kungfoodude

The biggest difference is the McConkey was a consistent producer and XL literally never produced anything his entire career minus his 5th year. He had 32 starts in 53 career games to the 22 starts in 39 games for McConkey. It's never going to be a true apples to apples comparison because XL was thought to be a #1 WR and McConkey was always going to be a slot guy. The arguments(of which I made myself) largely came down to taking a hail mary on a project/high ceiling #1 WR versus taking an extremely high floor but higher injury risk slot WR. This obviously came with the caveat that we had an effective AT and it was somewhat of a redundant take. I fell on the side of taking the clear football player over the guy that might one day become a football player.

This is also the exact kind if matchup in terms of players that you SHOULD expect him to dominate. Graham is supposed to be the lighter/more athletic IDL guy that wins on that explosiveness and speed. If Hunt gets his hands on guys like that, it's over.

I mean if you have been here for any length of time you have had more than one lightspeed bad take recorded in the annals of Huddle history. I infamously said that Cam Newton would be, "The worst decision in franchise history." This was largely buoyed on my blind hatred of that Auburn team. I also said that D. Brown was a bust in the offseason leading up to his 100+ tackle year. Another whiff. Now I have had plenty of spot on takes, as well. I can say that for draft evaluations, I am definitely more successful in the past few years than our franchise, which is a sad state of affairs.

It's been a mixed bag, we also just straight drafted guys that didn't have the physical abilities to play in the NFL at all. We have been even more scatterbrained in our approach than the vintage Raiders, IMO. You knew they were straight up Underwear Olympics Gold Medalists. We have been all over the fuging map. Rhule was heavy RAS. That's definitely true.

TMJ isn't a good rookie year comparison simply because he literally got a third of the targets. Tough to even make a meaningful extrapolation in that scenario. Mingo is a very good comp because their opportunities were very, very similar. Mingo Rookie Year 15 G/14 GS: 85 Targets, 43 Rec., 418 Yds(9.7 Yds/Rec), 0 TD, 32.9% Success Rate, 50.9% Catch%, 155 Yds YAC, 3.6 YAC/Rec, 4 Drops, 4.7% Drop Rate XL Rookie Year 16 G/13 GS: 84 Targets, 49 Rec., 497 Yds(10.1 Yds/Rec), 4 TD, 44% Success Rate, 58.3% Catch%, 112 YAC, 2.3 YAC/Rec, 7 Drops, 8.3% Drop Rate Also, this was Bryce Young as a rookie(horrible) versus supposedly the far better version of Bryce Young. So Mingo performed slightly worse in some regards and slightly better in others, with slightly worse QB play(Panthers QB Rating 2023: 75.2, Panthers QB Rating 2024: 82.0). Now, I am not saying that XL is as big of a bust as Mingo but he is so far trending that directions, which is not good and shouldn't be downplayed. This is all very familiar.

Yeah, I think we all hope you are correct. We can't really afford for you not to be.

Yeah, it's really hard to know the full equation without insiders basically talking about it. Either way it tilts, it has to improve if we have any hope of pulling out of this hole.

This is the same song and dance we kept hearing for TMJ and Mingo and.... Look, we are in the golden era of passing offenses. Rookie WR's are showing out more than ever before. Struggling mightily, like XL did, isn't a great sign. So, I don't think the criticisms are out of bounds at all. You also have to factor in the INSANE levels of PTSD almost all Panthers fans have about drafted WR's. I will say this, if XL doesn't show some real, genuine progress this season(barring a lot of injury issues)....I would argue the story has basically been written on him as a Panther. I know that sounds crazy but it's not common(anymore) for a WR to struggle for a couple of seasons and then figure it out.

Most of this drivel is AI generated. It's pathetic.

He was a slight bump, at best. Nothing that will move the needle as much as it needed to be at safety. Let's just hope Richardson or Ransom ascend enough to take it over. And also that it's not a sinking and floating turds situation.

I mean, we have a list of high production college WR's that have been busts that is probably as long as anyone in the NFL in our 25 years of existence. Like I said, take nothing for granted. Yeah, we don't need our strongest and deepest unit to be limping into the season. That is one thing that gets lost in the shuffle of all the doom and gloom about last season. We were actually fairly lucky on the injury front in comparison to some previous years. We had some massive losses like Brown and some general dings but overall it wasn't bad by Panther standards. We need the same this season.

Yeah, I am not comfortable really saying any of that until it starts happening on the field. I am hopeful that is the case and it appears we are better there than in 2024 but nothing is ever assured with the Tepper Panthers. We will just have to watch and hope. I will give them that the team has had so many needs over the last few offseasons that center can get pushed down the priority list. Most of our attempts have ultimately failed there, while we passed on excellent centers in the draft...mostly to draft busts, even worse. As for the development, yeah, we seem to struggle with it but it's the age old question of is it evaluation OR development? It's not like we have many(if any) examples of guys not working out here and then flourishing elsewhere. I think our evaluation is far more broken than our development.

He hasn't played a snap yet, so I am not cashing any of those checks yet. It seems as if he is definitely further along than XL was in his rookie season but we will see if he can develop that chemistry adequately with Bryce. I hope so. He is the guy I wanted and we just simply need to eventually get one of these drafts right.

I mean, Corbett was a very good OG in the NFL prior to coming here. His biggest knock was his health, always has been. I don't find it very surprising he beat out Mays. I also wasn't surprised that BC wasn't viewed as valuable by the NFL as a whole. He is a career backup, he is a physically limited guy and he isn't exactly a spring chicken. I am glad to have guys like Mays, BC and Zavala around. It's been a very, very long time since we had depth like this.

That's an easy thing to say in the preseason but literally a year after taking a WR in the 1st, we had to do it again. Nothing is guaranteed.

It's not a bad thing. We need quality backups. I just think the people reaching to see him as a long term starter are drinking from the same fountain as those that kept saying BC was a starting caliber *insert any OL position.* They just aren't. Doesn't mean they aren't very valuable and it doesn't mean they can't play competently.

Well, that is why I said watch this season.

If you are literally going to be intentionally obtuse, I can't fix that, bub.

I am very doubtful he would get that.

I think the Huddle dramatically overvalues AT in any trade scenario. He has high value here because we lacked any consistent, reliable options. Also he had great chemistry with Bryce. He isn't going to be a good fit for a lot of teams/schemes/rosters.

Yeah, I mean, point taken. I just view that as being the QB of the OL. It's also the worst possible spot to be very weak, as it's the most direct path to the QB. The money does say otherwise but I would say that isn't necessarily the complete story.

I would say Renfrow may be on shakier ground than most simply due to health. If that hadn't been the case, I have no doubt he would be a lock.

I think the only way he makes the team is if Renfrow is just too banged up to keep around.

Well he was the only consistently effective WR that Bryce had chemistry with. It just kind of was what it was. I suspect he will prove to still be the #1 target, although I would love for some of our higher potential guys like Tmac, Coker, etc to start stealing those targets. AT is near the end. No sense in investing a ton of targets for a guy that has a very short career window left.

He also has the most downside.