KSpan

Yup, looking that way. It could certainly work, but appears to be a less conventional approach for today's NFL.

You and a couple of others mentioning Hardy... I honestly forgot all about him. Dude was definitely ont he Rucker/Johnson type path but turned out to be a bad individual that ruined his own career. I'd put Addison a tier below those guys but agree that he did turn into a pretty effective all-around player. Burns would benefit from making a couple more timely impact plays and his run defense needs some signficant work, but it would also help if Carolina got a solid run defender on the other side of him.

No he's not, at least not totally. He's the second most athletic and maybe someday that translates to a complete package on the field, but not at this point. CJ and Rucker are both above him based on consistency, ability in both the run and pass game, and longevity.

Yes, I've stated I don't think his on-field impact is worth what he will get and yes, that opinion implicitly accounts for the forces driving said potential price. You don't seem to have a point here.

The notion that 'professionals' are always and/or automatically right is laughable. And no one is saying Burns is a bum - that is clearly not the case. Dude's a quality player. His game is just arguably not worth top dollar.

No, it's not - every situation is different and I'm talking only about Burns/the Panthers, a team that would benefit greatly from salary cap room and extra picks by not overpaying for one-dimensional, occasionally impactful, at-their-ceiling players as they reload for this year and beyond. Here's a hot take for you - Charles Johnson as not the athlete that Burns is, but he was absolutely a more complete player and I had no issue with his contract though many did. Dude earned his money by contributing in every situation. Turn off the Madden. This real life, bro.

Being the 'most talented' doesn't always mean much, and 3 high-round drafts picks with an extra $20-30MM a year in cap space sure helps sure helps the building process.

Get out of here with that reasonable take, you Hater™

Fans should be excited - it's a lot of change, Rhule is gone (hallelujah), and change can (and ideally should) be exciting. It's the 'anything less than the playoffs this year is a failure' stuff that is just irrational and unrealistic nonsense. Are people really going to be calling for Reich and the staff's heads if we go 8-9 this year and miss the playoffs? That's just dumb, and folks with that attitude are the ones begging for disappointment. I've already addressed the other things in my earlier posts.

Yup, nothing says 'JAG' like a 17-yr NFL career.

Absolutely. Cheese wrecks the taste and texture of a burger and many other foods.

I say yes, but a very specific one worthy of its own consideration. Kind of like how a square is by definition a rectangle but no one thinks of it that way.

How would a sauce ever not be wet?

And success includes more than just wins/losses, particularly with a rookie QB and as much change as Carolina is facing. Year 2 is where wins/loss jump should become a primary metric for a total shift like this. There's no point in continuing to go with you and others in a circle. The reality is that thinking anything less than the playoffs for this year's largely-overhauled, top-to-bottom melting pot of team is objective failure just is not a fair and reasonable position to hold.

Take a look at the list of rookie QBs with the most wins. Note how few had 9 or more, and then further drill that down that by how many also had new staffs to contend with, THEN also consider play style. Spoiler: there are almost no rookies in the 2000s that achieved 9 wins or more as a starter with new coaches as well. It's certainly possible that this team is an outlier but man are some of your opinions and expectations so very unrealistic. https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/most-wins-by-a-rookie-qb-in-there-first-season

Y'all are hilarious. The complaint posts when an upward-trending 6-8 win season doesn't meet "the expectation" that, for a laundry list of reasons, was pretty unreasonable in the first place will be amusing.

I mistakenly thought they only had 5 wins again last year but still stand behind the rest of my point. Plenty of scenarios where 7-10 this year is not an automatic fail given all the upheaval; way too many moving parts for such a blanket assertion, especially mere days into OTAs.

Oh good god. Complete overhaul of the coaching staff with brand new people almost everywhere, a rookie QB with a largely-new WR corps comprised of unproven 3rd yr player/Mr. Glass/aging star/rookie, a new RB with no real power option behind him, an OL with multiple starters returning from injury, a defensive group not necessarily built for the scheme being installed (not anyone's fault, just the nature of the NFL)... and you're going to say a scenario with 40% improvement in wins with other potential positive indicators is "more than a disappointment"? This as a baseline minimum expectation is ludicrous. Not all 7-10 records are created equal, especially given the complete overhaul taking place, and declaring dissatisfaction with every single 7-10 (were we dissatisfied or encouraged with Cam's 2011 final record?) in MAY is just dumb. Could the team explode and blow the league away? Sure, and if it does then awesome. But if that is your baseline expectation for 2023 then you are the one setting yourself up for misery.

7 wins would be a 40% increase vs the past several years and there could be even more positives as I mentioned. That is indeed 'seeing it year one', so your position that anticipating 7 wins is 'miserable' makes no sense.

What's miserable about acknowledging a probable reality? My expectations are pretty low largely because a complete overhaul rarely yields major results in year 1. Years 2 and 3 yeah, I fully expect the team to be much improved, but this year... nah. Let's see some upward trend throughout the season and actual competent NFL strategy and I'll be set. Hardly a miserable state of mind and, if anything, makes it much easier to be impressed/delighted. Y'all are the ones setting yourselves up for some potential misery.

*when healthy

Or, just like literally any other rookie, he has done nothing on an NFL field and the vey first NFL impression is him looking very, very slight amongst other NFL players. This isn't complicated and there's nothing 'reactionary' about it. I'll also say that I've been a Panthers fan since 1995 but could not care less about college football and am a blank slate about Young, Stroud, Alabama, etc. Seeing a tiny guy like that for the first time after knowing what Carolina gave up to get there is indeed jarring, and pretty much anything else about this minicamp is walk-through pace in shorts and nearly irrelevant. His size, however, will not change once the pads come on. It's not a conspiracy. Dude is just barely bigger than Damiere Byrd but at the most critical position. It's very different.