Jay Roosevelt

This is the correct approach. Whether it actually works or not, who knows. Most successful NFL offenses do operate this way. Even in KC, as great as Mahomes is he's only asked to make the game-changing plays he's known for a handful of times per game. The rest of the time the scheme is designed to take pressure off of him. The same is true of Tua in Miami, Goff in Detroit, Stafford in Los Angeles, Stroud in Houston, etc. The days of lining up and saying "our guys are better than your guys" and counting on better play and execution alone to win is long gone; at least on offense. This was my biggest issue with Frank Reich's offense; it took that outdated approach and when you have the issues we do on the OL and at WR that's bound to end in disaster. Canales seems to be the opposite of this. Evidence (Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield's performances under him) appears to suggest it's a successful approach. We'll see.

I just found this simulator mock I did last year

It's worse than that. Jefferson is a much better player than Moore and Cousins is an aging QB while at least trading Moore as part of the deal to get the #1 pick is an attempt to get a young franchise QB. Even if they do get Cousins re-signed and he plays like an All-Pro he's still 35 years old.

SIGN EVERYONE!

My favorite mock I've done so far.

Depending on the price I wouldn't hate this. Brown is solid and it could be upgrading two spots by moving Ickey to guard and would allow us to make Brady Christensen a depth guy who can play multiple positions.

Sounds like he's trying to be the next Skip Bayless.

You have to pay Brown. He's our best player on defense and is still improving. We have so few true "core" players to build around on this team right now; we need to keep the guys who do fit that description.

If Patrick Willis is a HOFer then Luke Kuechly definitely is. The only argument against either of them is the length of their careers. Nobody questions that they were both all-time greats based on their on-field performance. There's a solid argument to be made that Luke Kuechly is the best linebacker of all time in terms of coverage ability.

I still think our best bet to land a #1 WR outside of the draft is via a Brian Burns tag + trade. Seems there are always teams looking to trade receivers they don't want to pay.

We need to sign two OL and draft one, IMO. We need at LEAST one fairly major upgrade at guard and ideally a young center in the middle rounds who can be competition for Bozeman now and replace him long-term. I'd give Ickey one more shot at left tackle before moving him inside. He has shown flashes of being very good there and was always a raw prospect in terms of pass protection so I don't think throwing in the towel with him is a good idea... yet. It's not like we've got much to lose at this point. But we definitely need some insurance and, for the love of God, actual NFL-caliber depth. We're getting Austin Corbett back, which should solve one guard spot. Brady Christensen is also coming back, but I would make him the 6th man on the OL and our key depth piece. He can play either tackle spot and either guard spot so he could step in practically anywhere in the event of an injury. Or if Ickey continues to struggle he could take over there and at least not be awful. Sign one more solid depth player with some versatility and draft our future center in the 3rd/4th round. Let's say, for the sake of projection: FA UPGRADE: Mike Onwenu, OG (Patriots) FA DEPTH: John Simpson, OG (Ravens) DRAFT PICK: Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia) LT: Ickey Ekwonu, Brady Christensen LG: Mike Onwenu, Brady Christensen OC: Bradley Bozeman, Sedrick Van Pran RG: Austin Corbett, John Simpson RT: Taylor Moton, Brady Christensen

Andy Dalton is better than Trubisky. Probably better than Minshew, too. Dalton is actually one of the better backup QBs in the league, TBH.

Two all-time moments in Panthers history in the NFC Championship and Super Bowl XXXVIII.

It's entirely obvious that McCaffrey did not want to be here after a certain point. Can't say that I blame him, but I can't bring myself to root for him either.

I mean, am I the only one who can't tell the difference between 4K and 1080p? Maybe it's a little bit clearer of a picture but nothing worth paying extra for. And if you're streaming odds are you're not getting true 4K anyway due to bandwidth limitations. Truth be told a higher refresh rate on your screen will provide a much more noticeable improvement in picture quality than going from 1080p to 4K or above in most cases.

Nice to see, but he's basically just stating the obvious. Anyone can see Bryce was bound to fail given the situation around him. Whether that means he'll bounce back with a better situation remains unknown.

"Power run scheme" = Jeff Fisher ball. No thanks.

I think we have to give Ickey another year at LT under the new regime. Go out and sign a capable veteran backup (we need depth regardless so we need to be doing this anyway) as insurance in case Ickey struggles again but I don't think it's time to give up on him at LT yet. Sign the best FA guard we can get (Dotson would be ideal) and draft a young center in the 2nd or 3rd round (depending on how many picks we end up with after trades) to serve as immediate competition for Bozeman + interior depth and a long-term replacement. Have Brady Christensen serve as the 6th man of the OL; he can play either guard and either tackle spot in the event of injury. LT: Ickey Ekwonu, Veteran Backup/Insurance LG: Kevin Dotson (or best FA we can get), Brady Christensen OC: Bradley Bozeman, Rookie Future Starter RG: Austin Corbett, Brady Christensen RT: Taylor Moton, Brady Christensen

I think that makes sense for us but I really don't see the Bengals paying Burns what he's asking for so I don't know that they'd go for it.

In today's NFL if a GM and/or coach can't at least show significant progress in 3 years I feel like any owner is justified in firing them. There just isn't any reason it should take longer than that in the modern NFL where teams can improve so quickly if they make the right moves. If we aren't at least knocking on the door of the playoffs at the end of year 3 of this regime then that's a sign it's probably not going to work out. Realistically if you look at teams that have hired new coaches/GMs that have worked out long-term most - if not all of them - showed pretty significant and immediate improvement. McVay with the Rams, McDaniel with the Dolphins, Ryans with the Texans, etc. Even Dan Campbell in Detroit, who had a bad first year and first half his year 2, it was pretty clear by the end of his second season that they were heading in the right direction.

"Things that start the same but end up different."