Mr. Scot

Here are some actual answers, and there honestly is some good info in here: Person describes Scott Fitterer and Dan Morgan as "cooking burgers and having beers in the backyard" close, so he believes the assistant GM job is Morgan's to lose. Regarding Justin Fields, Person confirms that the Panthers interest in him was largely a smokescreen trying to bait other teams to trade up. That David Tepper wanted him was true, but he wasn't going to force it. Also as previously suggested, Fitterer and Rhule weren't sold on anybody other than Trevor Lawrence and Zack Wilson. And yes, they do have a lot of confidence in Sam Darnold, more than they did Justin Fields (which is kinda obvious at this point). Said that the Panthers brass had really zeroed in on Jaycee Horn over the last few weeks leading up to the draft, but that if Penei Sewell had dropped to eight it would have made things very interesting. Mentioned that the Panthers don't appear to be interested in former Bears tackle Charles Leno, or in signing a veteran for the backup quarterback role. Regarding last year, said he doesn't believe Marty Hurney ever really embraced the rebuild (and given that he was on an expiring contract, that's not surprising). The end result wound up being kind of a partial, half ass rebuild that included signing guys like Bridgewater. While attempting to trade up, the Bears didn't offer the Panthers as good a deal as they did the Giants (which doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's the Bears). A few quick hits: Believes there's a good chance the free safety spot could be manned by Jeremy Chinn... Sets the over under for wins this season at 8.5... Doesn't believe that Darnold failing would get Rhule or Fitterer fired... Thinks the team could have "real competition" at the kicker spot... Rookie minicamp will be next weekend...

How would you know?

Some of my birds have a "thousand yard stare".

For Athletic subscribers, going on now...

How do you know he's not wearing a kilt? How do you know I'm not?

I know it's a big part of what the Saints have been doing since Payton got there. As much as anything, it's just nice to see something different than those old Shula route combos that too frequently had two players running to the same spot.

I think there may be some requirement that he has to do things to live up to a screen name.

Sorry, no. And FYI, "the other guy" is a bot.

I actually made mine first.

I remember when Fozzy Whitaker was our primary backup. Guess you could say we've gone from Waka Waka to Hubba Bubba.

You shouldn't. Jones was a great special teamer but a terrible safety.

Now the team just has to do this ten more times

Sometimes when a team announces they're going to cut somebody, they're fishing for a trade. Of course, if teams know you're just going to release them anyway, there's not necessarily as much incentive.

To be fair, he's also an NFL sized monster himself.

I think he's the second draft pick to sign across the league. Somebody else signed the first one yesterday but I forget who.

Chuba Hubbard, per Gantt.

Colin Jones hasn't been a Panther since 2019.

McKay had some of the greatest quotes when he was coaching the Buccaneers

You can throw in that the Saints fans really wanted him as well. First off because he's good but also because they loved the idea of having Joe Horn's son. So there's that too...

Happy to help. I was thinking the same thing when I saw it, though I can't claim to have watched enough of the Dolphins to say anything authoritative about him.

Kinda like you.

At least our scouts don't have to deal with the bullsh-t the ones in Philadelphia and Washington do where they work their asses off all year just to watch the owner come in and make the pick himself. Mentioned it in another thread, but last year the Eagles scouts had a player teed up for their second round pick when Howie Roseman (likely at the request of Jeffrey Lurie) went off script and took Jalen Hurts instead. The player that was next up on the scouts draft board? Jeremy Chinn.

Hey now

Good post. I'd add that Brady likes to scheme pass route combinations that create natural picks (a tendency he likely picked up from Sean Payton).