KSpan

They only got Donte for 3 years though, and I doubt he sees the third year of that deal one way or another. The age/timespan is a wash at best for that reason alone, and he's missed 10 games to Gilmore's 13 during the same timespan, and that's with Gilmore missing 8 last year when he probably could have played sooner if the team felt it necessary. With respect to being a ballhawk, Jackson has 4, 3, 3, and 2 picks during his years. While it is a higher per-game average than Gilmore, it's hardly lighting it up. For a team as young as Carolina is, particularly in the secondary, I just don't see Jackson and, as importantly, the contract they locked him into as a better option to Gilmore. Now, the assumption is being made that Gilmore would have come back to Carolina at all. Perhaps he wasn't willing or it was going to take a lot more money to do it, we'll never know.

Matured or nor, Donte got exposed as the year went on and was absolutely abysmal his final 2 games against Miami and Washington before missing the final 5 games. He is not near Gilmore's level even at this stage in his career. Again, age would factor in if Carolina signed him for more than 3 years, but they didn't, so his effective life is the same as Gilmore's. As far as Rhule goes he has earned zero credibility. Nothing he says carries any merit until he appears able to compete at an actual NFL level and not be outstrategized week in and week out. It has been a steady slide into the basement under his watch and I still can't figure out how he kept his job. The fact that we haven't seen or heard a peep from him or Tepper this entire offseason while Fitterer has done all the talking says a lot about where things currently stand.

Donte got absolutely roasted as the year went on and it was plain to see. If that was his 'best year' then that's unfortunate, because Carolina only locked him up for 3 years vs the 2 that Gilmore got. For that reason I'm not seeing the age advantage at all. You're also the poster who spent last offseason telling everyone the team wasn't 'our daddy's Panthers' anymore (you may not be wrong though, as they're quite arguably worse from top to bottom) and yet it was plain to see that abysmal season coming a mile off as well. It has nothing to do with looking for the worst, and rose-colored optimism achieves nothing. This offseason has had some actual competent moves made, but assuming Gilmore was willing to come back for similar money the signing of Jackson over Gilmore in context of the 2 contracts isn't up there on that list.

The flaw in your premise is that they chose a 'kid' who is notably worse than the 'vet' for the same money. It makes little sense from an on-field perspective.

This all day. Dude has infinitely better coaching and a much better roster in SF, and yet they've decided he's not good enough. Seems blindingly obvious, and yet here we are seeing all this nonsense about trades and fit.

What was the tweet?

My god, is just gets better every day. The descent into pure pooshow didn't take long.

Given Garoppolo's injury history I'm inclined to lean Mayfield. Plus, his was the non-throwing shoulder while Garoppolo's was his throwing shoulder. I feel like that often gets lost in this comparison.

What's with the 'experience' nonsense? Baker has started 12 more regular season games than Garoppolo, still like half a season more counting the playoffs, and attempted 500 more regular season passes. I'm not stumping for either one of them but Jimmy is the less experienced of the two in the traditional meaning of the word, and at most it seems a wash. I'll give that Kimmy has been with better coaching, but that's not equivalent to 'experience'.

Jimmy Bridgewater (slightly exaggerated since he did have a one-hit wonder 27 TD season a couple of years ago) won't be the guy to get the team over that hurdle though. Of these two I'll take Mayfield, but it's one of the many less-than-ideal scenarios facing Carolina at the QB position right now. They really screwed the pooch with this stuff these past years.

Neither are any of this year's QBs.

Yeah, but can he do this?

I don't know how much has to do with Tepper overruling/stripping power from Rhule, though I do believe that has happened to some degree or another this offseason, but the moves seem more competent and competition-level than his 2020 and 2021 offseasons.

And if these are the results of the Appaloosa Way, may heaven help us all.

I'm not defending Darnold per se but the same thing happened in 2020 too. I think it has a lot to do with the poor coaching and strategic abilities as well. Perhaps the new assistants help that.

I think it depends on what that involvement looks like in Tepper's current structure. Voicing your desire as an owner and participating to shape the 'culture'? Sure. Meddling in actual football evaluation and potentially altering what the football people will do? Not so much.

My Madden 10 team is still undefeated. Pick me.

Neither of those were underperforming here at Carolina, which is a dimension of OP's question. 'Spoon was overshadowed by Dan but was arguably just as good at what he did, and though the bar is extremely low for the Panthers Grant is overall perhaps the second-best safety Carolina has ever had, and definitely the second best they've ever drafted at this point in time. They've had a number of flash-in-the-pan type guys (McCree, Harris, Coleman, perhaps Mitchell [overrated IMO]) but no one with the consistent talent and production of Grant. Heck, though they were slightly different player types I'd even entertain arguments that Grant was as good as Minter, if not better.

Maybe they asked him to take a pay cut.

Unless they're playing KU and Bill Self.

He signed with the Commandskins at the start of FA, but word is that Hakeem Nicks was driving down the street and Jason Worilds bought a house there in NC.

I recognize it might just be me and my defensive inclination but that play really irritated me. Even if it wasn't technically illegal it was still a blatant exploitation of the rule and kind of a b**** move. I would've liked to see a flag thrown on the play for an obviously unsportsmanlike act (abuse of the rule) and/or him get lit up on a slide later in the game but it is what it is and the NCAA closed the loophole thereafter.

Marty, is that you?

FWIW all but one team they faced (Clemson) ACC fielded some of the worst defenses in their tier of football last year and their non-conference was the same (bottom third), with UMASS giving up the most per game of any team. To be fair, they did score 20 offensive pts against Clemson (the 2nd best scoring defense last year) but they didn't play NC State or BC, the 2nd and 3rd best ACC scoring defenses either. The rest of the ACC they faced were 54th or worse in ots allowed. I say this as someone in Big 12 territory who has seen offense year in and year out from players not mean much since it's typically defense-optional. The lack of consistency and big year only against weaker competition may be a flag compared to someone like Burrow, who also only had 1 year but did it against the best competition.

This is one of the most inane things I've heard said in a very long time.