Khyber53

Just one of those great stories! Efe has worked and worked and worked since he got the opportunity to come here and play football. During his stay he has just gotten better and better and I really don't think we've seen the best of him yet.

Here's hoping he has a great 2021 and I sure do enjoy cheering for him!

Find and develop interior linemen, don't buy someone else's expensive castoffs.

Stay away from FA QBs. Draft one now in the first or second, stick with the man and build the team. Like in the rest of life, no one will care what he did in college by the second year, it will just matter what he does while he's on the job.

Churn the roster and get younger and smarter. 

4 hours ago, MHS831 said:

This does not get enough run on this board.  Our TEs were abysmal.  Now everyone wants to talk about TB checking down, and I got frustrated too, but between the WR and the checkdown should be a TE--and we were without.  A dual threat TE would solve a lot of problems.

That's exactly what I was seeing out there on the field. Samuel, before CMC was hurt, was running a lot of the stuff you'd see from a TE in the receiving patterns. It's probably why he wasn't making a big impact early on -- he's just not built for it or really trained to do that right. It disappeared completely after CMC went down, though, as you could see Samuel moving to pick up spots on the field CMC would be in.

Not having a TE didn't just remove receiving opportunities, but it crushed our blocking, too. The guys we have couldn't even throw a decent block. 

Teddy didn't overcome the problems, and to a degree that's on him, but there's no way a QB can cover for ALL the problems our situations created last season.

We need a TE so much more than we need another WR. We need o-line more than anything, TE included.

1 hour ago, Frizzy350 said:

Andrew Luck was:

"a 100% guaranteed multiple SB winning HOF/maybe HOF QB. "

No ring, probably no jacket. Shortened career. Cautionary tale.

Let's just pick the best player available when our pick comes along at #8. We're a mid-card team trying to move up a weight class and rumble with the big boys. It's not the time to get cute and all tricksy. Just to do your own scout work, really grill the players in interviews, picks smarts over marketability, toughness over charisma and do your best to weed out the busts waiting to happen.

And really, really scout hard for picks in the later rounds. Our coach isn't afraid of youth, so make the most of that.

Look, I'm glad to see him get paid and get an honest shot at it. Heck, he could somehow pull a Delhomme and catch lightning in a bottle. Probably not, but I always pull for the underdog.

In the end, they are spending Washington's money, too, so its definitely nothing out of my team's pocket, so spend away! Double it guys!

(I'd also rather have Heinicke on my bench than Grier in case of a dire emergency.)

We seem to be mentioned in every rumor or discussion whenever just about any player (particularly QBs) is brought up. I hope that we have an actual plan in mind and aren't just out there desperately trying to get anyone with a name and a pulse to join the team.

All of these mentions could simply be tons of twitter wannabe journalists just parroting each others' ginned-up rumors, or they could be a serious sign that our front office/coaching just isn't ready for primetime. We could also be thoughtfully making inquiries everywhere to set a smokescreen and to sow chaos.

Sure hope it's to sow chaos and that we really have a plan in place. 

This won't be settled until training camp. It could well end up with Watson sitting at home next season as Texas refuses to trade.

Fine by me. Other people's problems.

Well, let's do the right thing and make sure they don't get another one next year.

Scouting starts??? Starts??? If that's the case, I think I can see where our problem lies.

We should be moving into the final quarter of this season's scouting process.

I'm going to have to assume that's what they mean is happening.

On 2/9/2021 at 12:42 PM, raleigh-panther said:

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2021/02/09/panthers-most-veteran-qb-trade-talks/?fbclid=IwAR3qbf_uSTNAFdGRO3HWU51AF-N6TfrN3C4O3vdxlu435k6ulon3sqFvo7k
 

Why not. Young. Mobile. Firmer number one.  Wouldn’t be as expensive 

could buy time as the Panthers address all the other needs. 
 

 

Teddy Bridgewater, same thing in June 2020. 

Let's pass on this one.

I'd be willing to bet that Brown is trying to renegotiate his contract now. The talk of LT only puts him out there in an area with tons of suitors, but his performance at RT makes him very valuable to the Ravens, particularly their QB-heavy run game that leans heavily on his side of the field. 

Brown is on the books to them next year for a very, very cheap $3.6 million (about 2% of their cap space). The team absolutely stole him in the third round of the 2018 draft and they've made him into a Pro Bowl tackle (alternate, but still...). 

If we could get him, that'd be great, but the Ravens won't let him go. 

17 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Worth remembering the process here...

The Hall of Fame voters are largely media. In order to get in, one of those voters has to present a strong argument for your inclusion.

Smith hasn't always had the greatest relationship with the media.

Now, as a member of the media, he's probably mending many of those relationships. (As difficult as that sounds).

I think he'll make it in, but it might be on the second or third ballot. Smith's story is too compelling, his performance on the field too powerful, his toughness too legendary, his competitiveness too undisputable. Old school sports reporters (who make up most of the voters) can get behind someone they can tell a story about. 

