BrianS

This is exactly - EXACTLY! - the case. There is no player more valuable than a franchise QB. There is nothing more valuable. Look at what was being talked about as the cost for Deshaun Watson before his legal issues came to light. Just to have a conversation the cost was three first round picks!

No. Incorrect thinking. It's not a question of desperation. It's a question of evaluation. The first question is trust. Do you trust your scouts? If the answer is no, get new scouts. Assuming your organization is functioning in a responsible way, the answer should be "Yes, we trust our scouts". Again, I'm commenting at a philosophical level here. I'm not making any commentary on the Panthers organization. Once you've established that you trust your scouts, you simply ask them the question: "Do you see a clear franchise QB in this draft?" If your scouts say "Yes, we do" then there is absolutely no excuse for not drafting the guy. It doesn't matter what pick number you may have. If your scouts tell you a guy is a franchise QB, if your team doesn't have one, and that guy is available when your team is on the clock, you draft that guy. It's when your scouts say "No, we don't see a clear franchise QB" that you start to look at other things. The point being that there should be NO PLAYER on your draft board rated higher than a clear franchise QB. Ever. There is no more valuable player in the NFL than a franchise QB. It's not even close. You can't think of a franchise QB like any other player, because he's not. There is no such thing as a "draft ranking" for a franchise QB. Franchise QB's exist on a board all their own. If you have a player on your franchise QB board, you draft him. Simple as that. College QB's who are not clear franchise guys (according to your scouts) can certainly go on the "normal" board. Franchise guys are different gravy.

Can our spanish language guy learn english? That'd be fun and different.

You're asking the wrong questions. What you, me or anyone on here believes about any of these QB prospects is completely and utterly irrelevant. All that matters is what our scouts think, and then, assuming the organization is structured and run in a responsible way, our front office acting on those opinions. If our scouts look at ANY of these QB prospects and say "This is a franchise QB", it would be irresponsible in the extreme to not draft that guy. Even the best scouts and evaluators are wrong regarding QB prospects half the time. Who are we as fans to think we know better? It's a coin flip man.

Coaches and players are a symbiotic relationship. I think the player side is somewhat more important. Good players can more easily carry a bad coach than a good coach can carry a bad player. Ideally you have both sides. Consider that LSU had all those studs on the roster the year before Joe Brady showed up, and yet Burrow was a 58% passer with 16 TD's to 5 INT's. Brady arrives, Burrow becomes a 75% passer with 60 TD's and 6 INT's. Same players, add Joe Brady, magic. I think we had a good coach in Brady. I'm not sure he was ready to be an NFL coordinator. I suspect that when we look again in 10 years, Brady will be a successful coach.

To be completely fair, Cam was never going to be enough in that game. Cam was denied a SB victory by the refs and by an offensive coordinator with no ability to make a simple adjustment. After 2016, I'm not sure Cam was ever the same guy. Injuries took their toll and he just didn't ever seem like he got himself back on track. I think mentally, Cam is a far, far better player now than he was in 2015 but without the physical tools to capitalize on that knowledge, it just doesn't matter. And since we're talking about great QB's who didn't get it done, are you also saying Dan Marino wasn't good enough? For those of us who saw Marino play, there's an argument there that he might be the best passer to ever play the game. A franchise QB is critical. Yes, 100%. But it's not everything. You need other pieces. You need a good staff. This is exactly correct. If you identify a guy who your scouts believe is a franchise QB, and he's available at your pick, you draft him. FULL STOP. Get the guy. Half the time, your scouts will be wrong, but you cannot let that get in the way of making the pick. It's when that condition is not true that you draft to assemble a good team.

The drought is getting long, and that falls on the organization. Sure, we can talk about the fact that we haven't had a franchise QB since 2017. True. But the Ravens have NEVER had a true franchise QB (though Jackson may prove to be that guy). They've won two SB's since 2000, their longest playoff drought in that span is three years. Never in that span have they had back to back losing seasons. I am in the camp that says you need a franchise QB to win the SB. But that doesn't mean you need one to be a good team. You can compete. We aren't.

Come on man, what were they supposed to do? Tell him no? Rivera would never get another assistant if he blocked McDermott's move. It's just not done. Fire Rivera? He was a season removed from a Super Bowl appearance. Two time coach of the year. McD gave us six seasons as a coordinator. He's successful in Buffalo, I'm happy for him. Yes, the organization has made some questionable decisions, but this wasn't one of them. This is just revisionist reaction.

What are you watching the rest of us aren't? He's a sleazy dirt bag. He's no stellar athlete. But the dude is a gamer. I had plenty of doubts about the guy coming out. But before the draft I did say there isn't a more Belichick QB in that draft. If that safety is ONE STEP further away that is a (*$@ing DIME for a TD.

I've actually seen a couple analysts recently start to draw that comparison. I haven't seen enough to convince me yet, and I hate that there is a Rhule connection, but I'm open to see more. I don't hate the kid . . . he might be the real deal. But I DO hate the idea of this staff being charged with his development.

