Jay Roosevelt

I'd much prefer OL at #6, but I do like Pickett as a prospect.

Pickett is a good prospect. He'd be a reach at #6, but the guy isn't some trash QB. He played at a very high level last year.

I love how some of the same people who are convinced Pickett is the next Ryan Leaf are out here acting like Sam Howell is a future hall of famer.

lol @ so many people trying to convince themselves this is all a smokescreen. Pickett will be our pick, like it or not. 

Say hello to your new Panthers QB:

I think Pickett will be the pick. We've shown zero ability to successfully fool other teams when it comes to our draft targets and given the Tepper and Rhule connections to Pickett I think the only way he isn't a Panther is if someone takes him ahead of us.

I get the sense that we may be locked in on Kenny Pickett regardless and are planning to try and "fix" the OL in free agency somehow.

Let's say the Jags don't take Evan Neal at #1... what if we trade up a spot or two to ensure we get him?

The Giants and Jets are both threats to draft him; I wonder what it would cost to move up from #6 to #3?

Honestly, I'm not mad at these if we replace them with more experienced coaches.

37 minutes ago, WOW!! said:

So was Joey Harrington 

Your point? So was Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, etc. QB is always a risky pick.

35 minutes ago, WOW!! said:

Watch years 2017 thru 2020 and tell me what you think..

Watch Joe Burrow in 2018. Pickett wouldn't be the first QB to succeed in the NFL after one season of top play in college.

I feel like a lot of people here are discounting Pickett as a prospect.

Is he John Elway? No. But he is a legit 1st round QB prospect. 

I've said all along that I do like Pickett a lot, but if we're going QB at #6 then we better damn well fix the OL in free agency. Otherwise it won't matter who we pick.

I'm still on the OL train at this point. I just don't see any of these QBs this year as worth the #6 pick or as good fits for our situation. Fix the OL above all else. I'd feel differently if there was a legit top prospect at QB that could be available, but that just isn't the case here.

Won't hurt my feelings any. I'm rooting for the Bengals.

Why would any coach ever say that to any player?

Bills kickers...

Only way Rodgers even considers coming here is if Tepper offers him part ownership lol

4 minutes ago, Pejorative Miscreant said:

He’ll be off the board by the time we pick…. 
Oh,  how I love to see those words written on the Huddle!

Only this time they're probably right since Rhule will probably trade our entire draft (what's left of it) for Jimmy Garoppolo before April even gets here.

A

28 first round picks for Jimmy G! Yay! Long live Emperor Rhule!

That would actually be great.

5 minutes ago, Adb6368 said:

Drafting a Rb in the second round would be one of the worst decisions in the history of the Carolina panthers 

Why? Do you really feel that good about our RB situation if (when) CMC inevitably goes down with an injury?

20 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Cool. Another year of Darnold. 6-11 next year. Another top 10 but not quite top 5 pick. 

I don't see any possible way we can fix both QB and the OL in one offseason other than signing two starting guards and a starting center and using our 1st rounder on a QB, which seems unlikely. Not only does Rhule seem to have a hard on for Sam Darnold, but Fitterer seemed to indicate during his press conference that drafting a QB early wasn't in the cards for us. Plus, using #6 on a QB obviously means we won't be able to trade down and recoup any of the picks lost in the Darnold/Henderson trades.

19 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

Not going into next year with with Darnold as our QB. Also what makes you think Washington needs a QB more than us?

They don't; my assumption here is that we're unlikely to draft a QB whereas they might be willing to move up for someone like Kenny Pickett or Sam Howell, especially since the Giants pick right after us and could go QB after picking Evan Neal at #5.

20 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

a RB in the second round? Lol

Yes, a RB in the second round. McCaffrey can't stay healthy and while Chuba's a decent enough option, he's not exactly someone who can be a featured back long-term. So in this scenario taking one of the top RB's in the draft in the 2nd round makes plenty of sense, IMO.

Dear lord.

This is my take on the offseason using Spotrac.com's salary cap/roster management tool as my guide.

Warning: the following might make too much logical sense to be considered realistic given who is currently making personnel decisions.

------------------------------------

SALARY CAP MOVES:
According to Spotrac, the following three restructures will create an additional $21.2 million in cap space. Extending Shaq Thompson allows us to reduce his short-term cap hit by nearly half (saving an additional $9.1 million) while also keeping him around.

According to Spotrac, these moves will gives us an additional $30.3 million in cap space, giving us $51.1 million available to spend.

