kungfoodude

And he was a backup to Tua and Jalen Hurts(although he was technically a redshirt).

And I think the price could go up significantly because the market is so bullish. Now, one thing you aren't considering is that a chunk of those teams(us included, admittedly) can move players in lieu of picks for the total package. In San Francisco's case, that actually makes more sense. For a team like New Orleans(as an example) that makes a TON of sense, because they need to jettison salary. The scenarios are absolutely crazy. I am pumped, honestly. It is gonna be a wild ride.

There are a lot of factors involved. The Watson situation, the price the top 4 teams that aren't taking QB's want and the desperation level of the pool of QB needy teams. Plus, maybe some of those teams don't have Wilson, Fields or Lance as top 10 caliber.

If Mrazek comes back in that form, we will start pulling away from Tampa.

He seems to be a guy that has a chip on his shoulder, really invests a lot of work in his craft and also his a fantastic teammate. His intangibles seem to be very good. I think he is a guy that you can expect to continue to put in the work and get better and better.

We got competent LT play for half a season and got rid of a guy who never played on a bad contract. Okung is now off the books and I think at the minimum we finally realize you can't trot out JAG after JAG at LT and expect good results.

I mean...IMO we actually won that one.

That's kind of you just picking a guy, though. Scouts and evaluators don't always agree with what they like in a prospect. Simms is a very educated opinion on the matter but there are other educated opinions that don't consider him the level of prospect that Simms does. The issue with Jones isn't that he is a "bad" prospect, he just doesn't have enough elite attributes to be able to easily succeed unless his processing is elite(which some including Simms say it is) and he is in a system that works well for what he can do. Something suited for a guy like Chad Pennington and not Pat Mahomes or Deshaun Watson.

I think we would be more fun to watch than a real threat to contend in 2021. The issue, something I have been harping on since the 2020 offseason, is how unbelievably poor our depth is on the overall roster. It's just not something we could easily remedy in a couple of offseasons. That's why I was so pessimistic about that rebuild scenario after the 2019 season. You don't rip apart an entire roster to that extent and easily recover from it. I think we are generally "ahead of schedule" but we are always going to be 1-2 injuries away from being in trouble because we just have a weak overall roster. Hopefully we have another pretty good offseason(last offseason was okay) and it will continue to build a strong backbone for the franchise so we CAN eventually become a perpetual contender.

With Samuel, CMC, a competent QB AND just an average offensive line.....we might be the most explosive offense in the NFL.

Unfortunately I will never root for him in New England. That whole franchise and area can fug itself. Eventually I hope he moves on to a non-New England, non-NFC South team so I can be a big fan again.

Agreed. If he has a big market out there, you let him go get that. Hopefully it won't be one of those situations where we are kicking ourselves 3-4 years down the road. I do think we need to draft someone and not just rely on what we have at the slot, right now. This staff is supposed to excel in player development, so let them develop them.

Oh the practice squad and training camp warriors. What is Stephen Hill doing these days?

Hence why I said dependent on price. And, I do realize that with that injury this is all a theoretical discussion anyway. He may never play another game in the NFL.

Based on the injury, I can understand. Depending on the price, I can understand. I don't really understand the performance part, however. Remember the dudes we have been fielding here recently. Let me ask you this, better or worse than Russell Okung?

It seems like it is primarily the college football fans that can't really get past the stats and accomplishments in college. They just aren't as familiar with what it takes to be a successful NFL player, nor that it is a substantial step up in competition. Reference all the, "*insert name of undefeated #1 ranked college football team* could beat *insert the name of last place NFL franchise*" comments you see from that crowd. The stats aren't meaningless but the NFL is a relatively even playing field. There aren't many more uneven playing fields than P5 college football. Hence why it is important to study film rather than draft every college football All-American or NCAA stat leader. There is really no reason to even explain this to them anymore, you may as well just keep scrolling past these comments.

Especially for a big guy.

Soooooo.....we don't want a top 10-15 LT???? I am confused here. I could understand maybe the injury history or money but not really the performance. Have you been a Panthers fan long? Do I need to list the LT's in the past 10+ years we have fielded???

It also makes the most sense to go and see guys like Lance and Radunz in person because they only played one game in 2020 and they don't have as much tape available as some of the other prospects(although I think Radunz was a two year starter prior to 2020). Also, Radunz was at the Senior Bowl so I would imagine the interest might naturally be higher for a guy they are already familiar with.

Yeah but that deep separation is a product of winning at the line, as well. That's ONE reason why Samuel was a top 25 rated guy in the NFL last year in separation. Remember that CMC creates a whole different set of mismatches than Samuel. Samuel is going to be seeing a nickel guy or a CB most of the time, whereas CMC is going to largely facing safeties or linebackers to create his mismatches. With two very good WR's already in Anderson and Moore, adding a third weapon like Samuel AND an elite dual purpose RB like CMC really creates a scenario where you really have to pick your poison. Add a good QB and/or a competent offensive line and you have the makings of an almost unstoppable offense.

I know people like to push this narrative but I don't think they realize how little the likelihood of that being the case is. It's been posted here before but his receiving production and advanced stats/metrics had him rated quite lowly when was in similar situations to most slot receivers. Not to mention, he is an elite runner, so you immediately take away his best attribute as a player by moving him there. He's arguably the best RB in the NFL, so arbitrarily moving him to slot WR is kind of ridiculous. Also, I don't think there is any precedent for such a move, for rather obvious reasons. If I am forgetting some case of a starting caliber NFL RB suddenly converting to a WR while they are in the league, I can't recall it. If you know of one, I'd be interested to research them.

There isn't a sarcasm font. The point being that the narrative of Cam being an inaccurate passer and those guys being more dependable just isn't accurate. Neither historically nor statistically. As I said, I don't necessarily have a problem with someone just liking Jake or Steve more, but don't throw out false statements to support that view.

Well, one of the biggest advantages of a typical slot receiver is being able to get separation on that nickel guy and beat people deep. Other than that, yeah, having that crazy catch percentage is huge. I 100% agree on the sustainability because his contract year was an outlier. You ALWAYS have to be suspicious of those guys. We don't get to see him day in and day out in practice or with the team to know whether that is the product of really finally maturing(and for him staying healthy) or this was just the knowledge that this was going to be the year he had to put it all together to get his big payday. Based on last year alone, Samuel was one of the best slot guys in the in the NFL. However, that hasn't been the case for his entire career. Losing 2020 Curtis Samuel will absolutely hurt us. The question will be if 2020 Curtis Samuel will be what we would see moving forward. He'll be an interesting guy to follow at his next team to see if he is a budding star or not. IMO, CMC is an extra element for us but he creates a different kind of mismatch than a slot guy does. I would like to try and replace Samuel if necessary.

CMC can't replace a #3 WR but he can make that loss less impactful. Namely because CMC isn't capable of being a deep threat WR. Hopefully we are able to sign or draft a guy that can provide that extra weapon that Samuel was.

He isn't a genetic freak, he just worked hard at being great at his job. I know people personally that can get yoked and add a bunch of muscle mass like that in a year or less. You just have to be super disciplined and do everything that it takes. Now....none of those guys I know are capable of being an NFL LB. It wasn't Luke's ability to carry muscle mass that made him great. Also, this isn't abnormal. If you look at a lot of the ex-players that were jacked up, a lot of them look smaller because they don't have to spend hours upon hours working out every week for their job. The "genetic freaks" you are talking about are the guys that still stay huge even after they aren't doing 2 a days or spending 20+ hours a week in the gym.