SCO96

I wish the best for CMAC. He should thrive in that offense of he stays healthy. Having to game plan for him and Deebo is going to be a nightmare for opposing defenses. I can see why the 49ers made this deal. They are being aggressive and are going all in to win a title this year. As for us, I'm expecting more of the same...sustained mediocrity, if not worse. We got a 2,3,4 in 2023 and 5th in 2024 next year and some people are acting we are bound for greatness now. This team has been in the league since 1995 and never has back to back winning seasons. Our drafts have usually been historically bad after the 1st and 2nd rounds for the past decade. Some years we haven't even produced a bonafide starter after the first round. Hurney was terrible at building roster depth and finding hidden gems late in the draft. Our current GM seems to enjoy trading down for value and excess picks that never make a significant impact on the playing field. I'm not even going to mention the Darnold and Mayfield trades We don't have Ozzie Newsome or Brandon Beane running the front office. Since the Rhule/Fitz era began in 2020 I struggle to find a pick outside of of the first round other than Jeremy Chinn and Brady Christensen who have lived up to their draft position. Yet, a portion of this fan base feels we're going get it right this time. I'll always root for the team, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I would have liked this deal better if we definitely knew who was coaching the team (I can't see Wilks getting this job now), running the front office (no guarantee that Fitz is coming back), and coordinating the the squads on both sides of the ball heading into the 2023 draft.

Christian has been the only offensive threat we've had all year. Never was that more obvious than last week's debacle in LA. Based on what we've seen so far, this team in all likelihood will be unwatchable on offense for the remainder of the season.

PJ Walker is starting this week?!

Can you imagine what the pundits and Huddlers would do if Sam (or even Eason for that matter) got hot and led us to a 9-2 or 8-3 finish and we somehow sneek into the playoffs? I don't know if the board would rally around him or want to try to run him out of town for messing the draft position.

And this my friend is why Matt Rhule is currently unemployed!

Technically Stafford just did it last year. But, I get your point. He was traded to SB contender in what should be the prime of his career. I'd expect him to do well in that environment. He never won a playoff game with the Lions, who drafted him. Before him, Peyton and Eli were both # 1 picks that were able to win titles with the teams that drafted them. If you had a class like the 1983 (Elway, Kelly, O'Brien, Mario) or 2004 (E .Manning, Big Ben, Philip Rivers) I could see trading back to get one of these guys a little later in the top 10. But, none of the QB's inthis class seem like sure things to me, so I'd probably go with the guy that the organization feels the most comfortable with.

Here's the interesting thing about Shenault. If we hadn't picked him up this season, you could make a strong argument that this team would still be winless. Seriously. If you take away his two big catches in the Saints game, I don't think the Panther would have won. A 1-5 record is terrible, but it' better than 0-6

I was never overly impressed by Robbie Anderson. I didn't hate the guy, but I did think the amount of his contract extension was questionable with the drafting of TMJ the same offseason. Robbie is no longer in the equation. Who should get the start opposite of DJ this week? I say TMJ. We passed on a solid bunch of lineman in the 2nd round with the trade downs in 2021. So far we have nothing to show for it. I really want to see what he can do as a starter. Or do you go with Shi or one of the other receivers. Our passing game has been so bad this year that we really can't assess the play of the bench guys fairly.

Years ago there was a website that actually study the rate of decline in RB's. I haven't read it in quite some time but the findings were interesting. Here is what I remember. Removing significant injuries from the equation (Terrell Davis, Gale Sayers, etc), the decline is not primarily based on age, but the number of carries that a back receives. Guys like Eddie George and Eddie George were true studs when they first hit the league. But after year 5 there was a noticeable drop in production, especially ypc. Guys who didn't reach 300 carries per year had longer careers and were more productive into their 30's than guys who routinely hit the 300-350 mark early in their careers. Guys like Jerome Bettis (5'11/250) and John Riggins (6'2/240)were outliers. Their physical makeup and strong lower bodies allowed them to endure hits better than most backs and both could still bring it well past the age of 30. Riggins actually rushed for more yards in his 30's than he did in his 20's. Christian has never had a 300 carry season. But, he has a lot of catches which sort of evens things out. However, he takes less punishment on the hits in the open field than he does running the ball between the tackles. He should be getting about 20 touches a game (carries and catches combined) and complemented by another back to aid the running game. He could probably easily play past 30 for 2 or 3 seasons if his work load was managed.

