Jay Roosevelt

Considering the injuries and offensive issues we've had I think the defense has been outstanding.

I agree, but at the same time I don't get the sense that there are many owners out there who would be too eager to try and sell a coordinator from a 2-3 win team as his team's next head coach. It's not fair, but it will surely be a factor.

1) He should be a serious candidate for head coach. 2) If he doesn't get the HC job, I have to believe that any offensive-minded coach we hire with any sense (not guaranteed to be the case, I realize) would jump at the chance to retain him as DC. I mean, what else can a guy prove? Two years in a row (last year in Denver, now here) he's coached great defenses despite being dragged down by inept offense and injuries.

This. If you think every NFL team didn't know his size was being overestimated you're crazy. NFL scouts and execs knew exactly how big/tall Bryce was and wasn't. And honestly, I don't think his size has been a huge issue so far. He's certainly shown he can take a pounding and keep getting up and does anyone really think if he were another 2 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier that he'd be playing significantly better? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Bill Belichick is John Fox/Jeff Fisher who got lucky enough to stumble onto the GOAT QB and ride him to a Hall of Fame career. If he didn't have Brady he'd have been fired 15-20 years ago and be out of the league by now.

This.

I might agree if Bryce didn't have a Pro Day where he threw. You really think NFL teams didn't gauge his arm strength before giving him a 1st round grade? Or are you one of the people who have convinced themselves that we were somehow the only team in the league that had higher than a 2nd/3rd round grade on him? If we're being honest Bryce's arm strength doesn't even crack the top-3 in terms of issues he's had this year. I'd put his footwork, accuracy and ball security all above arm strength as problems that need to be addressed. In any event it's not like Bryce set out to dupe the NFL into making him a top draft pick. He may end up being a massive bust, but it won't be because he somehow pulled the wool over everyone's eyes for a cash grab.

We can only hope this is accurate. Fitterer is an even bigger problem than Reich was. One of the worst GMs of the last decade in the NFL.

Oh, that cannot be denied. The way this roster was constructed on offense mirrors the way the coaching staff was put together. A hodge-podge of mis-matching parts forced into roles they're not suited for.

I hate to tell you this but Bryce Young is far from the first QB to not throw at the Combine. This notion that he somehow "fooled" the Panthers into drafting him #1 overall is just ignorant over-emotional nonsense. And the idea that by skipping the Combine he was somehow "hiding his lack of arm strength" makes no sense. If you watch 2 years of game tape on a QB and still need to see him throw at the Combine to see his arm strength then you're not doing it right. It's literally the easiest thing to determine about a QB by watching tape. Do I feel bad for Bryce Young? Of course not. Because, again, nobody has asked for any sympathy for him. I'm frustrated for him (and by him at this point) but at no point has he asked for anyone on this board to feel sorry for him and yet you have threads like this where people rant about how they don't feel sorry for him when he's never asked them to. Be angry at Tepper, Fitterer, and even Bryce for his performance on the field but stop trying to paint the guy as this villain who conned his way into the NFL and now expects sympathy because he's struggling.

Who is asking anyone here to feel bad for Bryce Young? I don't recall Bryce or anyone in the organization asking for sympathy cards.

Then it's not built correctly. Run-first is fine, but your OL must be able to pass block in today's NFL.

Another day in the Panthers TE wasteland.

Yes, he should earn it, but at the same time sitting him only delays the inevitable. I would actually be fine with sitting him the rest of this year because it's clear nothing good is going to come of him continuing to play at this point other than possibly getting injured behind our awful OL. But if you sit him you better damn well do it with a plan in place. And honestly, I'd rather start Bryce next year even if it means getting the #1 pick in 2025 because at least then we'll know and be in position to draft another QB. If we sit him because Dalton looks better in training camp what does that accomplish other than a few extra meaningless wins that will take us out of the top-5 the following offseason? I know everyone is sick of this losing but I want us to win the long game, not just a few games here and there. And unless we have a franchise QB magically fall to us in the 2nd or 3rd round we have to at least do our best to try and make it work with Bryce. If it doesn't, at least we'll know it's time to move on after 2024 and we'll be in position to do so with a higher pick.

