d-dave

Here's where I am, as an idiot with a keyboard. 1. Mike Williams has a perception of being hurt a lot. Of being on the injury report weekly and playing through injuries. While that's not out of the norm in the NFL, let's do some basic division and look at a few things versus how much he got. Average games per season 12.6 Average receptions per game 3.5 Average yards per game 54.6 TDs per season 4.4 Williams contract from the jets: 1 year UPTO $15 million ($8.3m guaranteed, $6.7 incentives) When you look at it that way, maybe he was asking too much, and the Jets overpaid. Maybe the Panthers realized that he's too old, too injured, and not a great gamble. Compare that to DJ Chark: 15 games, 2.3 receptions, 35 yards, 5 TDs on the year. These are the same averages for Williams' career. Don't get it twisted, Mike Williams is light-years better than DJ Chark. But is Mike Williams in 2024 three times better of an investment than a journeyman WR at this point? And heck, it could also be the team didn't like his medicals. I don't know. Just an idiot with a keyboard!

I imagine a lot of this happens at the NFL Combine. NFL Team: Hey Prospect, we represent NFL Team. We'd like to talk to you about a future in NFL City. NFL Prospect: Thanks but no. I will not play for the dumpster fire that is your NFL Team in your NFL City. NFL Team: OK, have a nice life (but beware you show up to our stadium!). If I were an NFL team and some player told me to F off, I'd probably take them off my board. Then, they probably spread rumors that they are lazy, have bad medicals, etc. I mean, the reality is that there are only so many jobs to make you an instant millionaire. While some guys might have the leverage, not all do. Were I in their shoes, I'd be very hesitant to say I won't play for X simply because the NFL changes so quickly.

He had me at the accent lol. Not really. I don't know how to scout for the NFL. The fact it took a while in college before it clicked can be good (development) or bad (flash in the pan). Seems like a good kid. If we do, great, I hope he's successful. If not, best wishes to him regardless.

How long of a leash are fans of your opinion going to give Bryce? What else could we do for Bryce? Offensive HC, rebuilt the OL, kept Theilen, got one of the best separator WRs, and have more work to do. If Bryce still looks pensive and shell shocked despite all the systematic changes the Panthers do, then that's on him and he's not the dude. I think we're putting our best effort out there right now to build a decent offense around him. At the end of the day the NFL is a QB league, and every QB has to step up. It's on Bryce. I'm going to take a good hit of hopium here, and we'll see where the card fall over the season.

What I like to see is when an offense needs a play, a WR can be the dude and make the play. Like what Smitty was. I've liked what I've seen and read about Wilson.

C'mon, worst ever? Did you see Jamarcus Russel's tape? Ryan Leaf? Bryce wasn't good, but the entire team was bad. Was he the root cause? No. The FO believes in Bryce, and they are going all in to try to give him a better situation. If Bryce can't turn it around with Canales, then he is that great college QB who couldn't cut it in the NFL. Who is the QB that could have led this offense to a winning record? What QB could survive a complete poo show of an offensive line? Maybe Prime Cam or Vick because they could run out of danger.

I'm not sure I ever want to hear "win the offseason" again after last year =P Things that I think we ought to do: 1. Continue to look for edge and CB help. 2. Keep looking for depth at all positions 3. The rest is really up to the coaches. The Draft is a Crapshoot. Kind of goes without saying =/ Ultimately, it's going to be up to Dave Canales and Evero to make something happen. I'm excited and hopeful but also realistic. It would be cool to finally have a winner, but that's a TALL order for this team as bad as we were last year.. Let's see improvement! I know, that's not a great chant, but I just want to see us get better from last year, and from week to week.

I'm not saying Fitterer was a good GM, but he was a smart football guy. How else did he work his way up through the Seattle system during their heyday and get a GM job? You don't hand that kind of power and authority to a moron like me. Fitterer's record as a GM was pretty terrible, which makes him a pretty terrible GM.

I have no doubt that Scott is a smart football guy. I just don't think that Scott has the same leadership traits that Dan has. Scott's approach of building consensus was great in concept. It's how a lot of hard things are done. The main difference is that Scott came in under Rhule, and his only coach he hired blew up in EVERYONE's face. Scott was trying to make everyone happy. One thing I'll say about Dan Morgan is that he's well respect in the league. There's a difference in the inflection when people talk about Dan Morgan respect versus general respect. For Morgan, it was always a matter of when he became a GM, not an IF. Conversely, since Dan was hired, he brought in Dave, and D&D (oh how I love that moniker =P) are aligned (take your shot). So there is a clear plan in place. I'm not saying that the 2024 Panthers are going to be world beaters, but they should be MUCH better than 2 wins. How many actual wins? 4? 6? Push to 7? Who knows? But since D&D are in ALIGNMENT (take your shot), the team will look different, and should ideally work better. There's my hopium in mid March. We'll see what happens. It could all blow up again. We'll have to see. I'm excited though. D&D seem like they have a plan, now let's see what the execution looks like.

