Jay Roosevelt

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

2 hours ago, BrewerHouseBeer said:

What about a tag and trade Burns for Tee Higgins? I would imagine the Bengals will be tagging and trading Higgins. I dont think they just let him walk. Saw recently where they have quite a bit of cap space. So maybe they elect to keep him. Would the Bengals take a straight up trade Burns for Higgins?

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."

An actual modern NFL offense?

2 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

I really cannot understand what the plan was when they drafted him. His size added so many challenges to a rookies development as it was. 

His throwing velocity was only a couple mph lower than Stroud's, but you cannottell it.

His deep throw was about 7-10 yards less than Stroud's.  I think 55 compared to about 65 air yards, but it looks much worse. 

His mechanics, or throwing motion was all over the place, but he was the most pro ready, supposedly.

Not to mention the size difference. It's like his off script plays out weighed everything else. 

Whatever they were thinking it certainly didn't work out.

I think there really is something to the idea of a fast-processing QB, but they were foolish if they thought he could just step right into the NFL and have success without improving his mechanics and footwork.

I thought that was the whole reason we hired a supposed "QB guru" with 200 years of experience like Frank Reich, but it doesn't appear that they even really bothered to improve these things. 

Evero for Carroll?

1 hour ago, CRA said:

I don't' think footwork is viewed the same today as it was long ago.   Well, not how it has been talked about by fans for decades.  

I mean, do the best QBs in the game today have good traditional footwork?  I would say they don't.  So I'm not sure we missed something.   Issue for Bryce is he doesn't have the physical gifts that do and he needs ideal footwork and mechanics to have a chance to get the ball where it needs to get.  That what I don't' think the Panthers understood....that his size and arm are an issue.  And it's a hard ask to expect him to be so elite that that can easily just deal with his physical shortcomings at this level. 

If that's the case it's absolutely something you'd expect your veteran experienced head coach and former NFL QB to understand and address.

You can't coach physical attributes, but you can and should be coaching footwork and mechanics whether your QB is built like a Greek god or not.

I'm sure Canales - as a former QB coach - will have a plan for what Bryce needs to be working on. And even his biggest detractors can't accuse Bryce of being lazy so I'm sure he'll attack it head-on.

That alone should lead to some significant improvement.

The footwork thing has always baffled me. How can we have two supposed QB "gurus" on staff and they didn't even bother to address Bryce's footwork?