I don't disagree. But as someone has said if we had made the same trade and drafted Stroud nobody would consider it a bad deal. There are some who argued before we even made the pick that it wasn't worth it regardless of whether we picked a franchise QB or a bust, which is nonsense.

I mean, you may well be right but what choice do we have at this point? Unless we get EXTREMELY lucky and have some stud QB fall to us in the 2nd or 3rd round we can't really do anything but build around Bryce and hope he comes around until at least 2025. The investment we made in him means we basically HAVE to give it a go with him before moving on. Not that, again, we have much choice. What are we supposed to do, start Dalton and never give Bryce another shot? Release him? Trade him for nothing? All we CAN do is build the best roster and staff around him we can manage and hope for the best. At least if we get the team around him decent then we'll be in better shape once his replacement is drafted.

We're probably 4-9 or something with Reich still coaching. Better, but still going nowhere fast in the long run. The OL is still a disaster, the run game is still hit and miss, the receivers still get little to no separation outside of D.J. Moore, who defenses key on and prevent from making a big impact and the defense is still keeping us in games only to eventually fold due to the offense's inability to do its part. This hodge-podge square peg/round hole coaching staff still isn't the answer only maybe it takes us a little longer to realize it. The Bryce trade looks really bad at this point, but is FAR from the biggest issue facing this franchise. Worst case scenario is we're REALLY bad for 2 years and end up in position to draft another QB in the top-5 in 2025. It's the Tepper-shaped elephant in the room that is really going to hold us back in the long-term.

He's bad and regressing, yes. Historically bad? Not sure I'd go that far.

Realistically, it's going to take time but that doesn't mean we can't see substantial immediate improvement next season. It starts with making the right hire at head coach and then with replacing Scott Fitterer with an actual real life NFL-caliber GM. My personal preferences for those spots are Will McClay and Bobby Slowick. In terms of free agency and the draft I would make the OL - specifically the interior OL - THE priority of the offseason. Release Bradley Bozeman and sign Miami's Connor Williams as our starting center, then sign the Patriots' Mike Onwenu to start at LG. Have Brady Christensen become our "sixth man" on the OL as he can play either guard or tackle spot when/if someone gets injured. 2024 will be Ickey Ekwonu's last chance at LT; if he doesn't rebound in a new blocking scheme he'll have to move inside to guard in 2025, which is also when Austin Corbett's contract is up. I would franchise tag Brian Burns and trade him, even if we don't get the kind of return we'd like to get. There's no way I'm even considering paying him $30M/year. Based on his performance this year I doubt we can expect a 1st rounder, but it's always possible there's a team in the late 1st willing to give that up. If not, take what we can get and move on. Scott Fitterer's biggest blunder was turning down that offer from the Rams and that's saying something. We obviously have to add some talent at WR and Tee Higgins is the obvious best option available. I almost hate to spend that much on a free agent receiver, but at this point it's hard to pass up the chance to add a player like Higgins, even if we'll have to overpay to sign him. That said, if we hire Houston's Bobby Slowick (who is my #1 choice in this scenario) then adding the Texans' Noah Brown makes a lot of sense as well. In the draft it's too early to target any specific players but I think we need to focus overall on getting the best value for our picks. That may mean trading down from the top of the 2nd round or it may mean trading up. Whatever gives us the most impact out of the draft overall. Obviously WR, OL, EDGE, CB, and LB are all positions we should target.

Lock David Tepper in a broom closet somewhere?

The question is do you grade the trade and the pick together or separately? I maintain that the trade itself wasn't bad at all. Compared to what other teams have given up to move up in similar deals we got a pretty fair deal. You can argue whether we should have traded up to begin with, but in terms of the actual trade itself the value wasn't horrible by historical standards. Now, the pick... certainly it's not looking good right now. But even if Bryce does end up a total bust I still don't think it's the worst trade in NFL history. You gotta realize how much ground that actually covers.

I was talking more generally than about that specific play.

Well she's not wrong.

This may be an example of two things being true at once.

You can definitely tell they were trying some new stuff, but if that's the case it's going to take some time for the team to adjust and there's not really enough time left for that. The basic issue of the defense knowing when we're passing pre-snap remains, however. And when your receivers are as bad as ours that's a big problem.