably retiring next year anyway, in February. So, I control the narrative right now. I don’t control it next February because [if] Brady gets hurt, we go 10-7, and it’s an open interview for the job … I got 31 [coaches and their] families that depend on me. My wife is big on not letting all those families down.”

I know some people pay attention to analytics and stuff, but I think most of the longtime draft guys would tell you it's not simple (they probably wish it was). The problem with any form of stat based evaluation is that there are waaaay too many variables. Take completion percentage. A quarterback can throw a perfectly accurate pass but it counts against him if it isn't caught. Likewise it could be a terrible pass but if a receiver can make a circus catch, it helps the quarterback look better than he might really be. And yeah, "next gen" folks can try to count drops or "catchable" throws, but those things are awfully subjective. There's an old quote from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart that says something along the lines of "I may not be able to define obscenity, but I know it when I see it". I guess I'm kinda the same way when it comes to good football. I don't worry about the stats from this generation, the next generation or the last generation. I just watch the game. Well, that and study it. Lady Cowboy Fan bought me Steve Belichick's "Football Scouting Methods" book for my birthday. She got me one by Neil Stratton for Christmas too. You could always try reading stuff like that, but I don't think too many folks are that obsessed (like me)

Holy...

I don't know that Rhule holds a lot of sway in the personnel department right now outside of him being old friends with Pat Stewart. He gave Evan Cooper some goofball title having to do with personnel evaluation but I'm not sure he has any actual influence on scouting.

Once you factor in the draft pool and money set aside for the season, it's only about 9 or 10 million really available, and that number only counts the top 51. We won't have anywhere near as much by years end.

That whole "I don't need to watch tape, I just go out and fling it" thing really soured me on Murray.

Only if he's accurate... Remember, the goal on a football play isn't to throw the ball the farthest or the hardest. The goal is to throw it to a spot. Being able to throw it as far as Uncle Rico doesn't matter if it doesn't go where it's supposed to go.

There weren't a whole lot of changes in the scouting department from last year to this year that I know of. My general read is that we're a little less experienced in that area than some other teams but they're hoping to change that. The things that I do know of: - The team promoted BLESTO scout Lee McNeil to Pro Scout - They also parted ways with Pro Personnel Director Matt Allen - Jeff Morrow previously changed titles from Director of Player Personnel to Senior Personnel Executive and is still on board with that title Allen and Morrow are the most interesting stories. Morrow's title change was basically something of a demotion. He used to run the college scouting department but now that's under Cole Spencer. It's a similar move to what Dave Gettleman did when he was preparing to retire (before getting the Panthers GM job). Morrow may also be looking to retire...or may have just lost some favor within the organization. As far as Allen, although he was Jerry Richardson's grandson, the general take was that he legitimately earned his job and was well thought of within the team offices. The sudden news of his departure was kind of a surprise. If any more information has come to light about that, I haven't seen it. Word is they'll look for Allen's replacement sometime later in the offseason, probably after the draft. I wouldn't be too surprised to see other changes happen then too. That's generally the season for it. FYI: If you want to know more about the scouting department, your best option is to look up the Panthers media guide (pretty easily found online). It'll be last year's information, but the team doesn't list scout bios on their website so that's generally the best you can get.

Yep. And several teams signed him thinking they could be the ones to maximize that physical talent. Nobody ever really succeeded.

Dude, you know I don't go by stats. But I don't go by awards either, especially given that if you look back at history you'll see that MVPs generally don't win the Super Bowl in the same year (sometimes not at all). It's the same with "Coach of the Year". People spent a lot of time propping up Ron Rivera because he was a two-time Coach of the Year. It was ultimately meaningless. I have always, and will always, go by what my eyes tell me.

Now Matt Rhule is interested

Or Drew Brees... It's basically buying into the notion that if someone is a physical freak, you can easily teach them how to be a great pro quarterback. Except that's not really true, and more than one team has made big draft mistakes by adhering to that philosophy.