2 hours ago, TheCasillas said:

Plus he would be a FA in @Khyber53's scenario. Which means he'd have to go through all of this medical processessing before pen to paper would ever be considered.

In my scenario if he doesn't get a new contract or a franchise tag, then it doesn't matter if he's a free agent because he will be unable to perform anywhere near his previous levels.

The Cowboys aren't going to let Dak go if he is anywhere near his prior level of play. He's too good of a QB to release into the market. Dak, if able to play like he was before the injury, is the kind of player who can take a franchise to the Super Bowl. If he is still that guy, then there is no way the Cowboys don't lock him into a long-term contract. 

2 hours ago, TheCasillas said:

Here is a quick list of QB's who have had season ending injuries (most more serious than Dak's):

1. Brady
2. Rodgers
3. Big Ben
4. Rivers
5. Watson
6. Brees
7. Manning

Doesn't seem like it impacted their careers.

The list is longer for QBs who had season ending injuries that ended their careers. It's almost the same list as "all retired NFL QBs."

2 hours ago, BurnNChinn said:

They really can’t hide anything team doctors can give him a physical and make sure he is good before trade goes through.

Oh there are ways to hide a lot of stuff, mainly by simply omitting things. It is always a buyer beware market. While we all know and saw the horrific injury Dak suffered, it doesn't behoove the Cowboys to go in and point out that might have a secondary injury or issue beyond what other teams know to look for.

And we've all seen cases of "x player passes the physical and joins new team" to only be followed up by "nagging injury sees player sidelined, this might be the end of the road for him." For a local example, do you remember anyone saying Cam didn't pass a team's physical before the season? 

All this time off with Dak in recovery mode and the offseason starting early for the team. No negotiations between the two sides, no mention yet of the franchise tag being used...

If they don't tag him before the deadline, stay away because that may have been a career ending injury he received and that they are trying to conceal. Or it may be something that requires lengthy rehab and the Cowboys aren't willing to wait on.

I'd let some other team take a run at that gamble.

14 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Not sure about the timeline, but at this point last year, were we (Huddle)  not looking for #1 rounder for Cam?

There is time, but moving Wentz after June 1 makes more sense than now, if only looking at the cap figure---as best I can interpret it.

Sure we were, we wanted whatever we could get for Cam. Then people started looking under the hood, kicking the tires and well, crickets... I believe there were even rumors generated out there saying this team or that team would/should/might trade for him in an effort to generate interest.

A couple of seasons pretty much lost to injury, uninspired play when he was on the field, and what could be considered a lackluster approach to rehabbing pretty much had everyone passing on Cam. We had to end up waiving him to free up physical space (if not any cap room) and it wasn't until very late in the offseason that New England finally took him on because the dance of the lemons was about to stop. And suddenly, we begin to think that Bill Belichick can't actually pick or develop QBs. 

We let Cam go March 24, because there just wasn't any reason to let things go on and apparently his guys wanted to do the negotiations instead of the Panthers headhunting for him. Carson, though, is still on their books and there are some huuuuuge roster bonus implications if they can't move him quick.

(Just looked at that contract, and yikes.)

Great series. I played a lot of Warhammer 40K on tabletop back 20+ years ago. It was a lot of fun but just too much to keep up with once wife and kids came along.

Hope everything is still going well.

Just glad everyone is alright!

I really believe what we have right now is a manufactured sellers' market. Not everyone being dangled out there is going to be worth what some fools are willing to pay.

Smart money would wait until Feb. 23rd at the earliest (start of tagging players for franchise/transition designations AND the beginning of the Combine) and possibly even waiting until right before the Draft on April 29th.

But, but, but... we might miss someone! Well yeah, I don't necessarily see it as a problem. For every Steve Young picked up, there are 20 Josh Rosens. Look at how much LA gave up for Stafford... a guy who has never won a playoff game and has more losing seasons than winning ones! That was ludicrous! And heck, I like Stafford, but really???

Let someone else mortgage their entire team's future for someone who might be hiding some injuries, inabilities or downright bad judgement. 

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, they abandoned the run VERY early on. I get that the Bucs are a great run D, but you can't just flat out abandon the run early especially when you're struggling to pass protect.

I agree and there's a certain part of the run game that is about inflicting hits on the opponent's d-line. And those back-up tackles can be better put to use as run blockers than pass blockers. 

And, as much as I'm not a fan of Gronk's, I have to give him credit for being a beast when it came to blocking during the game.

32 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Let's leave them on an island.

I'd have expected some Max Protect in there. Fewer receiving options, but when you have a quarterback like Mahomes, it can still work.

Would have made sense to adjust to that (or something) once they saw what was happening last night, but apparently not.

Andy Reid is universally considered an offensive genius, but he's been known to make some positively inexplicable decisions in the playoffs from time to time.

I'd have to say this is one of them.

They did the exact same thing we did (even down to the same guy at LT) in 2015. They also had a strong armed mobile QB they thought could get them out of trouble (just like we did). They gave up on their running game and QB keeper options (just like we did).

The results were eerily similar to ours.