You've seen it with 3 defensive minded head coaches. Our last one Ron Rivera exposed Cam to too many hits and became overly reliant on him. When Cam went down he repeated the cycle with Christian. Based on what we're hearing, it appears Tepper want to hire an offensive minded guy. Any coordinator with a minimal football IQ realizes you can't rely on 1 player to produce 80% of your offense. If we get an offensive minded HC and find him a QB I can pretty much assure you more players will be integrated into the game plan each week. Can you imagine how much better we'd be if actually got a true pass catching TE on the field, or better developed either of the 3 that we currently have? If we go defensive minded again, then I think your assessment will unfortunately be dead on.

And, it' not like we play in top tier division. The NFC South is weak this year. Brady and the Bucs look average so far. The Saints and Falcons certainly aren't among the elite teams in the NFC. If we had a HC in the mold of Andy Reid, Sean McVey, Sean Peyton...and gave him a good, not even great, QB...I believe we could take our division next year, especially if Brady walks away from Tampa at the end of the season.

You and I agree on something . I wouldn't have traded Teddy either. He signed a 3 year deal in 2020. We overpaid for him, but his salary was a bargain compared to what QB's are making now. We should have drafted a QB while Teddy was in house. He could have sat for a year (or two) and if properly groomed he'd be poised to take over no later than 2023. We wouldn't have had to make the Darnold trade so we'd still have draft capital to fill other holes. I honestly think Rhule would still have a job if he had kept Teddy. Teddy's fault was the inability to perform in the clutch. I enjoyed watching the team in 2020. Eight of our 11 losses were by one score. But, Teddy was 0-8 in 4th quarter comeback opportunities. That wasn't all on him. We lost a couple of games with missed FG's. Unfortuantely, Rhule and Fitt overreacted and set us up for this present day disaster.

Dude! I never said Cam didn't lead the team in rushing in 2017. I just said that we made the playoffs with Stewart and McCaffrey splitting carries at the RB position. I'm not cherry picking anything. That was also the last year that Cam was healthy from start to finish. You're the one who is cherry picking. You keep saying that "we have never won more than 5 games with McCaffrey as the main weapon". We haven't had a consistent starter or competent QB play in Carolina since Christian became the feature back in 2018. You NEVER acknowledge that in your posts. The QB really should be the main weapon in today's NFL. And right now we just don't have one. And I can promise you we want be able to get one with the compensation we receive from a McCaffrey trade.

You tend to overlook the fact that this team made the playoffs in 2017 when Stewart and McCaffrey were splitting carries. They next year (2018) we were rolling with a 6-2 record before Cam got HURT. The next year (2019) Cam only played two games. The guys who replaced him on the field during those injury plagued season are all backup caliber QB's at best. Cam was let go and replaced by Teddy Bridgewater prior to the 2020 season. Teddy at that time had never thrown more than 15 TD's in a season. We all see how badly the Sam Darnold experiment turned out in 2021. Acquiring Baker (2022) has almost made things worse. Your post imply that we just got a 3rd round pick for McCaffrey our offense would thrive. He isn't holding the team back. Subpar QB play is holding this team back, which is why we all want the FO to get QB in round 1 this year and an offensive minded HC to groom him. Who has the franchise picked in the 3rd round the past 4 or 5 seasons that has really had a huge impact for this team on the field other than Brady Christensen, who isn't even playing his natural position, but is proving to be a solid starter?

