Khyber53

And then they had to send Smitty to the farm... You can't have a good team if the leader/best player/highest paid player is a wide receiver. It never works out.

I'm always going to like DJ. Best of luck to him. Wish he was still here, but he was a darned good receiver without someone to throw to him. It was literally a cart before the horse situation. Wish it had worked out differently. I'm blaming it on Matt Rhule.

We're going to be alright. Eventually. If we can get that live arm, we can find someone to catch the balls.

That happens a lot around here. You know.

Ian Thomas isn't a hill I'm willing to die on or spend more time discussing. Good luck!

Oh, the buyer's remorse, you can just feel it in the air. We were blessed by what we did not receive, truly.

Best of luck to him. He's definitely a good guy to have around and its good to see him getting to continue his career. Say what you will, but he's succeeded where a lot of guys have failed.

Let's not crown anyone yet. There were so many people singing Tepper's praises for being aggressive when he went after Matt Rhule and kept him away from New York. Sooo many people were popping the champagne corks then. I'm more optimistic now than then, by a long way, but we've still not played a single snap of 2023's season yet. Let's hope it goes well.

Right now that $2 million and not having to fill the roster spot could be important. Had we cut him and had to back fill there's an expense there. There's also a shortage of draft pick spots right now and while TE was much, much more important to fill a few days ago, now we're looking at really having to use that on WR, perhaps multiple times. Lastly, neither you nor I know how big of a deal Thomas is in the locker room and if the rebuild is going to really take off fast, sometimes you keep some of these guys just to keep it from looking like we're having a wholesale hog killing. We may need him for Special Teams, too, where he has been a contributor, if not a standout. Warm bodies and all...

Can't remember a more active offseason in Panthers history. I sure hope all of this works out because the recipe they are working on is looking great so far!

It's going to help. Anything to keep this truck rolling, things have been pretty amazing so far.

Him passing on the guaranteed 3 year contract says a lot about what he wants. He wants to be at the top of the pay scale and be 100% guaranteed. The Ravens are saying they can't do both. And I can see the Ravens' point. I mean, Lamar wouldn't slow play coming back for an injury would he? Particularly if he wanted to negotiate and could be sure of getting the big paychecks along the way? he would never put the team at jeopardy for his own wants would he? Or has he done this already? It's something insiders there might know much better than we could. I think they made a fair offer and he refused it unwisely.

I think I could do that and I'm having knee surgery next week... whew dude. C'mon man. I've seen guys move better than that with a lit cigarette still between their lips. Hope he can get his stuff together.

As things are shaking out, there isn't. It's just that this year isn't a great FA market for receivers. And just because it's the best '88 Buick on the lot doesn't make it the best vehicle on the highway. The tight market is going to make some mid-level guys rich and some bubble guys wealthy, too. I mean, someone is going to pay a Robbie Anderson guy too much money this season. I hope it isn't us, again.

We've got other places to spend money than on WR much less a possession receiver (although he is a really good one). Not a great FA receiver market, there are going to be a lot of teams over paying for moderate players. Looks like the draft for us or a trade afterwards maybe.

I like this pick up. Good solid guy, big improvement, the guy is used to winning. We need that. All of that.

If we're drafting a QB at #1, and of course we are, this was the best possible move. Dalton is a good QB with a lot of miles, a lot of wins, 100 more TDs than INTs and is at that stage of his career where he can really mentor someone without trying to take the limelight away. The fact he spent the last season getting to know the opponents in the NFCSouth and New Orleans' predilections in particular is a big plus. Smart grab.

He's a decent center, he'll find a new home before training camp. Best of luck to him. Luckily for us, things really gelled with Bozeman at center this past season.

A veteran back up QB who has field experience is also worth their weight in gold sitting on the bench beside the young starting QB. Second set of eyes, someone to keep them on an even keel when they game gets tough, someone who can tell the diva receiver to back off or step up. Honestly, this is where you need a Ryan Fitzpatrick or Derek Anderson. Hopefully McCown can handle it, but still...

It's true, but it still hurts to hear it.

Sometimes it's not the guy, but where they ended up. Coaching and team quality have soooo much to do with this. Had Mayfield or Darnold ended up in Buffalo or Baltimore would they have succeeded thanks to the solid coaching there? Maybe, but most certainly they'd have done better. Had Lamar or Josh ended up at Cleveland or the Jets? I don't think either of them would have been looking at a second contract from those teams... train wrecks are train wrecks. So, here we sit, trying to get just the right guy. Too small, too inexperienced, too inconsistent, too much of a program player??? That's not so much the question for us. The question is do we have the QB brain trust in place that we think we do? Can they really develop a QB? A lot points to us having the coaching in place. We also have an offensive line in place and a defense that might help a young QB with plenty of opportunities. Shooo, this is going to be a real experience here. I hope it is exciting and rewarding. It will not be dull.

Whew~! Glad this one is done and squared away. The right center makes the line. The wrong center kills it. We've seen both. We've got the right guy again. And if you want a good QB, you get them a reliable center. Smart move.

We gave up a lot of resources and capital to get that #1 pick which says to me that Reich and Fitterer know exactly who they want to take. The only reason they might trade back is if something comes up between now and then that puts a serious ding in the player's reputation or potential. If we trade back, even to #2, it will tell us a lot about who they wanted and how bad the ding is. Trading back is going to be very hard to recoup what we have already put into the price for #1. We just put most of our chips in the center of the table, it's not likely anyone is going to be willing to either raise or allow us to "unsplash" the pot here.

I've been wondering about this and could not remember seeing Shy play. That happens sometimes with NT kind of guys, not a lot of glory there. Here's hoping we can do it. Still would love to see us pick up Mazi in the mid-draft.