Well, aren't my feelings bruised? Oh, they're not. We deserve to be raked over the coals for the absolute poo stain of a team we fielded last year. Folks want to take their shots, then by all means. Nothing says more about your character than how you treat others online. All the Panthers have to do is win. Get better. Show fight. Then we won't be the laughing stock of the NFL. Until then, we get to be the butt of all the jokes.

Yeah, I saw that and was a bit taken aback. The past few years, the high end WR market has been insane. And Mooney is not a high end WR... Good for him for getting the generational wealth though! I'm fine passing on WRs right now, and waiting for the slow rounds of FA...

How dare you interrupt my rose colored glasses!!! Pass the crow, lol. I'm a dumb dumb, thanks for pointing me out

Here's mine. From PFN (Image) Next, here's a list from https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/user-mock-drafts/2024/user-mock-2358601 33 Keon Coleman WR | Florida State LogoFlorida State 39 Graham Barton IOL | Duke LogoDuke 65 Payton Wilson LB | NC State LogoNC State 101 Cam Hart CB | Notre Dame LogoNotre Dame 155 Malik Washington WR | Virginia LogoVirginiaTRADE 160 Tanor BortoliniI OL | Wisconsin LogoWisconsinTRADE 170 Chau Smith-Wade CB | Washington State LogoWashington StateTRADE 175 Mohamed Kamara EDGE | Colorado State LogoColorado StateTRADE 178 Jared Wiley TE | TCU LogoTCU 189 Ty'Ron Hopper LB | Missouri LogoMissouriTRADE 196 Daijun Edwards RB | Georgia LogoGeorgiaTRADE 204 Myles Cole EDGE | Texas Tech LogoTexas TechTRADE 209 Keith Randolph Jr. DL | Illinois LogoIllinoisTRADE 217 Jalyx Hunt EDGE | Houston Baptist LogoHouston BaptistTRADE 239 Drake Nugent IOL | Michigan LogoMichiganTRADE The trades in this one were hilarious. I will say, if we were to actually get this kind of a draft, I would apply to be Useful Draft Idiot for the Panthers.. I feel like I got some good value out an algorithm that doesn't care about picks or value, LOL. While losing Burns for only a 2nd and pocket lint, having that 2nd high 2nd round pick means we can get some quality players pretty quickly!

How many games did we lead in last year? Zero. What was the next worse team? No really, I can't find it. We were historically bad in many ways. How often does that happen multiple seasons in a row? We're all hoping we don't have a repeat. We're going to have a weak defense. They will be well coached, but there will be a real lack of talent out there. We're going to rely on our offensive line, Bryce Young, and the coaching staff to get us to some wins. If we double our wins, that's still a poo season. If we triple our wins, it's not a good season at all. Either of those scenarios are a sign of real improvement, even though both are pretty poo seasons. I think we're in that 4 to 6 win area. I think we'll be competitive, but teams will drive on us at the end because we're going to have a bunch of practice squad guys playing. When we can get Bryce a chance to come back for the win, he will be pretty good there (he was 2/2 last year). Thinking we go for a goose egg is very unrealistic. Though more realistic than us winning the Super Bowl against the Chiefs (good AI laughs there).

It really is terrible when you look at it that way. Though we still have our 2025 1st round pick, I'm not sure where that one comes into play unless thy reconning the LA trade. In my own copium, let's look at it this way: 1. Keep CMC: continue to muddle about, maybe win two more games under Wilks, slip out of top 10. 2. In 2023: we'd have to trade the farm to go up and get one of the top 3 QBs, or else we have to find a one year rental QB. Which do we choose? Win more with a rental, or embrace the suck. Is Reich the coach? In this alternate dimension, does Wilks actually get his shot? So we keep Wilks, playing with JAG QB, running and playing tough D, we extend Burns for the money he wanted since he's the franchise. We win 8/9 games, close to the division. 3. So here at 2024, we DO NOT have the first overall. We are at a 12 to 17 for ours, the Rams a little later. Who do you trade those with to move upwards? You could absolutely argue we're better, but again, playing revisionist history is exhausting lol. Better ask an AI to do it! Right or wrong, good or bad, it doesn't matter. We're where we are because of past decisions. Scott Fitterer was a pretty terrible GM. Now Dan Morgan, for better or worse is left to pick up those pieces and try to rebuild. It is a real poo show to look at that way, but it's just not that simple, given how fluid the NFL is. If one thing changes (like we don't trade CMC), it moves everything else.

If you can look the part, that's 90% of being one of these wealthy journeyman NFL QBs. Sam has some talent, but his major problem is he's not a good player. Teams still think they can polish a turd and have something that doesn't look and smell like poo on the field.

