BrianS

Donte is here for the balance of this season, after which he'll be designated a post 6/1 cut. His cap hit next year is far too high, and we've already restructured him once pushing 7.5 million into the three years after his contract expires. But for this year, he's here. With our depth and injury history, we need him.

I'm sorry you missed the point. Haynes is what he is at this point. There is no "potential" to tap into. I'm sorry you've mistaken me for someone who is a Panthers trasher. I am definitely a Panthers realist. I prefer to look at what is really happening; not what any rose colored glasses tell me, and certainly not what the negative masses tell me. Haynes has shown us who he is. He's on his second contract, one which the Panthers had no competition for his signature on. Not even from the Washington Riverboats. He has 1338 snaps in his career, making 83 tackles and 13 sacks. By way of comparison, Mike Rucker was a good - not great - defensive end for us. After five years of his career he had 244 tackles and 36.5 sacks. Charles Johnson - good not great - 153 tackles and 31 sacks after five years. Haynes is the dictionary definition of a JAG. Doesn't mean he can't or won't contribute, just means he's an average NFL player. Every team has them, every team needs them. But you don't lay your hopes on a guy at this stage of their career suddenly becoming a solution. He's just a rotational piece we employ because you can't have a roster full of studs.

Talking about "potential" in a guy who is 29 this season is a little silly. All wishes for a full recovery to the guy, but he's a JAG.

Actually, if they call about Chinn I'd say "Give us back our first".

Sure, there are TONS of factors here. I'm just against the general idea that other QB's in the NFL have "more" of . . . . whatever we think Bryce doesn't have that is causing him to fail. Bryce is causing Bryce to fail. We have to stop making excuses and change something. I am not saying it's fatal. I'm not giving up on Bryce. What I am in favor of is giving him a chance to step back and watch. Some QB's need that! Look at Zach Wilson. I'm not saying he's a success story, by no means. But he's looking better this year. Some players take longer. Did we draft him too high? Maybe. Water under the bridge. I want us to try to fix it. I don't see how continuing to throw him out there will fix it. I'm sure it will fix Chicago's problem, but not Bryce Young's.

Our receivers are SLIGHTLY below average by NFL standards. Not massively, not even considerably. Just slightly. The NFL averages about 3 yards of separation. Our top 5 receivers average 2.74 yards. Is the difference between success and failure: 9 inches of separation? That's the hill we want to take a stand on? Think of it this way. What if our WR corps was George Pickens, Cooper Kupp, DJ Moore, Kyle Pitts and Stefon Diggs. Would Bryce be out of excuses then? I daresay he would be. He would also be throwing to receivers with 2.34 yards of average separation. Far less than we have now. Bryce needs to sit and learn. He's not one of the ones who comes in and lights it up. We have ample evidence of this fact now. That may be ok long term. But there are a lot of guys in the locker room who want to win, and Bryce can't get us there right now.

Disclaimer: Bryce is our guy for at least this year and next. At that point, if he's still the same guy he is today, he'll become our backup QB as we draft our new guy for our new coach. That said . . . To me, this is a terrible argument. "He needs more around him". If a guy is good enough to trade away your future, he better be the guy that elevates the team around him. For the folks who say "He needs time to throw" . . . well here are 11 guys who have been sacked more often, generally hurried more often, blitzed more often and had more balls dropped. Here's another way to look at something similar, look at all these guys with LESS pocket time that Bryce. Now, to be clear, the definition of pocket time here is one I really like. It's time in the pocket before pressure OR before throwing the ball. It puts equal weight on the QB making quick decisions and the line protecting. To all the folks who say "He needs an offense designed around his arm", I'm blacking out all the guys with less than 30 attempts, but using the same sort order as above. Now we're looking at downfield throw numbers. Bear in mind these are ATTEMPTS, not completions. No one in the league has fewer downfield attempts than Bryce. It's not because he has so much less time. It's an impossibility that our staff don't know this. They know it. They understand what it is doing to our offense. Look no further than Andy Dalton. The Red Rifle has nearly as many 20+ throws (7) in ONE GAME as Bryce has all season (8) . . . IN OUR OFFENSE. The bottom line is that Bryce is not NFL ready right now. He needs to sit. He needs to watch Dalton operate the offense. To understand how quickly decisions need to be made. BY still has plenty of time to prove that he can be the guy before heads roll. But the other 50+ guys on that roster deserve a chance to compete.

