SCO96

Football is a team game. No one player wins the game without the other team members doing their job. Tom Brady has thrown over 600 TD passes. I've never seen him catch one those passes or block an incoming d-lineman while in the pocket. O-lineman have a profound impact on games. I'm old enough to remember the Redskins play in 4 Super Bowls from 1982-1991, winning 3 of them. Joe Gibbs won with 3 different QB's Theisman, Williams, Rypien) and 3 different starting RB's Riggins, Timmy Smith, Ernest Byner). The one constant on those teams was the O-line. Bostic, Jacoby, Grimm, Mark May, etc. I understand the cost analyst arguement. I understand the desire to trade back. Thing is, based on the way the FA signings are going, I don't think anyone is going to want to trade up to #6. If the LT we want isn't there, I wouldn't fault the team for picking the center especially since we won't pick again until round 4. With the new OL coach, new RG, BC at LT, and the best Center to come out in almost a decade...we could have the best O-line in the NFC for the next 3-5 years. Then again, none of this will matter if we get Watson. If we do, we know we won't be holding on to the 6th choice in the first round.

i get what you're saying, but He does have a point. Usually when a QB is sucking up a large percentage of the cap, that team has a glaring weakness that comes back to hurt them in the postseason. It could be a lack of depth exposed by injuries. A certain area on defense or offense is weak (ex. O-line or secondary). It just hard to make sure all of the starters are b-level when QB's (and one or two other players) take up all the money.

You can win titles with a young QB on a rookie deal. The relatively low salary allows you to build around him while the cap figure is low. As you pointed you can win a SB with a great veteran as well. You just have to make sure you're getting contributions from your young draft choices while they're on their rookie deals and/or you can't have more than 3-4 guy making top dollar. Seattle was great as long as Wilson, Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas, and Wagner were making peanuts in terms of salary. Once those guys started getting paid they lost of a lot of depth and solid contributors (not superstars, but good role players). When Peyton won in Denver, Von Miller and several other starters were on rookie deals were on a rookie deals and a lot of the veteran players had affordable contracts. Either scenario works if the the GM/Front office is drafting well and know how to properly allocate the funds to the right position/players.

Thank you for posting this. It should be pretty obvious though. If you have a cap at approximately $200 million to pay 53 players on the game day roster pay, you can't let one guy take up to 20-25% of the roster and expect to be balanced on both sides of the ball. It should be easier to win a SB title as a QB matures. NFL economics actually make it harder. These days we actually see post ( TV pundits) say you gotta build a team while your frsh out of college QB is on his rookie deal. Crazy. If the owners hard balled the agents and union in the next bargaining session by saying we aren't paying any QB above a certain percentage of the cap, I'd actually be on their side... as long as the cap was increasing at a believable rate over time.

I think he's the first WR to get a "big deal" this off-season, Kirk's contract may very well set the market for the rest of FA in 2022. $18 million for a guy who has never eclipsed 1,000 yards in a 16 or 17 game season isn't the wisest investment. Kirk has 16 TD's in 4 seasons. Cooper Kupp had 16 TD's in the regular season last year. I wonder what Kupp's value would be if kirk is worth $18 milion a year? https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KirkCh01.htm

It didn't take Reddick long to find a new home did it? He played well for us in 2021, but I don't know if he was worth $15 mil per season. I can't say I'm that torn up over this news.

https://www.nfl.com/news/top-101-nfl-free-agents-of-2022-who-are-the-best-nfl-players-available I looked over this list before I pasted it. There are some good players still available. But, I don't know if any of them are worth blockbuster deals. Many of the most interesting ones/well known players are getting up there in or coming off of injury plagued seasons. There are some solid offensive lineman still available that could help our team. But, I can't say I'll be surprised or even that disappointed if we don't make in huge splash in the FA market in 2022.

Agreed. That amounts to one more week of games (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5). Then, you're down to the final 4, and then the final 2.

This is exactly how I feel about NCAA football. Every season you know Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, ND (although that could change with the Kelly departure) and one or two others will be in the top 8; four of those teams will make the playoff. Those teams may still dominate an expanded playoff, but the season would be much more exciting if a few more teams were given a shot at competing for the NCAA title.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Derrick Brown. He was the 6th or 7th pick in the draft just two seasons ago. I guess that means no one here (including me) thinks we could get a 1st round pick for him. I'd consider moving him for a 2nd round choice. I don't think our defense would be dramatically different without him and a pick in the 2nd round would really help us in the 2022 draft. Now, if we could find a strong 3 technique DT to play next to him, giving him less double teams, I'd feel a little differently. But based on what I've seen the past two seasons he hasn't made the impact expected from a Top 10 selection.

Do they also need a DT? If you put Derrick Brown in place of DJ and kept everything else the same, I'd be ALL IN FAVOR of that deal

I would advise Panther Rhule to separate some of the text into smaller segments/pargraphs the next time around. It makes it easier to follow. I did too. I think we need to go O-line and get our QB next year...but I understand the rationale of grabbing Pickett if he's there at #6 and we're unable to move down to pick up extra picks. I only saw Pickett play in the ACC title game. I thought he looked fine. I wouldn't write off the season if we picked him. I think he'd have a good chance, as pointed out, of taking the starting job by seasons end. The new offensive coaches alone will make us better from Day 1. PS--I still think even Darnold has room to improve with a better O-line and an experienced OC calling plays. He has a low ceiling but I don't think he's as bad as looked in 2021. In all honesty, no one on our team looked that good last year. We need 2022 to be a do-over for everyone from the GM, HC, and the players on the roster.

