kungfoodude

I'd be pumped to land Lance at #8. He clearly has the highest ceiling of any of the QB prospects in the draft, even if he may take the most time to develop.

He is very expensive as a backup caliber QB.

They already have a QB on the roster almost as expensive. They have to shed $70+ mil in salary this offseason, I don't think they are going to be trading for players that are expensive.

He has some guaranteed money in 2021($10 mil). I am not really envisioning a scenario where a team that is $65+ mil over the cap has that much to spend on Teddy.

They have no cap space and they literally traded up to fug us in the last draft. I kind of doubt this will happen.

I have to assume this is sarcasm.

It isn't possible to make it easier on them. The salary cap rules are what they are. If it's the cap they are worried about, then they will most likely trade him post-June 1st but the cap hit would still be astronomical.

It is if you make a stupid signing like Tahir Whitehead.

Too easy to cheaply fill LB in free agency rather than spend a premium pick on a LB. The idea of taking a LB in the top ten is just the sort of Hurney move that keeps us from being able to rebuild effectively.

I think all the interested parties know his trade is inevitable, as well. The rest is just posturing.

The problem is that we are tribal and don't view humanity as "the tribe." It is your religion, ideology, race, politics, region, nationality, neighborhood, etc, etc. We make ourselves into these smaller and smaller groups to fight and struggle against ourselves. It's a distraction from trying to move the human race forward. I'd personally be shocked if we were the dominant species on the planet in 10,000 years.

Not surprised at all. I had a buddy that was a cop in a NC city and he now has a permanent limp from a job related injury(blown out knee from chasing a suspect). They refused to give him a desk job, let him go and he had to sue to get any money. Even still, it was just $100k for a lifetime ailment. No medical, no partial retirement....nothing. People just don't can't see beyond the one decision in front of them.

A significant evolution of humanity will have to happen to make us operate as a species for the overall betterment. I don't see that as likely unless there is some dramatic event that extinguishes the overwhelming majority of the race. Even then, we are more likely to revert to purely animal instincts than that. We are too tribal and individualistic to accomplish that sort of thing in a collaborative manner. And not all our explorations have been solely for the good of all. NASA exists due to a decades long, global ideological war.

The inability to think for the betterment of the group or think in the long term is perplexing. Even more so, you can have a discussion with these people about the right thing to do, have them fully appear to agree and be on board......and then they will still make a selfish, short sighted decision. It's insane.

I would rather have a QB but a prospect like Sewell doesn't come along often. If he pans out, you'd be filling the second hardest position to obtain in the NFL.

A lot of the challenges of gaining more of the upper hand in organized labor situations revolve around people acting in their own interests. If this country has proven anything, it is that large groups of people will act directly counter to their own interests for some head scratching reasons. I was at a utility last year where the operations personnel was unionized but they had no pension. It was in a fairly strong organized labor state so I was surprised to hear that. When I asked one of the full time plant employees how that had transpired, he said years ago the utility offered the option of a pension or to have a one time payout of $15k-20k or something like that. The ops union voted to take the money instead of have a pension. Sometimes it boggles the mind how you can't get people to do what is for the best. And, in my personal experience, most people are very scared about losing their jobs and the uncertainty that brings. So they would rather take a shitty deal than have to go out and fend for themselves. Athletes are no different.

Correct. The NFLPA is probably the weakest union of all the major professional sports in the US. They have been for years.

I actually was not speaking out against organized labor. Unions are not perfect, have a sordid past but they also exist to protect workers by working in large groups. I have been around union and non-union skilled labor for going on almost 15 years now and I can tell you that for all the faults of the union, I understand the need for it. I have seen many workplaces, especially in the South, where the company just slowly steamrolls the work force because those people don't have the spine to work together for their own betterment. Unions exist to keep a balance of power. If it gets tilted too heavily in one direction or the other, it will completely destroy a workplace. Currently, the NFL has far too much of the power, IMO.

I agree with this. I said it would take years to build our roster back up.