Counterpoint: what if this is what we needed to do? Look, we were the biggest losers last year with that roster. Dan Morgan was stuck between a rock and a hard place: either you keep things going in the current direction or pivot? If he went in the same direction, signing Luvu, extending Burns for $30 million, keeping the D together, and we go out and suck; then what's the review on that? Instead Morgan had to pivot, clean out some players that Scott signed. New direction, different outcome? Who knows! That's why they play the games. It does suck to again trade off a successful player we selected with a first round pick for pennies on the dollar. But no one else was willing to make that deal. When Scott didn't take the deal from the Rams, that was it. I thought the Panthers were going to build around Burns, and my opinion about Burns > 2 1s has been proven VERY wrong. It's ok, I'm not losing sleep here. So as fans we can choose to abandon the team (though not the Huddle, never, right?), or watch and see, or be really angry, or be however we want to be! It won't change things. Chris Lee on the Panther's Notebook (99.9 The Fan) made the point about damned if you do, damned if you don't much better than I did. I'd check out their episode from last night to hear someone actually smart talk about it.

What a surprise to wake up to. Two guards, $150 million in funny money. The huddle going bup, bup, bup. Somethings never change! I'm glad they are investing in the OL. We'll need that to run the ball and for Bryce. I'm not ready right now to give up on Bryce without seeing him play through this coming season, but IF we decide to move off of Bryce in a year or two, these guys will still be here to keep a Qb clean.

The salary cap is more of a suggestion. This is our first mega deal from Brad Tillis. We'll see how it works out for us. Looking at the money going to guards, the cash was only going up. Sometimes, you just have to pay the market rate. Hopefully this is the kind of injection our OL needs to shore up.

I love Frankie and want to keep him, but Burns is the bigger priority. I'm not sure why there is this impasse between the FO and Burns. We've watched CMC and DJ Moore, two other first round picks mind you, go off with new teams, setting career highs and making the Panthers look like fools. So now, let's take our very talented edge (thanks @MHS831 for the great stat breakdown), trade him off for pennies on the dollar only to watch him go to a team and make them better. We used to do a great job of keeping our best players (I know Hurndog made plenty of contract mistakes), but we kept our good core together. If we trade Burns away, we lose the rest of our pass rush. Even if we can keep Frankie, who will rush the passer? Teams will just double Frankie and we can hope DJ Johnson or Amarie Barno suddenly become NFL contributors? Can pick 33 give us 10 sacks as a rookie and a consistent rush? Will prime FA pass rushers be willing to come to Carolina, a team that used and abused Brian Burns? The more I look at places like Spotrack, the more I feel like I'd much rather over pay for Burns today than hope and pray some FAs workout. The Panthers need to get some contracts worked out for Moton, Frankie, DB, and Burns. Those are core players that we can resign to get our cap in order for this season. If you don't take care of your core, the rest of the team will suffer, either from lack of talent or poor morale. Pros can see what we did to Burns, and they will remember. Which just makes it more expensive for us to sign players.

I'll pass on him. Wilson works best when he can "cook" i.e. improv. He's lost his sudden burst as a runner. Now he's a QB that wants to do it his own way instead of what an OC wants. You are who you are, and Russell Wilson has not been great lately. Maybe if he went to a place with good weapons in place, he could find success, but here....what weapons? Nope!

I imagine that this is more likely an extension to get his cap number down for a few more years. Prior to last year, Moton has consistently been good. Good pass pro, good run blocking, great leadership. Let's be real honest: the Reich/Brown offense was literally a flaming bag of feces. Everyone ended up rolling around in it, covered in poo. Moton is really good, and he needs to be retained. I'm all for keeping him. Also, I've about given up on caring what the salary cap is. You have tools to continue to move money, contracts can be manipulated, etc. Just get the guys here to play. What is the option? Hope that Brady C is a good enough RT? Draft one? Spend capital on another starting quality RT? I'd rather allocate more resources else where than try to replace a good, quality player.

I did not like the speed comps for Coleman. But I do like the player. He plays like a dawg as Dan Morgan would say. He can beat hand fighting. He's strong. So there's some good traits there aside from his underwear speed. I'm curious to see what he does at the FSU pro day. He did look fast in the gauntlet. I think he could be an interesting player.

Nope, not just the top 100. Teams will be doubling and tripling down on picks to draft all 6,000 players before our pick!!! I hope you know I'm kidding. Huddle Logic is always "the last good player was picked before our pick." Happens every draft. I'm just being silly

Hey, hold on guys. Remember, there are never players available at our pick. They'll all be long gone. As it always is, the draft ends before we pick. Remember past year Sorry, love the huddle logic lol. As far as speed merchants go, at least Worthy has the ability to run routes too. He's not just a vertical route guy. He can operate in space.