Wrong. First round QB's are a coin flip, statistically speaking. Whether it's pick 1 or pick 32. The only thing that matters in drafting a QB is whether your scouts and staff believe you've identified a franchise QB. If that guy is available at your pick, and you don't have one, you draft the QB. It all comes down to your evaluation. If there isn't a franchise guy (according to your evaluation) that's your cue to pick other guys.

I get wanting to fire underperforming staff. I really do. I simply think that ANALYTICAL measurement of our special teams performance falls far short of a firing. I have yet to see any analytical measurement that indicates otherwise.

The chart had nothing to do with TD's . . . it was simply about yards over expected. Statistically dominant? By what measure? Once you get past 2015, the most rushing TD's he had in a season while here was six. Yes, he had 10 rushing TD's for New England last year, but he also equaled a career high in attempts and set a career low in yards per carry while also setting a career low in TD passes. No one is arguing that Cam was never a great player. In his prime there was no one like him. But he's not that guy anymore. Just like you can't have throwing Cam without running Cam, you can't having running Cam without throwing Cam . . . and throwing Cam is gone. This doesn't mean he wasn't the best QB on our roster this year. He was. If he's here next year, he'll probably be the best QB on our roster then too. But facts are facts. The guy was on his couch when 32 could have called him. Houston was starting a 3rd round rookie for heaven's sake. The Redskins with Cam's former coach were starting Heinicke - Cam's former backup. The Saints started Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston! I love Cam, but he's not that guy anymore.

This is irrelevant. Those statistics end in 2014. Sure, we all know how otherworldly young Cam was. That has no bearing on today. It was EIGHT YEARS AGO.

No. Zane also (prior to this year) was a career 78% FG kicker. This season he hit them at a 90% rate. The guy we picked up off the scrap heap after Charlton's head went was a career 45 per punt guy. This season with us he averaged almost 48 per punt. The main argument against Blackburn seemed to be the coverage unit. Well, that was also largely false. Check this out: We were 8th in the league in average punt return yardage against. Our kickoff returns were not wonderful - but that was always going to be an issue with Gonzalez. And it was something that Gonzalez improved on over the course of the year. There is no statistic that supports the idea Blackburn should have been fired. Our specialists - both acquired DURING the season - improved significantly upon their career performances. Our coverage was good where we could expect it to be so, and an issue where we knew it was likely to be an issue.

As great a pass rusher as Burns is, he's been here three years now. He's still making the same mistakes. Over-running the quarterback. Missing tackles in the backfield. I'm afraid all he's ever going to be is a pass rush specialist. While those guys are valuable, they are a luxury.

Of course, I agree. He was too "public" in his tenure prior to this year and is now invisible. I just don't believe it has anything to do with money.

For Tepper, it's never been about the money. The money is absolutely irrelevant.

Davis Mills put up respectable numbers for a 3rd round rookie on an awful team.

It's not "controversial" so much as it is just plain stupid. He's simply doubling down on the same stupid things he's been saying all season long regarding his evaluations of players.

The Texans accomplished more in their season than we did in ours and it wasn't even remotely close. Deshaun fiasco? Tyrod Taylor goes down in week 2? Starting a 3rd round rookie QB all year? That team never gave up. And neither did their fans. The team was generally really competitive at home, which is a tribute to the support they got.

Dear OP: lol "Trade CMC" - Trade value has never been lower on him. "Josh McDaniels is top of the HC list" - What? There are few head coaches who can be said to be less connected than Rhule. McDaniels is one of them. He is clueless.

Potential doesn't make him a big / splash signing at the time of signing. I agree, in terms of what each has brought to the Panthers in their careers here thus far, Olsen was BY FAR the bigger signing. Few Panthers have matched Greg's level of excellence here. Maybe Gilmore sticks around, maybe not. Maybe he has a few more All Pro years. Probably not. Who can say what the future holds.

Anyone who suggests moving Christiansen to guard loses credibility pretty quickly. The guy had questions about his functional strength coming out. That's the last trait you want in a guard. Christiansen is a tackle. It remains to be seen if he's a good tackle. Limited exposure seems to indicate he may be at least average, which is a damn sight better than we've had since Gross retired an Oher had his brain knocked out. You are also trying to fix it all in one offseason, which is unlikely. It forces you to take stupid risks. If you have a competent staff, your steps are: 1. Evaluate the draft class. If you think there is a franchise QB in the draft, you draft him. FULL STOP. If you don't see a QB, you look to trade back if possible. I think that's going to be unbelievably hard. But no matter what happens with trading back, you draft an IOL in the first round. Whoever is high on your board. 2. In the fourth, you draft another IOL if one is available with an appropriate grade. You gotta come out of the draft with two IOL. Period. 3. In free agency you're gonna have money to sign one of: Reddick ($14 mil valuation) or Gilmore ($13 mil) 4. Consider signing DJax if A) You do NOT sign Gilmore and B) he accepts something reasonable (around $5 mil) Otherwise, roll with what you have at CB. 5. Try to sign Laken Tomlinson around $8 - $9 per season. 6. If you don't draft a QB, sign someone like Mariota or Brissett and don't expect him to be the answer. He's just there so you don't have to start Sam Darnold. Or PJ Walker. God. That's it. That's all you can realistically expect in one offseason.