kungfoodude

Really the reasons to trade him are basically that you don't think he will be healthy again, you get a great offer or he basically wants too much money. Outside of that, there is no urgency to doing this. Especially since it is extremely likely we would squander whatever picks we get. Look at the insane haul we got for CMC. Probably the most you will see a RB get in the next decade in terms of trade value. But, didn't matter because we promptly turned those picks over to complete idiots. That's another reason I don't really care to accumulate any more picks by trading players unless we just don't have any other option. Until we prove that we have an even slightly below average NFL FO, what exactly is the point?

If they haven't gelled already, it's unlikely to happen before mid-season anyway. Not to mention I would go ahead and get used to the idea of that unit being banged up. Too many guys in that unit that are injury prone. People need to wrap their heads around the simple fact that this is going to be a very bad team. Nothing we are doing now in practice or in preseason is going to change that very much. The hopes are that we see an offense that there appears to be some coherent design or logic at work, some of our offseason moves actually worked out and our younger players show some progression. If none of that happens, literally nothing in this season will matter in any way at all.

It's pretty much splitting hairs because 8 or so games of "being healthy" isn't going to change his injury prone label. A couple of seasons of being healthy would.

There will be plenty of ammo to use in the "Bryce sucks" cannon once the real games start. I have no idea what the rush is in that regard. Who the fug cares about preseason anyway? Bunch of fuging vanilla playcalling and vanilla play. It's glorified practice.

IDK if it's likely that they will be noticeably worse than last year. That's a very tough bar to have to squeeze under. I am more concerned that they really won't be meaningfully better than last year.

Much ado about nothing. They are scrambling to salvage what they can from the worst group of backups in the NFL and are better off not losing any starters to preseason "games." This isn't going to have much impact on our season, regardless.

CMC was here for too short of a time to make any "All Time Great" lists. He left as the fifth leading rusher. Most talented, for sure but this isn't a most talented list. It's an All Time Great list. CMC is unlikely to be remembered as a great Panther anyway. He is firmly a 49er and cares very little about being affiliated with this franchise.

The value is low now. His stock won't get much of a hit from injuries anymore because he is already firmly in that category anyway.

Now is probably not the time to trade him. Unload him before the Week 9 deadline if he stays healthy. By then we will likely be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. This is assuming he actually has any value worth trading. If not, he should be a guy that we can re-sign for $7-9 mil/year on a shorter term deal. Decent gamble on an elite corner and it costs us very little because our roster is fuging terrible anyway.

You are literally describing the decades before the portal with the "playing time and being catered to." That is what used to happen for years and then these guys get buried. Try that now and see what happens. The Danny Green story is an odd one to bring up. I have a much better and much more succinct one. Joe Burrow. Imagine if he just stayed at Ohio St. and ended up buried there for five years. He would probably be doing great at that Honda dealership job now.

I am lucky enough(I guess) to be a general NFL fan too. The Panthers aren't going to bum me out enough to stop paying attention to the NFL.

It's a two way street. Your team can get either stronger or weaker every "offseason." Tremendously better for the kids and also the schools but the old coaches hate it because they got to keep the kids in check for decades.

I don't think getting someone of his caliber is going to be very difficult at all. There are ample amounts available currently, just not as cheap as he is.

I would not be stunned to see Thomas finally cut.

I think the portal and NIL were a net positive. It's the overwhelming greed of the athletic departments and conferences that ripped traditional rivalries apart ans skyrocketed costs for non-revenue sports. The portal and NIL have an extremely minimal impact on the financial health and future of the sport. If anything, they make it a more palatable option for young athletes than the years before. The fan whining about it is just old people being annoyed by change. What NFL fan doesn't get amped about the offseason signings and the draft? That's what college football now has. It would have been great but instead the future of college football is on a collision course with complete self destruction.

The difference is that college football has existed this way for over 80 years. It isn't going to change because there is no reason for it to do so. Also, there is no central body governing anything. It's competing fiefdoms for an ever bigger part of the pie. Additionally, college football rarely makes money for the institutions. They spend it all and more in an attempt to clamor to the top of this heap. Hence why I have said they are building an unsustainable and unrealistic model. It will collapse and likely within my lifetime. The demographics and youth interest are not in their favor at all. Feel free to search my many dire predictions about the future of college football(and to an extent the NFL). The biggest advantage the NFL has is that it is a collective of some of the wealthiest people on the planet that are invested, so they will find ways to adjust and make sure that doesn't destroy their investments. College football is a disjointed conglomerate of thousands of individuals that care nothing about the future of the sport but are mearly there to suck any many of its teats dry on their way out.

There are a lot of variables. I genuinely think that the level of dysfunction last season would have claimed Stroud too. Not to say that he wouldn't have shown flashes but he would also have had to deal with a bad offense and bad offensive personnel. I highly doubt he would be the hot prospect he is now. But, if we had scratched our way to 7-8 wins, would that be better in the long run? Would our FO be unchanged and therefore doom our future for longer? Would our dysfunctional staff get extra time to flounder? I just don't know that I buy drafting Stroud as a silver bullet because we aren't a one problem team/franchise. The issues are numerous.

The NFL is at a completely different level compared to college. It's like watching Formula 1 versus your local go kart track. And in terms of fairness, it's not even a question. There are salary caps and the money hoovered into each elite franchise isn't spent courting players by showering them in money and benefits that smaller teams cannot afford. If the NFL worked like college football, we would never get anyone like Cam or Luke. We would also rarely see the playoffs and NEVER see a Super Bowl. Not to say the NFL is perfect but the entire system isn't set up to be a game of whomever spends the most money has a shot at winning the most and having the best players. It's set up so that the best run organizations with great talent and coaching win.

Tepper would make us a winner there almost immediately. College football is one place where if you just throw enough money at it, you will win and probably big. It's always been the worst(and most unequal) sport in college but it's a new heights with all the insane corporate level greed from TV contracts. That's one sport I am retiring from. It has ruined all college athletics. fug college football.

This is definitely worse because there is really no hope of turning it around. We all know it's the owner that is responsible for our failures. We all saw Dan Snyder flounder and fug up the Redskins for YEARS. Well....that's us now. In 2001 everything was still fresh and new. We were still riding high on that "new franchise" smell with a historic run in the rear view. It sucked a lot but it wasn't years and years of sucking like we are in at the moment. That's really what sucks the life out of a fanbase. It's not one horrific season, it's bad season after bad season. That is what drives fans away and makes the hardcore fans completely apathetic.

I am comfortable just watching the games with no stress and as a casual observer. Apathetic about us. I will likely spend more time this season watching general NFL games than us.

You might need to re-read your own post.

Kelvin was better. Plus he could play LT in a pinch in 2014. Also, I puked in my mouth a little reading that list. So many busts. Truthfully, the seniors club like Proehl/Cotchery were probably better than Benjamin/LaFell/Funchess/etc.

LaFell never even had a 700 yard season for us. Not sure he would make a top 10 list of our WR's. All his best years were post Carolina.

Fair point.