I don't see why any legit QB would want to come to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. 1) Our offensive line is among the worst in the NFL. 2)Our offensive scheme has been one of the most predictable and unimaginitive in the league for the past two seasons. 3) Our best offensive player can't stay healthy and is rumored to be on the trading block. 4) We have few draft choices so we won't be able to draft all the players we need or move the picks for players. 5) Our receiving core has 1 legit starter at WR, and he's never had more than 4 TD's in a sesason. 6) And, you can make an argument that we have the worst HC in the league. Most of us on this board, and the pundits in the media, all agree that unless we have a miracle season or at least finish .500, Matt Rhule is pretty much a "dead man walking". He has a 50/50 chance of being fired by mid season. Whoever would come here needs to consider that he'll probably be playing for a new regime in 2023. Why would any good QB want to come here? At Seattle has extra picks to begin a rebuild this offseason and DJ Metcalf lining up at WR.

I just heard about this while listening to Colin Cowherd. If we had not been in such a hurry to move Teddy for Sam Darnold after one season and pick up CJ Henderson (a player we really didn't need), then we could have offered a 2nd and 3rd this offseason and significantly uprade the QB position heading into the 2022 season. Wentz isn't elite, but he's a lot better than anything we've had in Carolina since Cam was in his prime.

I wasn't just referring to Russell Wilson, but to QB's in general. I can't count the number of post on this very board where posters say "You've go to build a winner while you're QB is still on his rookie deal". A great QB is usually better in his late 20's and early 30's than he is between the ages of 22-26. The way the cap and NFL are currently constructed the QB's have less to work with as they get older. Sometimes 4-5 players can take up 50% of the cap space on a 53 man roster. That's ridiculous.

What you say is certainly true. But, it's sad that once a QB hits his prime the less likely he is to win a title due to a lack of quality players and depth on both sides of the ball. You would think it would be easier to win a title as your QB matures, no harder. These mega salaries for QB's have really ruined the game in a lot of aspects after you're unable to keep a solid team because of salary cap issues. But, I guess it doesn't matter as long as the QB gets his money.;

Due to our lack of picks and poor O-line we really couldn't go after him even if we wanted to. But, even if we did have draft capital for the 2022 draft I wouldn't give more than a 4th rounder for him honestly.

I don't disagree with anything in your post. But, this guy had 12 sacks last season. Despite the drop-off in the 2nd half of the year those are still impressive numbers. I don't see how we replace that production if he walks. Outside of Burns, we don't appear to have anyone else on the roster capable of bringing that type of pressure. I wouldn't be surprised to see our defensive ranking dip a bit in 2022. Burns may find himself receiving a lot of extra attention as well. We don't have a lot of picks this year so we can't get a pass rusher in the draft. And, quite frankly this team sucks. I don't think it's going to be easy to lure top FA's at any position to come play in Charlotte. Even if we do get a couple of comp picks, they won't arrive until the 2023 draft. All that said, Reddick ain't worth 17 million a year.

My opinion may be in the minority, but I've never been able to get excited about acquiring comp picks as a Panthers fan. If a guy is able to get a big deal in FA, that at least means that the guy is viewed as a solid starter by a couple of teams in the league. Comp picks are only worth 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th round compensation. Depending on the position, the players picked at the back end of the 3rd round (or later) probably aren't going to be as good as the player that left the team unless you have a player groomed to take their place. You can replace RB's, guards, linebackers, kickers, etc. with 3rd round talent, but it's a lot harder to replace CB's, pass rushers, tackles, QB's. You also need a competent FO to use the properly use the picks. We tend draft guys and don't play them or try to move them to other positions. You also need to have a shrewd scouting department if you intend for the 3-6 round picks to make an impact. Our recent draft history leaves me a bit underwhelmed.

Our record in 2021 was 5-12. We ended the season with 7 game losing streak. We were one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL. I don't find it surprising that we have no players on the top 101 list.

Drew Brees only played in one Super Bowl as well (08-09).

I doubt he'd demand a trade...but only because he's about to start his 5th season. DJ will be a free agent at the end of the season. If he chooses not to resign with Carolina, they'll have to let him leave & pick the team of his choice, or hold him hostage by franchising him in 2023.

In theory I agree with you Kev. But, one (new) player could fix this line in the following scenarios. Let's BC is competent at LT, Deonte Brown becomes a competent RG, Efflein moves over to LG, and Moton remains steady at RT, we could draft Tyler Linderbaum at C and actually improve our line with one player addition. Or, if BC could play LG and Efflein started at center, and the right side of the line works out in the outline above, adding a LT @ # 6 in this year's draft could also improve the line with only one (new) player. But, we'd have to have at least two new starters for 2022 already on the roster. And unfortunately we just don't know that at this time.

I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing that out.