Tbe

There was a joke that Nicole was involved in the coaching hire to keep her husband from falling for more Rhule-like BS. I guess that joke wasn’t far off. “Nicole’s a very good judge of character, and that’s why she’s involved in this,” Fitterer says. “She sees it from a different viewpoint and she’s got a really strong b.s. meter. So it was great. … We may fall in love with the guys as players and kind of turn our head, kind of dismiss certain things. She’s got that intelligence to dial in.” And on Young? “She loved him,” Fitterer continues. Her husband, of course, would contribute, too, and in an interesting way—it wasn’t so much about what he thought as what he knew. And what he knew was that his team would have its best shot at getting the decision right with as thorough a process as possible. So as sure as most of the crew might’ve been after Young’s pro day, there was still work left to be done. “[Tepper] is all about process,” Fitterer says. “He’s not about the evaluating. He’s not going to sit there and say, Hey, listen, I think this guy’s got a great arm. That’s not his world, and Dave’s smart enough to realize that. He doesn’t want to influence it that way. He just wants to make sure that we’re looking at it from every viewpoint and challenging ourselves, and that we have the data behind our decisions—that we’re not just looking at it from a scouting standpoint, that we have all the back-checks that we can use that are out there. “Are we doing enough? Are we testing these guys enough? Do we know enough about their psychological makeup and competitiveness? He just keeps asking questions. And he’s not challenging us. He’s just making us think. Are we thinking about this properly?”

Our defense is not top 10. I wish it was, but we don’t have the pieces quite yet. Need LB, CB, and another good DE.

Exactly. Not enough data. It does look like he might have a nack for OL talent.

Analysis of Fitt by SI… PICKS BY POSITION QB (1): Matt Corral RB (1): Chuba Hubbard WR (2): Terrace Marshall Jr., Shi Smith TE (1): Tommy Tremble FB (0): N/A OL (4): Brady Christensen, Deonte Brown, Ikem Ekwonu, Cade Mays DL (3): Daviyon Nixon, Phil Hoskins, Amaré Barno LB (1): Brandon Smith CB (3): Jaycee Horn, Keith Taylor, Kalon Barnes S (0): N/A K: (0): N/A P (0): N/A LS (1): Thomas Fletcher PICKS WHO ARE FULL-TIME STARTERS (3/17; 17%) OL Brady Christensen, Ikem Ekwonu CB Jaycee Horn PICKS NO LONGER WITH TEAM (3/17; 17%) DL Daviyon Nixon CB Kalon Barnes LS Thomas Fletcher

Starting to be a pattern with Scott and the scouts.

Ickey’s friend.

He traded up for that kicker.

114

Fitt said he’s big and fast.

NFL coaches drive me nuts with this kind of thing. They all think they can develop guys who have have ‘traits’ but have shown nothing on the field, but it almost never happens. Yeah, you can take a raw talent like James Bradberry and coach him into a starter, but that requires giving the guy lots of playing time. For the most part, that doesn’t happen in the NFL. Guys don’t play unless they’re good, but they can’t get good unless they play. Given his age and college production, I don’t see how this guy suddenly turns into a good pro.

These types of picks always make me thing they are a “coach’s favorite” type pick and not someone the GM or scouts are really going for.

Eh, projects rarely work out but it is the 3rd round.

This is one of the more awkward draft calls I’ve heard in a few years.

It’s all about making it as easy as possible for our rookie QB. Defense is taking a backseat for now.

When do we pick again? 93?

No massages for him.

Can you imagine if Tepper did this?

My biggest surprise was when he said his huddle name was Rippadonn.

I grew up in Raleigh. It was all college sports all the time.

The team hasn’t won in a long time. There is just overall less interest in the team from the casuals. Not really a draft thing. I was at a bar last night in huntersville and it was packed. A few hundred people. As soon as Bryce was selected everyone cheered and then bounced.

Yeah, we’d be giving up a proven talent for the CHANCE to replace him with a rookie. What a great deal!

Time will tell. I think the Rhule mistake taught him a valuable lesson. After that, each of his big hires have come after pretty exhaustive search processes. What he said about Bryce not being a sure thing but having the best probability for success is the right stance to take on these things.