 - Restructure RB Christian McCaffrey
 - Restructure WR Robby Anderson
 - Restructure OT Taylor Moton
 - Extend/Restructure OLB Shaq Thompson

CONTRACT EXTENSIONS:
The top priority here was to re-sign Haason Reddick, but also to not spend all our cap space retaining our own players as the goal is to get better, not stay the same. I don't feel it makes sense to give Donte Jackson big money; he's a solid player, but not worth what he's going to demand.

Stephon Gilmore was a tough call, but I can't justify spending $12-$15 million a year on an aging corner when the team isn't even close to being a contender. That being the case, it makes the most sense for both sides for Gilmore to play elsewhere next season, IMO.

 - EDGE Haason Reddick (4 years, $62 million)
 - OLB  Shaq Thompson (3 years, $35 million)
 - OLB  Frankie Luvu (3 years, $14 million)
 - WR   Brandon Zylstra (1 year, $1 million)
 - K    Zane Gonzalez (2 years, $5.5 million)

FREE AGENCY:
With a good amount of cap space left after re-signing the players above, the #1 priority in free agency is obviously to improve the offensive line. I opted to focus on the interior of the OL - specifically the two guard spots - and assumed that Brady Christensen would go into 2022 as our full-time starting left tackle, pending the results of the draft.

It would be nice if there were some quality young OL in their primes available, but these days that very rarely happens in free agency. Instead, my strategy was to go after veteran OL who would help us immediately, but who would also buy us time to draft and develop longer-term answers along the line.

The biggest move I made was to bring back a familiar face in Andrew Norwell. While he isn't quite the player he was in his younger days with the Panthers, he would be a significant upgrade and immediately shore up the LG position. Likewise, Quinton Spain from the Bengals is another solid veteran pickup that immediately gives us a quality starter, but who can also come in on a short-term deal and compete with and push Deonte Brown. Adding Seahawks TE Will Dissly made a lot of sense as we will need depth at the position moving forward.

While the offense is and should be our top priority, the defense shouldn't be ignored in free agency either. The 49ers' D.J. Jones would give us a younger, better version of DaQuan Jones who can help improve our run defense. Likewise, A.J. Johnson of the Broncos would gives us an immediate upgrade over Jermaine Carter at MLB and provide more reinforcement against the run.

 - OG   Andrew Norwell, JAX ($3 years, $24 million)
 - DT   D.J. Jones, SF (3 years, $18 million)
 - OG   Quinton Spain, CIN (2 years, $12.5 million)
 - MLB  A.J. Johnson, DEN (2 years, $12 million)
 - TE   Will Dissly, SEA (2 years, $6 million)

2022 NFL DRAFT:
The goal is to trade down and recoup some of the picks we gave away in the Sam Darnold trade. Our best chance is to trade down with a QB-needy team, but not one that's picking TOO low. The most obvious candidate for the sake of this mock was Washington, who is basically a QB away from being a real contender.

The deal I'm simulating for this mock has Washington giving us their 1st, 2nd, and 4th round picks in exchange for the #6 overall pick and our 5th rounder that was acquired from the Jaguars as part of the C.J. Henderson trade.

1st (f/WAS): Tyler Linderbaum, C, Iowa
Completing the rebuild of the OL is Tyler Linderbaum, who is my favorite OL prospect in this class and an ideal target following a trade-down.

2nd (f/WAS): Isaiah Spiller, RB, Texas A&M
At this point I think we can all (unfortunately) agree that Christian McCaffrey simply cannot be counted on to stay healthy, and while Chuba Hubbard had his moments as a rookie, he didn't exactly look like a future superstar either. Isaiah Spiller has that kind of potential and can produce either as the starter or as part of a rotation.

4th (f/HOU): Jaxon Kirkland, OG, Washington
While Kirkland mostly played tackle at Washington, the plan here would be for him to move inside to guard. With the free agent additions made as part of this mock, he ideally wouldn't be needed right away as more than depth, but hopefully would be able to step in as a starter in a year or two.

4th (f/WAS): Chad Muma, MLB, Wyoming
In this scenario we addressed MLB short-term by signing A.J. Johnson from the Broncos to a 2-year deal. That's a short-term move; this pick, hopefully, could address the position for years to come.

5th: Matt Araiza, P, San Diego State
A punter in the 5th round? Really? Yes. Matt Araiza has an absolute CANNON of a leg (if you haven't already, go watch his YouTube highlights) and would immediately improve our special teams significantly. Hell, with Sam Darnold at QB, Araiza might just become the team MVP.

6th (f/LV): Isaiah Thomas, DE, Oklahoma
We've got some great pass rushers, but you can never have too many.

7th (f/MIA): Andrew Stueber, OT, Michigan
More depth along the OL.

-----------------------------------------

On a related note, Jerry Jones is looking rough these days.