Let's take a look at how it went down in Games 1-8 vs. Games 9-16. Games 1-8 Opponent Points: 34+31+16+21+16+23+27+25 = 24.1 ppg Panthers Points: 30+17+21+31+23+16+24+17 = 22.4 ppg Opponent Yards: 372+339+436+262+373+261+415+401 = 357.4 ypg Panthers Yards: 388+427+302+444+437+303+283+304 = 361.0 ypg Opponent First Downs: 23+20+26+21+21+22+26+28 = 23.4 1st D/GM Panthers First Downs: 22+24+14+30+24+23+18+18 = 21.6 1st D/GM Opponent TOP: 31:12+25:28+31:11+22:52+26:55+31:06+34:41+36:30 = 30:00 TOP Panthers TOP: 28:48+34:32+28:49+37:08+33:05+28:54+25:19+23:30 = 30:00 TOP Opponents Punts: 4+4+3+5+3+4+0+1 = 3.0 Punts/GM Panthers Punts: 2+2+3+1+3+1+1+2 = 1.88 Punts/GM Opponent Third Down Conversions: (3/9)+(6/9)+(7/14)+(6/13)+(3/9)+(10/15)+(5/11)+(6/11) = 50.5% Panthers Third Down Conversions: (2/10)+(12/14)+(3/13)+(6/12)+(7/11)+(3/12)+(6/11)+(7/13) = 50.0% Opponent TO's: 1+1+1+1+1+4+2+0 = 1.38 TO/GM Panthers TO's: 1+0+3+0+1+0+4+0 = 1.13 TO/GM Opponents Sacks: 3+1+4+0+0+2+5+1 = 2.0 Sack/GM Panthers Sacks: 2+1+0+2+1+2+0+0 = 1.0 Sack/GM Games 9-16: Opponent Points: 33+46+0+28+32+24+13+33 = 26.1 ppg Panthers Points: 31+23+20+27+27+16+20+7 = 21.4 ppg Opponent Yards: 397+544+185+387+365+291+386+347 = 362.8 ypg Panthers Yards: 435+187+374+374+370+364+280+320 = 338.0 ypg Opponent First Downs: 24+30+10+26+23+20+20+20 = 21.6 1st D/GM Panthers First Downs: 30+13+20+21+22+20+19+17 = 20.3 1st D/GM Opponent TOP: 21:59+36:05+23:12+31:13+29:32+29:09+24:24+30:54 = 28:43 Panthers TOP: 38:01+23:55+36:48+28:47+30:28+30:51+35:36+29:06 = 31:17 Opponent Punts: 1+0+6+3+4+6+3+5 = 3.5 Punts/GM Panthers Punts: 2+4+4+3+4+4+5+3 = 3.6 Punts/GM Opponent Third Down Conversions: (6/14)+(7/15)+(5/12)+(3/8)+(6/13)+(3/14)+(10/16)+(6/11) = 44.7% Panthers Third Down Conversions: (1/9)+(6/15)+(4/12)+(6/14)+(6/14)+(5/15)+(1/9)+(7/16) = 34.6% Opponent TO's: 0+4+0+1+3+1+1+1 = 1.38 TO/GM Panthers TO's: 5+2+1+0+1+2+1+0 = 1.5 TO/GM Opponents Sacks: 3+4+3+4+0+1+3+2 = 2.5 Sacks/GM Panthers Sacks: 2+3+5+1+2+5+1+2 = 2.63 Sacks/GM Second Half Season Differentials Opponent Points: +2.0 ppg Panthers Points: -1.0 ppg Opponent Yards: +5.4 ypg Panthers Yards: -23.0 ypg Opponent First Downs: -1.8 1st D/GM Panthers First Downs: -2.4 1st D/GM Opponent TOP: -1:17 Panthers TOP: +1:17 Opponent Punts: +0.5 Punts/GM Panthers Punts: +1.72 Punts/GM Opponent Third Down Conversions: -5.8% Panthers Third Down Conversions: -15.4% Opponent TO's: Even Panthers TO's: +0.37 TO/GM Opponents Sacks: +0.5 Sacks/GM Panthers Sacks: +1.63 Sacks/GM To summarize: Offensively, we scored less points, had a dramatic drop in yardage, a dramatic drop in 1st downs per game, possessed the ball LONGER on average per game, punted the ball more, had a MASSIVE drop in 3rd down conversions, while turning the ball over more, and allowing slightly more sacks. Defensively, we allowed more points per game, allowed slightly more yardage per game, while allowing less first downs, allowing less time of possession, forcing more punts per game, allowing a lower 3rd down conversion rate, forcing more turnovers and sacking the opposing QB more. Sooooo.....please explain to me how we didn't get worse offensively but better defensively in the second half of the season?

I mean, we don't have a single NFL LB on the roster other than Shaq. When Samuel moves on, we will no longer have a starting caliber slot WR. We need another starting DT, we need a TE, we could use an upgrade from Burris at S, we need DE depth, we need just about every position on the field in terms of backups. I am not sure there is a single position group that we are solid into the two deep. We played well last year compared to our talent level but make no mistake, this is still one of the least talented rosters in the NFL. We have to move in the right direction this offseason in terms of fixing that.

Remember it was a tale of two halves, as well. The first half of the season the offense was seemingly playing well but our defense couldn't stop anyone. Then in the second half of the season our defense improved while our offense kept shitting the bed in crunch time(and we all know who was largely responsible for that). The defense absolutely has to be improved but I will say I think the D is a lot further along in development than the offense is, at the moment.

For the trade people, ya'll know this dude is gonna get cut, right? Why even trade a 7th rounder that might be able to be an ultra cheap second or third string player for a guy that might be a 2nd or 3rd stringer with a first round contract. Let's not forget that pick was largely viewed as a reach.

Nah. We have more needs than that. There really isn't a position on the team we don't have some need.