BrianS

I love that Cam gives back in this way. I'm sure every kid who ever got a ball from Cam has something he'll keep for the rest of his life. Want to know what's disappointing? That no one on the team turned that into a PANTHERS tradition.

Honestly man, I don't want him to do anything in the run game very often. Here's the thing. We know Cam has injury history specifically with his shoulder. That's not great. Now, what if, by some miracle Cam comes in and he doesn't have the 70 yard arm he once did, but instead he only has a 55 yard arm. I just don't want ANY hits on him. At all. Pocket. Runs. Whatever. It seems pretty clear that along about 2018 something finally clicked for him mentally in the pass game. His completion percentage went way up. Wasn't it Norv who told Cam "Take the layup man!" If we have a QB who now has it figured out between the ears, I don't care what he can do on the ground. I want him to end every game with a pristine jersey. I want him on the field. I was very excited for Cam right before his body utterly fell apart. He really looked like he was growing as a passer.

This is a good point, but it's independent of picking up the fifth year. One thing I've always thought would be fascinating is if every team would release their final draft board after the draft was over. I know it will never happen, but it could really explain a lot about those choices that we as fans just don't get.

If the offense fails now, the finger needs to point directly at Joe Brady. Simple as that. I'm not expecting 2015 Panthers or 2019 Chiefs, but I do expect competent offensive performances.

I agree and disagree. Cam will help, yes. But a great part of the blame in our short yardage struggles has to fall on our putrid OLine. We need to put a hat on a hat and move people off the ball. Counting on the athletic superiority of one player no matter how great isn't the path to consistent success.

QB's in particular can be ruined by the situation they are drafted into. The league is littered with talented QB's who got thrown into a bad situation and never recovered. Drafting a QB at any point is just a crap shoot anyway. You roll the dice, you take your chances. It's still way too early to call it quits on Wilson. I don't like the Manziel comparisons at all. Zach Wilson has shown more toughness in half a season than Manziel showed in his career. Zach Wilson may flop, just like any QB. But he ain't Johnny Football.

Unlikely Cam will even be dressed for this Sunday. Just sayin.

I'm not sure if the Henderson deal was a mistake, and I'm not sure how anyone could be at this point. That trade could easily have been one that looks to next year. We just don't know yet. Would I like to see Henderson on the field so we can get a better idea of what he brings? Yes, of course. But at the same time, do I really want to shake up what looks like a really, really good defense? Not especially.

My hope is that we can see 2018 Cam, minus the shoulder problems. 2018 was the season that finally put Cam on display as a consistent and successful passer. His shoulder went downhill as the season wore on, yes, but it was obvious that something had fallen into place mentally for him and he was becoming the guy who could do it all, instead of the guy who made the jaw dropping athletic play.

Time will tell if this was a good football move or not. I'd love to find that it was. However, anyone who tries to deny the impact Cam Newton has had on this franchise is delusional. I've never been a huge Cam fan, nor have I been a hater. But I would and will never question the unbelievable impact he's had on the Panthers. All football talk aside, having him here, and hopefully this being his last stop would really be "right".

Since we made it to page two and no one has, I suppose I must. I apologize in advance.

The other thing that may play well is that last week our line - Daley aside - looked like NFL players for the first time this season.

It's definitely all upside. Cam comes in and makes us look competent on offense? Win. Cam comes in and shows that he isn't an NFL QB anymore? Win. Cam comes in, plays ok but the offense is still bad? Win. The only potential downside is that Cam comes in, plays ok to good, and then we let him walk again. That's really the only way we can eff this up.

I don't think Cam is the answer, but I don't think the signing was a mistake. To me, the answer is a young QB who isn't completely broken mentally. In that respect, Cam isn't the answer. Is Cam the best QB on our roster right now? Yes, he probably is. Can he overcome the very questionable play calls from Joe Brady? Remains to be seen. He's worked with worse, that's for sure. I will say this, it doesn't take much arm to check it down to CMC. The onus will be on our coaching staff to balance our players exposure. As long as we don't overuse any of our players, we should be watchable on offense at least.