Here's the problem - that doesn't seem to be the case at all. It's being widely reported now that Frank and his staff were sold on CJ Stroud, but Tepper and wife wanted Young. Most recently it was Rich Eisen talking about it, but there have been others.

The difference isn't as great as you might think. Check it out: Not that it matters, Chinn will never be a 3-4 LB. He would probably be an outstanding 4-3 Will where he can use his speed.

All I know is that the result of the trade for the Chicago Bears is that in 2024 they could have Caleb Williams throwing to DJ Moore and Marvin Harrison Jr. Let that sink in.

Seemed like a fair and balanced take, telling us nothing we didn't already know. Bryce made mistakes. Our O-Line is really struggling. Our receivers aren't very good. We've really got to stop going into seasons with so much dead cap.

For those looking for "insane awesome incompletion" . . . here it is:

So . . . what? He's going to fire himself and his wife?

What seems likely here is that no test can actually simulate the adrenalin of playing NFL football. Stroud appears to be a gamer. Lights go on, he's suddenly much better. A test can't simulate that. Even Stroud himself alluded to it when talking about his experience with the test.

I think what has most of our fanbase frustrated all boils down to two problems. 1. The physical tools. It currently doesn't look as if Bryce has the physical tools to compete in the NFL. He looks a step slow and seems to lack the arm to make all the NFL throws. It's frustrating to watch, and we've got another 2.5 years of it before we'll be in a position to change it. Maybe there is something that can be done on the strength and conditioning side to fix some of it. I don't know. But the physical tools are a glaring problem right now. 2. The playmaking. Or, lack thereof. All we heard during the offseason was how Bryce used his mental acuity to make up for his physical shortcomings. He made plays they said. I'm still waiting to see evidence of this. What's worse, I don't even see evidence that he's trying to make those plays. Do you know who Bryce looks most like right now? PJ Walker. That's terrifying. I hope he figures it out, I hope he overcomes the roadblocks in front of him. I want him to succeed. I just don't know if he can. The next two weeks are going to be brutal. Then the two weeks after that we get to see the other two QB's who he will forever be compared to. I hope Bryce isn't completely broken by the end of it.

Did he really? I'd say no. But you be the judge. Here's his fourth game: His first pass goes for 40 yards.

FIFY.

See, that's the thing right? Do we KNOW that the TE wasn't supposed to stay in . . . or chip . . . ? I'm not in the room, I don't know. We can all speculate. One of them was in the wrong, that's for sure.

If you're not ready for three years of Bryce Young, you may as well check out now. Because he's our guy until at least that point. Likely same with Reich. And Fitts.

No argument there - I think Chuba should be getting a lot more touches just to see if he's "figured it out". I was simply addressing the narrative that Chuba was still the same player he was when he came into the league. Dropping FAR too many balls. A Rhule draftee that got an inside track. He's not that player any longer. He looks like a very serviceable NFL back now in the limited opportunities he's gotten. Maybe he reverts to type with more chances. If so, fine, I'm happy to see him leave next offseason. But maybe we uncover a guy who can really help us - a guy who won't break the bank. We need all of those we can get!

The past is the past, but results matter. Chuba's results this year have been different. He's been targeted 10 times, with 9 catches and no drops with 4.7 yards per catch. He's on pace to catch 50 balls this year. I'm not saying he's 100% corrected his problem, but it seems clear he has been working on it with some success.

BC may have some faults, but this run game was something that fit his skillset. We were averaging 4.8 per carry as a TEAM in that first game. I'd never stop running the ball at 4.8 a carry.

I do agree that two games is ultimately not nearly a large enough sample size. And the bottom line is we are stuck with BY for three years. However, I do think that we fell in love with some intangibles instead of looking much more closely at what Stroud could do that Young cannot.

Just shows that you CAN turn things around with the right combination of front office, coaches and players.

I do not understand the Huddle sometimes. The Huddle would look at that and go "Not throwing deep often enough" or "Shades of Teddy". Yea, well, that guy just threw for 300 yards and 2 TD's in leading the 49ers to 30 points last night. In his 8th regular season start. There isn't a graph, chart or statistic in existence that tells you the whole story. Bryce may fail. He may succeed. But a passing chart isn't going to tell you.