We need an offensive minded head coach. Since 1995 we keep hiring defensive minded head coaches who are behind the curve when it comes to the passing game. They want to run the ball, stop the run and play tough defense to keep the games close. Dom Capers, John Fox, and Ron Rivera were practically the same coach. Each got us to NFC title games. Two got us to SB appearances, but none of them could produce back to back winning seasons. Trading McCaffrey doesn't indicate a shift in philosophy, but hiring an offensive minded HC would be. Ironically, if we did hire a good coach with good offensive mind and acquired a good QB, Christian and DJ...the two players everyone seems to want to trade away...would benefit the most.

We've only had two backs in our team's history to have multiple 1,000 yard seasons : Christian and DeAngelo. Anthony Johnson (1996), Steve Davis (2003), and Jonathan Stewart (2009) each had one. Stewart almost got there in 2015 but he finished 11 yards short. No other RB's in team history have eclipsed 1,000 yards. Carolina hasn't had a history of elite running backs the past 27 years. McCaffrey is already the 4th leading rusher in team history in his 5th year on the team and he's barely played the past two seasons. The only players with more career rushing yards than him are J.Stewart, D.Williams, and Cam, a QB. None of the above RB's ever came close to getting 1,000 yards receiving. Christian isn't the fastest back we've ever had. Nor is he the the strongest we've ever had. But his is undoubtedly the best all around back in team history. I don't think he is going to be "easy" to replace, especially if you give him away for pennies on the dollar, which IMHO would be anything less than a high 2nd round pick.

Brady had 1,000 yard rushers (Antwan Smith and Corey Dillon) for his first 3 SB wins.

Cam was great in Carolina. Arguably our best player ever. But, he only had 3 winning seasons with the Panthers. You can't blame that solely on him. As you pointed out wins and losses are not individual stats, they are TEAM STATS. And quite frankly, we haven been that great (or even good) team since Cam got injured in CMAC's 2nd season (2018).

I like DJ. I think he could really blossom in a good offensive scheme with strong talent surrounding. He's put up impressive number with some of the worst quarterbacking in the NFL over the past 4 seasons. That said, I'm with you. I'd move him a high 1st round draft choice in heartbeat. It's easier to find a receiver of his caliber in the draft or FA then it is to find a talent like CMAC. Plus, doesn't he have a cap figure over 20mil next season?

How can the Rams possibly afford to trade for Brian Burns? Do they have any more 1st round picks this decade . Seriously, they seem to trade away their high draft choices every year for star players.

If we end up with CJ Stroud in the first round I can almost guarantee you we'll be in the same position we are in right now by his 3rd year in the league. Ohio State QB's don't pan out in the NFL. If we take a QB's in this years draft (which we should) he's the QB I absolutely do not want.

I'm glad I',m not the only who see the value in keeping Chrisitian when it comes to his receiving abilty. Frank Gifford and Lenny Moore are Hall of Fame RB's from the 1950s/1960's. Both of them were gifted runners who averaged well over 4.0 yds per carry. But they may have actually been more dangerous as receivers. Gifford averaged over 14.0 yards a catch and Moore averaged over 16.0 ypc; and they were doing that in a run first era. Gifford all but stopped carrying the ball the last 3 years of his carrier and was primarily a receiver. I seem to recall that when CMAC came out of college he was said to be one of the best route runners in the draft. CMAC should/could be used the way Landry used Dorsett in Dallas. He rarely got 20 carries a game (due to his size) and he was used to catch screens and shorter routes out of the backfield. It's one of the reasons he was still an effective back after he turned 30. If someone would give us gold mine for him, I'd understand making a move. We won't get mote than a 2nd at best.

This is why no one is going to givwe you a first and third for him.

It does make you wonder how many time they had PJ drop back in practice this week and throw those LOS passes to CMAC and company.

I didn't even know who was hurt until a few minutes ago while watching Colin Cowherd. I was wondering Arizona would be interested in him. I can see Robbie getting upset out there. They already have AJ Green and Deandre Hopkins is coming back on Thursday. I can't see him getting too many catches. Then again if he caught 1 pass a quarter he'd be more productive than he's been in our offense.