Pretty sure the Cam contract puts us right at the limit of our cap. And we have better players already on the roster.

I might even go as far as the greatest defensive player in Panthers history. It's him or Peppers.

Disagree. Brady is a problem. We've repeated the same process again. Last year, TB5 looked good for the first few games, then fell off the planet. This year, Darnold looked good the first few games, then fell off the planet. It's almost like as soon as teams get tape on our offense, we get found out. Likewise our red zone offense. Last year, ranked 28th at 50%. This year, ranked 29th at 51%.

So wait. Our line wasn't historically bad? What is this world? I mean, if you don't start those players again - minus Daley - how can you even say performance matters? We haven't seen grades like that for our line since . . . I can't even remember. Not this year.

Full disclosure: I think Cam is done. He's just not good anymore. If anyone thought he had anything left he'd be on a roster. That said, the bridges here are burned on both ends. Cam was treated fairly poorly by the current staff and front office. Cam doesn't want to come back here. We clearly don't want him here. Honestly, I'm not sure Cam really cares about football the way he used to. He seems happy living his life, and good for him. He deserves it. It's very similar to the Steve Smith situation, except Steve was still pretty friggin' good.

You're still missing the point and addressing this as a personal thing. It's not. It's just simple facts. Over 60,000 of the 73,000 (or whatever it is today) seats in BoA are PSL's. On game day, the only way you end up with a stadium overrun with away fans is if the VAST MAJORITY of those PSL owners sell their tickets. There is no other way to put it. It's not Patriots fans purchasing PSL's at our place, that's for sure. If all 60,000 PSL owners put their asses in their seats on Sunday you have a massive Panthers ocean in BoA. Even if all 13,000 of the remaining tickets go to the away team - which they would not. All the hand wringing about Tepper allowing the stadium to be overrun with away fans is silly and misguided. There are 60,000 people who can change that dynamic, and frankly they are the only ones who can. Unfortunately, the way PSL's work actively encourages them to act against the best interests of a team that wants a true home field advantage. If you don't buy the tickets in the first place, you lose your investment. If FOR ANY REASON you can't/won't/don't want to go to a game, you have no recourse but to try to recoup what money you can. And you can't be picky if you want to do that. I GET IT. But that's not David Tepper's fault. The only people to blame for the non-advantage of being at home are the PSL owners. The only people who can fix the non-advantage of being at home are the PSL owners.

Unpopular opinion: This isn't David Tepper's fault. The fact is that if PSL holders actually hung on to their tickets and went to the games, there wouldn't be any opposing fans in the stadium. Unfortunately, PSL holders don't usually do that. They are forced to buy the tickets, even if the product on the field is terrible. Thus they are left with tickets to see a team play that isn't very good, so instead of showing up, they sell the tickets to recoup their money. Yes, it would help if the team was good. What would help more is if PSL holders would stop selling their tickets.

I gotta be honest man, Kyle Trask terrifies me. Dude has the tools, now he's in Tampa soaking up Tom Brady for two years. It's smelling like Aaron Rodgers all over again. I hope for the Panthers sake I'm wrong and he flops, but what a perfect situation for him to fall into.

Well, at least next year he will be our backup . . . at 18 million. Hopefully that's the end. What you want in a backup is a guy who will just run your offense, make the easy plays and not beat you. Alex Smith. Teddy Bridgewater. Etc.

I think for me, I would be far more forgiving for a rookie like Fields than I am for a 3 year vet like Darnold. Seeing him get better and better would be a process I could live with. Watching Darnold be, well, Sam Darnold is just frustrating.

I know it doesn't fit the Huddle narrative, but in order to exercise the 5th year option, you must do so before May 3. That's why we did it before he played for us. If we waited until he played for us, it wouldn't have been available. Now, the stronger argument was that he hadn't shown the NFL anything in three seasons. Letting him play toward free agency after this year would have / could have been a motivator. That's the part I never understood.